Is hypnobirthing worth doing?

[elm26]

After a loooong pregnancy of Hyperemesis, covid, growth scans etc after 13 miscarriages, I have finally accepted that I will be giving birth within the next 3 weeks 🥳

I've been quite disassociated and going through the motions as such, as it's been so hard for me to believe that I may be lucky enough to bring home a much wanted and loved baby.

I've suddenly had a panic that I'm 3 weeks away at most (being induced on 19th) and I've done no hypnobirthing. I have done the baby care and first aid, the labour course (taught different stages of labour by a midwife, what can help such as keeping oxytocin as high as poss etc).

Is it worth doing a hypnobirthing course? Shall I pay for it or are the ones on YouTube good enough? Help!

I had an induction also. I actually was gifted a hypnobirthing book and read it when I went into hospital for my induction - so basically only spent 2-3 days looking at it. I downloaded a load of meditations and put my headphones in during the induction, sweep, and then the drip and I feel it really helped me. However I had no expectations of it, as hadn't invested too much.

I ended up with a back to back birth on the induction drip, so a pretty tough one. It was painful, but I think the meditations helped me to cope.

You'll probably have some time on the induction ward, so might be worth looking into and picking bits you might identify with

I left it too late to do hypno birthing or so I was told. In my opinion it is mainly about having a positive approach, mind over matter. I read the books a few weeks before and did have a very positive birth experience in spite of divience from plan, and a rush to the delivery suite. I also had an induction as water broke early.

Yes, this is where I think hypnobirthing can be actively harmful.

For every woman who says it massively helped her and she had the most amazing birthing experience, there's another who feels like a failure because she did all the hypnobirthing stuff and then things ended up going the opposite way to how she'd planned. And a lot of the time it is because that bloody video says "avoid interventions, interventions bad!" and then the doctor says, "I want to induce you because I'm worried about the risk of X" and suddenly she feels she's lost control of the whole situation.

For what it's worth, with my son I had a balloon catheter overnight, my waters artificially broken in the morning, continuous foetal monitoring, the syntocinon drip and an epidural before the doctor eventually made the call for an emergency C-section due to my baby's heart rate dropping, 30 hours after it all began. Afterwards I felt sad and disappointed, despite finally having my much longed for healthy baby in my arms. Although I forced myself to move on after a few weeks, I realised I still wasn't over it when in was time to think about giving birth to my second baby. With my daughter I had a sweep, then spontaneous contractions, spent most of early labour in a lavender oil infused bath breathing through my contractions and listening to music, then had an epidural and a quick nap, before being told I'd gone from 3 to 9cm in the last hour and then pushing my baby out in about five minutes. She was in my arms 18 hours after the first contraction.

Two very different birth experiences. Two fairly straightforward physical recoveries. (C-section incision with the first, a few perineal stitches and a nasty bout of postpartum piles with the second, no lasting damage with either.) Absolutely no difference in terms of breastfeeding or how I have bonded with my babies.

Apart of the breathing exercises, I found no benefit whatsoever.

And I am a bit evangelical about this, but my advice is that if you end up on the hormone drip, just get an epidural. (In which case you won't need the breathing exercises.)

That's the problem.

If hynobirthing was solely: here, learn these mantras, practice calm diaphragmatic breathing, hopefully on the day you'll feel a little calmer

then it'd be fine. Just another tool.

But hypnobirthing is often inextricably wrapped up with a very woo-ey approach that stigmatises medical care/intervention, encourages people to push back against doctors, and leads people into thinking that anyone can have a 'natural' birth if they try hard enough and if you don't you're a failure. That's the primary issue with it.

But hypnobirthing is often inextricably wrapped up with a very woo-ey approach that stigmatises medical care/intervention, encourages people to push back against doctors, and leads people into thinking that anyone can have a 'natural' birth if they try hard enough and if you don't you're a failure. That's the primary issue with it.

Yes.

And funnily enough, in developing countries, women don't feel this way about childbirth. They will often walk miles and miles while heavily pregnant so that they can be near a hospital when it happens.

Childbirth is a very dangerous process and the fact that it's "natural" doesn't change that. A hungry lion is "natural" too.

It's mind blowing that women in a country which has free at the point of use expert level maternity care would actively choose to eschew that. It's insanity honestly.

The irony is that the reason some women feel emboldened to take this risk with their and their children's lives is precisely because our healthcare makes birth so safe. We have a reasonable expectation that we will make it through childbirth. Although stillbirths are sadly not uncommon, women dying in childbirth while accessing maternal healthcare is fairly uncommon today compared to historical data. So not many people have experience of their friends, sisters, mothers, daughters, dying due to unassisted childbirth. Therefore it seems safe.

In the Middle Ages in Florence one in five deaths of married women was due to childbirth. People who have lived through seeing the horrors and risks of childbirth don't have the luxury of thinking deep breathing will breathe the baby out.

It's like breastfeeding. It might be natural, but so is failing to produce adequate milk and babies dying of failure to thrive/starvation. Something can be natural and deadly. Cancer for example. Insufficient milk supply. Childbirth.

But hypnobirthing is often inextricably wrapped up with a very woo-ey approach that stigmatises medical care/intervention, encourages people to push back against doctors, and leads people into thinking that anyone can have a 'natural' birth if they try hard enough and if you don't you're a failure. That's the primary issue with it.

Nail on head. The guilt and bullying of women about avoiding "interventions" makes me absolutely rage.

In no other sphere of medicine are you made to feel like a failure because you take advantage of medical science and, surprise surprise, it's the only area which only impacts women.

In theory, as you say, hypnobirthing should be fine, it's another way of relaxing, helping women to feel more in control etc. But invariably it's wrapped up with this nonsense that says if you just breathe enough you can avoid the dreaded "cascade of interventions" and "medicalisation of birth" and all this other guff.

Helped me hugely.
I didn’t for first birth and was terrified for second. Listened to hypnobirthing cd regularly, & was so chilled out I didn’t want to go into the birth centre at all. Was dragged in by DH about 30 mins before I gave birth, I was content ironing duvet covers and breathing at home 😆

Yes, the truth is that the only difference between a woman who does a hypnobirthing course and says she found it really helpful and enabled her to have a really positive, intervention free birth experience, and a woman who does a hypnobirthing course and feels like a shitty failure because she did all the things the video said not to do and ended up with a an emergency C-section, is luck.

I think I would have really benefited from a birth preparation course which covered all eventualities, including hypnobirthing techniques to get you through early labour and use for as long as things are going well and you don't need any intervention or pain relief, but also more medicalised aspects of childbirth, discussed in a neutral and dispassionate way.

I think the advice I really needed was:

• If you go into labour spontaneously or are induced, you will start to have contractions.

• Contractions feel like period pain that comes in waves, getting stronger, reaching a peak, then getting weaker again and eventually disappearing.

• Here is a breathing technique to help you stay calm during the contractions. In through your nose for four seconds, out through your mouth for eight seconds. Repeat until the contraction passes.

• The contractions will get closer together and more painful as your labour progresses. Early labour can last a very long time. Don't be surprised if you have three contractions in ten minutes for hours and then are told you are only 2cm dilated. This is completely normal.

• You may be able to manage with just the breathing technique and minimal pain relief such as gas and air. If that's the case for you, great!

• If the contractions get very painful, it's OK to ask for stronger pain relief. Epidurals are safe and effective and the evidence that they lead to further interventions is sketchy at best.

• You might need forceps, ventouse or a C-section. Here is an explanation of what each of those things is and when and why they might be necessary.

• All ways of giving birth are valid.

It is important to be realistic.

Can hypnobirthing help me cope with pain and stress during birth? Yes.
Can hypnobirthing ensure I won't need other pain relief or a caesarian? No.

It really helped me with my second. I had a home birth, she was 10lb 7oz and I didn't need any interventions. Massively helped me stay calm and I still use the techniques today when I need to calm myself. You need to practice daily though and ideally you would have started earlier but still worth trying

Thanks again everyone I will read the replies when home.

Just to touch on a couple of things, I am completely open to pain relief, whatever I need to do to get her here safely and know that all labours could end in a csection which again, is fine and I'm not set on anything.

I'm not into words of affirmation or anything like that but I do suffer anxiety so thought the breathing techniques would be useful.

If I am induced, my midwife and consultant have both said that they recommend the epidural quickly after having a drip started (if that is the method I need). 😊

I think it’s a bit of a crock, personally. I’m all for being prepared and positive, but my experience is that it is unrealistic and inflexible as an approach.

Yes, the truth is that the only difference between a woman who does a hypnobirthing course and says she found it really helpful and enabled her to have a really positive, intervention free birth experience, and a woman who does a hypnobirthing course and feels like a shitty failure because she did all the things the video said not to do and ended up with a an emergency C-section, is luck.

Luck.

Entirely this.

If there were a way to ensure no interventions were needed, no interventions would ever be needed.

It sounds like you have a good attitude, OP.

I think the breathing techniques will help you with any contractions you are having without having had an epidural. Once you've had an epidural, if you have one, you won't need them.

From all I've read I think induction probably does increase the risk of further interventions. But many women have very straightforward and positive inductions. The determining factors seem to be how favourable your body is to an induction and whether your baby is in a good position. My own personal view is that other than the breathing exercises, the best thing you can do to prepare for giving birth is try to optimise your baby's position. So no slouching on the sofa, sit on your ball as often as possible and do lots of walking. Maybe some pregnancy yoga if you feel like it.

I live in France, where the vast majority of women have an epidural and most hospitals have a policy of inducing at 41 weeks if the woman hasn't gone into labour spontaneously before then. That was pretty much my doctor's philosophy, and he said most of his inductions go smoothly and take 6-8 hours. If you have syntocinon and and an epidural, you won't need breathing exercises, you'll want episodes of your favourite series downloaded onto your phone and sugary drinks to keep your energy up.

Although my personal preference was for a lower dose epidural so I could stay mobile, there are plenty of women who go in to be induced, get an epidural straight away, lie down on the bed and watch TV or read magazines until it's time to push. But that makes a very boring birth story so we don't tend to hear about those.

Ultimately I think what you do or don't do will make very little difference to the outcome, which will be largely dictated by your baby and your body.

If you're consultant led and already booked in to be induced, my guess is that they don't want to take any chances with you after so many miscarriages. Yes, that probably means a lot more monitoring, and a lower risk threshold for moving to an emergency C-section. But it also means you're in good hands, being looked after by an experienced professional who's seen it all before and whose priority is to get your baby here safely.

I did a whole course. Couldn't remember a thing once I was in the throws of labour 😅

I used the Freya app for my first labour, which helped up until I was almost fully dialated. My baby was born back to back though...so it didn't end in the way I hoped (with forceps).

I'll use the Freya app again for my second labour though - well worth it. I liked the countdown element for the contractions. Hopefully it'll be smoother sailing this time...

Good luck!

Just caught up on all of your replies.

I think I will just download an inexpensive app/audio book and watch a few YouTube videos and see if I can get to grips with breathing techniques just in case I do go into labour by myself. If it works, great. If I go into labour, can't remember a thing about the breathing and have multiple painkilling options available to me, that's fine too 😊

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and opinions and thank you for the well wishes x

Respect

Yes. I did it for one of my four children, the biggest, just under 10lbs, and it was easily the best birth. Sadly I neglected to do it for the two after. I just listened to cds purchased cheaply online.

Yes, much like many aspects of motherhood. Eg if your child is a “good sleeper”, a “good baby” who doesn’t cry much and so on… I really hated the pressure I felt from reading things like “I was so proud of myself for not having any pain relief.” Also, tears down below are quite common and while breathing can help the baby’s descent and help prevent them, it’s not the panacea. They can and do still happen with the most perfectly controlled breathing. This is why I did a course, gave the breathing and things a good go but didn’t allow myself to get too sucked into the whole thing and say “I’m going to hypnobirth”.

I hear more frequently that women accredit hypnobirthing to having a successful subsequent birth compared to their first one and, while this may be true that it was all down to hypnobirthing, few acknowledge how it’s not their first rodeo the second or third time round, they are more knowledgeable about what to expect and subsequent births tend to be faster etc - emphasis on ‘tend’ before I get @ed with accounts of how people’s first birth was the best.

I didn't have one, but this was my plan also. No sense in trying to do it naturally if you know you'll be having unnaturally induced contractions.