natal hypnotherpay or hypnobirthing for a 1st home birth

[Naomi1smile]

Hi am considering trying for a home birth for my first delivery and am interested in hypnotherapy as I know I am quite susceptible to hypnosis. What is the difference between these two schools of thought and what are your experiences? Neither seem to have classes in the Cardiff area so do the CDs/ DVDs do the job or do I need to find a private practitioner?

Hypnobirthing and natal hypnotherapy both use hypnosis to get you into a positive mindset for birth. They are very similar. I have an iphone so I'm using ihypnobirth and I'm finding it really helpful. I listen to it in bed and it costs so much less than the CDs. I think listening to something everyday will defintely help if you can't get to a class.

I am going with natal hypnotherapy

I have got pregnancy relaxation, birth preperation (from 32 weeks) and birthing music natal hypnotherapy CDs for a total of £3.24 (inc p&p) from here (free ) ebay and NCT sale.

Have been listening to a hypno pregnancy relaxation on spotify (there is loads and loads of relaxing pregnancy music on there too) but my natal hypnotherapy one (tried for the 1st time to day) was much better than spotify one.

I am very susceptable to hypnosis. I am only 17 weeks so hoping the practising / listening 3 - 4 times a week between now and birth will help

Thank you for the tips. Will look in to the ihypnobirth as it would be great to have it on my phone. Good luck with your hypno deliveries.

I recommend Natal Hypno. Probably shouldn't do it, but I ripped the CDs so I had a back-up / travel copy on my phone.

HypnoBirthing works on the presumption that if you remove fear and stress your body will work as it should and your birth should be calm, enjoyable. Much of the class involves explaining the process and deprogramming your fears so that you are positively looking forward to your birth. Obviously with a class the practitioner can work the course around your specific fears and you have a chance to question/reflect etc.

Natal Hypnotherapy assumes that birth is painful and helps you to reduce the pain. Obviously with a CD it is up to you to practise on a regular basis and will tend to be a one-size-fits-all approach.

Have you tried the HypnoBirthing website to find a practitioner? They appear to have some practitioners in Wales.

www.hypnobirthing.co.uk/hypnobirthing_classes.shtml

That was supposed to turn the link into a clickable link! I'll try again.

www.hypnobirthing.co.uk/hypnobirthing_classes.shtml

I did hypno birthing, and have to say it didn't work for me. I was pretty scared from the first contraction, and as Nosey said, it is reliant on removing fear and stress to make your birthing experience calm.

My advice would be that with either method you need to put the time in during your pregnancy doing the visualisation and relaxation exercises - I don't think i did this enough, and so i wasn't prepared. Also, find a good teacher - ours wasn't great, and spent most of the classes just reading the book out loud and saying things like "You can try this exercise, but its not very good and doesn't really work"

Although my experience of hypnobirthing wasn't great, I have a friend who had a waterbirth and no pain relief, using just hypnobirthing - she said it was a beautiful experience

I used the natal hypnotherapy home birth CD. I did find it helpful....to a point but I was in labour for 2 days and ended up with an emergency c section as I just didn't progress.I was active/upright etc and eventually had syntocin drip so there wasn't much else I could have done.
I would definitely recommend it but sometimes labour does not go to plan.
My advice would be be as prepared as you can (hypno birthing,active birth,aromatherapy etc) but don't pin everything on the perfect birth as sometimes it doesn't happen.
Good luck.

The big reason I went for Natal Hypnotherapy (and why I recommend it) is that it is adaptable, whereas if your natural home birth doesn't work out, Hypnobirthing doesn't help IMO. I found my Natal Hypnotherapy hugely helpful through my failed induction, 2.5 days of continuous ctx and CS with issues getting the spinal in.

Japhrimel - why do you think that HypnoBirthing doesn't work if your natural home birth doesn't work out?

I used natalhypnotherapy CD's and had a relaxed pain free birth. I think doing the relaxation CD helped the most, staying relaxed and not being afraid is the key in all good birth stories (and positions & luck aswell). I was induced in hospital etc.. so wasn't home and birthpools either but was truly okay and the head midwife said that all women should listen to them as they found me so freakishly coherhent she came and had to see for herself!!!

I don't follow your argument japhrimel? I have a friend who used hypnobirthing, and said that when her planned home water birth turned into a blue light trip to hospital and an emergency c section she felt calm and relaxed throughout. She's now a practicing hypnobirthing teacher!

Her experience was what sold me on hypnobirthing (had never heard of natal hypnotherapy at the time). I found it really helpful, and can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of my birth.

One of the main theories in hypnobirthing is that you need to step back and trust that your body and your baby know what to do, and trust that whatever happens is what needs to happen. I was lucky to have a home water birth, but I felt completely prepared to have gone into hospital if we'd needed to.

By doing the hypnobirthing course I learnt so much I didn't know about the actual process of birth, and I found that really helpful to visualise things positively during the birth.

My understanding having read Hypnobirthing scripts a friend had (as nellyjane also says) was that Hypnobirthing teaches that your body and your baby know what to do. I had OC when I opted for Natal Hypnotherapy instead of Hypnotherapy, partly because I already knew my body did not know how to cope with pregnancy. I ended up with PE as well and had a failed induction with a cervix that didn't dilate. As we were discussing the stillbirth risk from OC and the risks to me from PE (when I was blue-lighted in, there were staff standing around pretty much waiting for me to seize), waiting was not an option but my baby wasn't ready to be born.

My body and my baby did not know what to do. I felt - and still do - that if I'd been using a coping technique that relied on the idea that my body did know what to do, I would find it less helpful when that was clearly not the case.

At the end of the day, you have to choose what is the best fit for you. Listening to samples and reading scripts from both options is very illuminating. I also found the voice on the Hypnobirthing CDs and the scripts a bit annoying, so it just wasn't for me at all.

Does OC stand for obstetric cholestasis? Is the problem that you would need to be induced? How did you know that you body and baby did not know what to do?

If you are under hypnosis you do not notice the accent - it could be a Spaniard, deep-throated Frenchman or Australian and you wouldn't mind/notice.

I'm not sure why you seem so vehemently anti-HypnoBirthing. My curiosity is peaked!

I'm not that vehemently against it actually, just felt that Natal Hypnotherapy was more for me and still feel that way.

As I said, I'd recommend listening to some of both and reading samples before making a choice. Also talking to a Hypnobirthing instructor (I did). One point for me was that I wanted something I could do at home myself as I'm experienced with self-hypnosis and didn't want the financial outlay of a Hynobirthing course. And I didn't gel with the most local Hypnobirthing instructor.

Yes, OC is obstetric cholestasis. It means my liver couldn't cope with the pregnancy hormones and the big danger with OC is increased risk of foetal death after 37 weeks. I was lucky that mine was controlled enough that I didn't need to be induced at 37 weeks (was booked for IoL at 40 weeks) but then I got Pre-Eclampsia too and had an induction from 38+2 weeks.

Women with OC or PE normally labour fast, even with inductions. I had the maximum amount of pessaries I could and didn't even get to 1cm, despite 2.5 days of continuous ctx! My DD just wasn't ready to be born, but with the OC I wasn't happy waiting for labour to start naturally and the docs weren't happy leaving me with the PE, especially as the assumption was that DD should be fine at 38 weeks and I "should have" laboured fast.

I would recommed hypnobirthing.

I am a first time mother. I used the daily relaxation techniques and affirmations from about 4 months pregnant. The most important aspect is to trust your body and not to be fearful of labour.

However, japhrimel, there is huge emphasis on calmly facing whatever turn your birthing takes. this recognises that there are some cases where medical intervention is necessary, or becomes necessary, and that the most important thing to do is to remain calm.

My planned homebirth became and induced hospital labour. over 48 hours.

Even in those circumstances I still had no gas and air or pain relief or epidurals or instrumental delivery.

I credit hypnobirthing (and the assistance of my doula and husband) for not panicking and sticking with relaxation and breathing to bring my beautiful son into the world.

I would definitely recommend hypnobirthing or birth relaxation. I used the Natal Hypnotherapy CDs and the Hypnobirthing ones- we swapped CDs in my antenatal group so that we could have a listen to both. I preferred the NH ones, but that's a personal choice...both were good.

Like a previous poster, I also used the ihypnobirth app on my iphone which was brilliant-I could listen to it easily any time that I wanted to relax, and I found the positive affirmations particularly useful.

I found using all of these elements great. I felt really positive and relaxed about birth by the end...but I agree with a previous message. Using these to practice is not so much about having a 'pain free' birth-it's about accepting the birthing process, not feeling fearful and staying relaxed and positive whatever happens.

I practiced every day in the last month-it was great to take the time out and have some space to focus on the birth and the baby. I felt really connected to him during this time, and I used the techniques during the labour.

I hope that you get the birth that you want and good luck-it's an amazing experience!

I was anxious about giving birth, so I used the Natal Hypnotherapy CDs and they seemed to work for me. Preferred the English accent (think the Hypnobirthing ones might be American?). Agree with previous poster - they didn't prevent pain, but meant i felt more confident leading up to the birth that my body would know what it was doing. Also, helped my husband to help me by leading me in my breathing. In the end I had a 3.5 hour labour with nothing but a TENS machine until 8cm, then G&A for the last bit just before pushing. I am certain that the hypnotherapy helped me to relax (as far as possible under the circumstances :) ) and would recommend them - you really have nothing to lose.