Hypnobirthing

[msp2023]

Hello!

Looking to hear about different experiences with hypnobirthing.
Did it work for you, did it not?
Which aspects did or didn't etc.

Thank you in advance :)

Hi there I work as I midwife on a labour ward. I think hypnobirthing works to a degree if a woman puts an effort into listening to the recording during pregnancy. I did the actual hypnotherapy rather than going to a class/online recording. I had 5 one-to-one sessions in total long before I even heard of hypnobirthing. (I read an article hypnotherapy could help with pain). I would say it was the best £300 I ever spent. It really helped with the pain, the midwives were amazed at my progress. I repeated for the 2nd child, again amazing results, hardly felt pain at all. I was really surprised as I am a naturally analytical person from Science background. I didn't quite believe it would work but it did for me.

I loved it.
It definitely doesn't work for everyone but I personally found it a great help.
I didn't use the visualisations as much as I expected, but the breathing aspect helped immensely to manage the contractions.

It worked for me. I was in labour at home with extremely minimal pain and very calm, when I arrived at hospital I was fully dilated. They were most surprised.
The in person course was also extremely informative about the actual birthing process. I learnt a huge amount which was very empowering. Friends also have had positive experiences.

I did a one on one course (well, with DH) with an experienced midwife-hypnotherapist, practiced the visualisations and breathing daily for months with DH and alone, and generally took it very seriously, and no, it didn’t help at all.

I did the course and practised from 27 weeks and it didn't work for me. Sorry!

I used hypnobirthing for both DC. We did a course for DS1 and then with DS2 a one off refresher session. I practiced for about 45 minutes every day for a month before DS1’s birth. I was lucky to have 2 very straightforward births, both using no pain relief whatsoever, just hypnobirthing. I’m not at all new age but it gave me control over a process that I had no experience of and which can be scary. I think the fact that I was so relaxed and in control helped the births. The course itself was so chilled DH and another dad used to fall asleep during the meditations. I cannot recommend enough.

I did an online course and it was super helpful to learn about what’s actually happening to your body at each stage of labour as that takes some of the fear away. It also made me feel confident about going into labour as I knew I had techniques to help.
However, I think it made me a little too confident, to the point that I hadn’t researched all the possibilities of birth. So I would recommend doing a hypnobirthing course, but also be aware that you may need interventions so make sure you’re aware of the types of pain relief you can have etc. If you go into birth thinking you’ll just breathe the baby out and then things take a turn then you’ll be unprepared. If you go into it knowing the techniques but also knowing what else could happen, then that’ll help to keep you calm and informed.

The main things I got from it were understanding what was happening at each stage and using my breathing.
I didn't really subscribe to the affirmation/ meditation side of it personally although I did enjoy listening to some of the relaxation soundtracks in late pregnancy.
The breathing though was game changing. The contractions were thick and fast both times (precipitous labours) and the breathing made them very manageable. When I didn't breathe through them I was very panicked and found them painful.

I did the online PBC one, I found the birth education side better than NCT, it's explained very clearly and sciency. The book is word for word the same as the online course by the way.

I read the book by Siobhan Miller and liked that it made me feel more optimistic before the birth.

In the end, it was an EMCS as my labour didn't progress much, but I was happy to have some "mental tools" in the bag.

I bought Sophie Fletcher's Mindful Hypnotherapy book and then did her online course. Hypnobirthing really changed how I felt after a pretty traumatic first birth. It helped me process some of my fears and learn lots of techniques to manage my labour. I still use the frame breath technique to centre myself when I am feeling overwhelmed. I picked this one because Sophie is and experienced hypnotherapist and doula.

I did spot that she is running a free one hour class later this month - which would be helpful to anyone looking to find out more about hypnobirthing.

https://event.sessions.us/dff832c2-3a93-4abd-aa4a-02aec5586082-26a12/free-hypnobirthing-session-with-sophie-fletcher

thepositivebirthcompany.co.uk

I did this alongside reading the book and it was excellent for me. Everyone is different, of course but I loved this. I also followed a lot of birthing/midwife accounts on instagram.

I would love to know which hypnobirthing courses/resources those who had a positive experience used. I've seen a few different things online, hard to choose! Thank you for sharing!

I used the positive birth company for first pregnancy, and there is a linked Facebook page with lots of positive stories which I loved reading.

For second pregnancy I also read a couple of Milli Hill books - the positive birth book and give birth like a feminist. I loved both of them.

I had 2 very positive births, for the first it was an unexpected home birth and the midwife just arrived in time so we were pretty much entirely on our own. I credit the hypnobirthing for helping us both to stay calm, it really helped us to understand what was happening and how to manage my breathing with no pain relief. My partner did the course with me too so it helped him support me.
Knowing how helpful it was for me I would invest more if I was doing it again for the first time and do an in person course probably instead of NCT. We found the birth education and tools side much more useful than NCT (although this was 2020 and NCT was on zoom!)

2 precipitous totally medication free births for me which were fairly pain free.

I attended a local independants hypnobirthing lady and practised daily from 20 weeks (listened to a recording she made me as I went to sleep) it was a great and I had no issues with sleep during pregnancy either

As the mum on an expectant mother who is doing a course on hypnobirthing and hoping for a home birth in a pool, I really hope it does work. My experience of labour was horrific and I am terrified for my daughter but keeping that to myself and trying to be as supportive as I can. I will be incredibly anxious until that baby is delivered.
Hopefully I can keep all the stress and she can go all earth mother and have a wonderful experience.

I did the positive birth course for dc2. Birth with dc1 was a bit of a shit show and ended in c section.

I'd say it was useful in early stages and I was doing nice breathing, there was an app that let you time contractions and spoke you through them or something.

Once I got to transition I lost my shit though and became a screeching hellcat. But I still think it was useful for the first part which was 5 hours or so!

I did it twice, with different providers and both times it was a complete waste of time and left me feeling like a complete failure.

I did the Positive Birth Company one and found it really good.

Don't go into it thinking that it will give you the perfect pain free birth though. Whatever is going to happen during your birth will happen. What it WILL give you are the mental tools to help you calmly deal with every option that birth can throw up.

I researched, Googled and made notes on all of the different scenarios (c-section, induction, episiotomy etc) and what I'd like to do/say in each of those instances. My husband was very involved too so he could be a good advocate for me in case I was unable to speak.

As it transpired, I had an easy 36 hour labour at home and arrived at the hospital at 10cm BUT needed an episiotomy as my perineum would not stretch and my son came out at a funny angle. I also suffered a 3b tear and needed surgery to repair it. I honestly credit the hypnobirthing course as the reason I have no lasting trauma around this as none of it came as a surprise. I was aware of the possibility that a tear could happen.

It's also worth pointing out that some people here are talking about actual hypnotherapy which my course did not involve so it's worth checking before you start a course if that's actually what you want to do.

Good luck!