Hypnobirthing: private or group classes??

[koeda]

Help! Having had no experience of hypnobirthing (and not knowing anyone who's done it either) I am trying to decide whether to go for private or group classes.

I would love to hear what other people think who've had experiences of either. I like the convenience of private but I'm not sure I'd be able to relax in my own home in a 1:1 situation (sounds weird, I know!).

If it makes any difference I am doing the classes with my birth doula rather than DH, so that he can go with the flow on the big day as he's not sure about being present during the entire birth.

Any advice much appreciated!

I did the natal hypnotherapy course - the UK version of Hypnobirthing, last year in a group setting and it was brilliant. it was a small group so it was not intimidating and the practitioner made us all feel so at ease that no one felt uncomfortable. there was one other lady with her doula and that worked really well for her. one of the good things about the group was that we all bounced off each other and by the end of the 2 days it felt like we had beomce really good friends.

we all stayed in touch afterwards and it was brilliant that we all had really positive births (unlike my NCT class where i was the only one who had no intervention.)

Just a quick note, but Natal Hypnotherapy isn't the UK version of HypnoBirthing, they are two entirely different organisations with quite a difference in philosophies!

pros of group classses:

Meet new friends
Help each other through the process
Usually a bit livelier/more fun than private
Good for dads to be around other men
Cheaper

Pros of Private

Times arranged to suit you
Can be done in your own home
more one on one attention for you

Personally, I much prefer teaching group classes, I don't see any difference in outcomes between the two choices, it's really just a question of what you can afford, what times you can make and what you feel most comfortable with.

I think private is much better
Our group classes were dominated by questions and chit chat about birth/baby wipes instead of concentrating on the hypnobirthing techniques

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I'm swaying towards private and have found a few people who practice at clinics/centres, which would solve the not being able to relax at home issue!

Interestingly enough I found that the majority of hypnobirth therapists I contacted (in and around London) did not run courses very often as their work was mainly made up of private sessions. Plus there seem to be a few credit crunch discounts out there too!