Hypnobirthing classes - are they worth the money?

[MyThumbsHaveGoneWeird]

I think I want to try hypnobirthing, or at least use some of the techniques from it. I have brought the Marie Monagan book which comes with a CD. Classes seem to cost over 250 for just 4 sessions, which seems an awful lot of money, more than I have spent on any baby item that's for sure.

Is it worth it? Or can I get enough by reading the book and doing the CD?

I would say that they are worth the money. Although it is a lot, the NCT class near me cost around £250 (which I was very surprised about) so I decided to spend the money on the hypnobirthing class instead.

Really brings the book alive and our teacher used loads of real life examples to illustrate the point. Also, as with any new techniques, actually doing them with a teacher is much more comprehensive than reading the book alone.

I would recommend. Hope this helps.

I did the classes. The teacher was (still is!) a midwife, which was a huge benefit I thought. She came to see me in the hospital several times during my stay after DD was born, which was lovely.

It was worth the money to me, but I would try and get a teacher who is a midwife as I think that made the difference for me. She had extensive experience of birth and so wasn't speaking from a mere theoretical viewpoint IYSWIM. Very inarticulate post, sorry, but am trying to say - I found her advice useful and reliable, as opposed to lentil weaving nonsense. I trusted her because of her background and experience (over 25 years as a hospital-based midwife including senior management position at prominent hospital).

Thanks, I will have more of a look into the local teachers. Still seems like loads of money though.

I found the book was enough for me