Hypnobirthing or NCT

[EdithGrantham]

I've been looking into both options and all the advice I can find on here comparing the two are for pre-covid so starting a new thread.

Basically I have a lot of anxiety around giving birth which I'm having CBT for so was leaning towards hypnobirthing as another tool to help me but I also want a realistic idea of what could happen and find myself thinking Pffft to the whole "Your body is capable, this is what it was designed to do" rhetoric.

I've provisionally booked a place on my local NCT course which they are hoping to run face-to-face (mid-May)

The hypnobirthing lady I contacted said she will cover the same stuff as the NCT course but is only doing classes on Zoom.
I've done a Zoom yoga session with her and she seems really nice and I didn't mind the whole visualising side of things.

I can't afford to do both but could afford an online hypnobirthing package in addition to the NCT classes.

Any thoughts/advice?

I did an online/Zoom NCT course and I loved it. I had a great teacher and the material was really good. I'd heard it was biased towards natural birth but I didn't find that, I found the course really straightforward, factual and not bias in either direction which meant our NCT group all took something different away that suited them.
NCT is obviously the most famous, but my friend in London did a different antenatal course with a smaller provider and it was a bit cheaper around £200.
Hypobirthing from the Positive Birth Company is £40 for the online pack/tutorials/video (no zoom contact). I have a friend who did it and said it was useful but as soon as the painful contractions started she forgot everything haha.

Thanks, I'm worried the hypnobirthing course will be overly focused on all natural as well and then I won't feel prepared for other eventualities. Good to know the NCT one isn't like that.
I did look for other providers but couldn't find any in my area, to be honest I can't believe how expensive they are!!

I’d recommend Hypnobirthing, my course with my first made me so confident and calm about labour, I’ve recommended it to so many people as the best tool for preparing for a calm birth. I had a lot of anxiety at the start of my pregnancy but strangely by the time we’d finished the Hypnobirthing course I was looking forward to it and luckily had a lovely birth experience.

I did an online hypnobirthing course (the positive birth company one which cost about 39 pounds) and also had a local midwife come round to our house for a one to one session. Both were good.

I found hypnobirthing breathing techniques really useful. I think you can pick and choose which bits are useful for you as not all of it will connect with you.

Also, if you can give a TENS machine a go and see if you like it. It was really helpful for me. The midwife who came to my house bought one along for me to try.

They are very different offerings. They NCT course will be 50% postnatal topics and most hypnobirthing courses don't offer that. I think the NCT course plus online hypnobirthing is a great idea. Hypnobirthing is all in the practice outside sessions.

If youre unsure about the hypnobirthing course I would recommend reading Siobhan Miller's 'hypnobirthing - practical ways to make your birth better'
It's not all 'woo' it's quite scientific about why and how your body really can do it given the right environment. It also goes into how you can use hypnobirthing techniques in all scenarios, home, water, hospital, C-section, induction etc.

I spent a fortune on a face to face hypnobirthing course and it was a waste of money. The woman was so deeply into her own rhetoric she actually gave some very inaccurate and dangerous advice. I found the online course mentioned above much better, wish I had just done that.

Positive birth online hypnobirthing is cheap and covers all eventualities. I didn’t feel it sold the message of natural drug free birth but more about giving you the tools to feel empowered whatever happened during labour.

I did NCT with my first baby and it was amazing for the friendship, possibly even more so in Covid times as you may not get to meet people in other settings.

Second baby I did face to face Hypnobirthing course.

Third baby I did an online course with The Positive Birth Company and honestly learned so much more than with the previous two put together, and its about £40! I cannot recommend it enough. You can it online in your own time.

So I'd say NCT and online Hypnobirthing with the above company.

Thanks all, that's really helpful. I did the yoga as a kind of trial and some of the stuff she said did grate on me a bit as it was verging on 'woo' so I think the NCT course with the online hypnobirthing sounds like the best course of action. If I could do a trial session with anyone offering hypnobirthing I might be a bit more willing to give that a try but seeing as she's charging the same price for zoom sessions it seems a bit of a rip off

The NCT doesnt effectively prepare women for realistic issues that can happen. I found them to skim quickly through interventions, minimising the likelihood of them happening.
I didnt have full understanding from mine and found out a lot more asking friends and family who had given birth, using online resources such as the NHS, birthrights, Emma's diary and of course mumsnet.

I think NCT is dreadful. It is only useful for making friends. The content is shockingly unrealistic for a first time mum.

I have been looking and it seems the best options, as someone planning a home birth but wanting to be prepared and expect the unexpected....NCT and hypnobirthing will cover very different things with some overlap but not a lot. Reading on Mumsnet too I have thought NCT is good way of virtually meeting friends but Hypno with the Positive Birth Company is going to help prepare me for more eventualities Inc EMCS and when things don't go to plan. It depends on what you think you need.

It's interesting that two people have said that NCT doesn't give that information, in the "syllabus" they sent me it said they do cover those things. Given there seem to be only two options in my area and I definitely want to do some sort of course I don't think I'll be able to find one that covers everything that can go wrong, which to be honest as an over-thinker and worrier I've read far too much on already and it's made me very anxious.

I know what you mean. I want to be informed and have tools for if things don't go to plan, not just worry about it. My local group webpage says it has just one session on labour out of the four. That can't possibly prepare me with knowledge and coping techniques.

I would say Hypno birthing for giving birth, and NCT for the community after birth support, although I've no idea how that works in Covid times.

@Flittingaboutagain oh that sounds really different to my local one, I think mine is 3 sessions and they said 60% will be about labour and birth

@LynetteScavo that's the problem, if it ends up being via Zoom is it going to be worth it? If I was rich I'd do both but it would cost getting on for £500 and I just can't justify it!

100% agree with the poster above the Positive Birthing Company £40 Hypnobirthing course is fantastic.

I have done the NHS antenatal classes and they have been pants. They are free but have caused more anxiety in our group that helping.

Yes very different! Even three sessions though, I'm not sure how much they can go into what you actually do? Can you phone and them and check it isn't just giving you information and terminology etc? That it is more practical?

Like and at this point if X happens your options are Y and Z is really good but I know for me personally I am wanting to learn how to stay feeling calm so I can be empowered and confident and stand my ground about the red lines/ be flexible with other issues. I have read up on emotional side of birth trauma and a lot of it seems to be about feeling powerless and other people taking control away. That's what I am hoping to focus on with the Positive Birth Company.

Just my musings though!

I don't think there are any NHS courses at all in my area at the minute.

They sound pretty thorough so maybe each session is longer and they add up to the same amount of time. Lack of control is definitely what's come out as my main cause for anxiety from the CBT sessions I've had, unfortunately I hear that's a big part of labour, childbirth and having a newborn I would like to prepare for what if X, Y and Z happens but there are so many different outcomes I think that's impossible. I'm hoping I'll be able to view my birth plan as what it is, a plan for an ideal situation and if things start to veer from that too far I'm just hoping I'll have the strength to advocate for myself when the time comes.

We did an nct class over zoom. I think it could be quite varied depending on the facilitator and the group. Ours was run by a midwife at the hospital most of us were giving birth in so she could tell us more about what would happen and what was available at our hospital.
One of the "ground rules" at the start if the course suggested by a couple of the mums was "no scare stories" so there was a more optimistic tone to what might happen. That said one member of the group knew she was likely to be induced so we went through the induction process in more detail as she asked more questions.

I have found the mums a great source of support in lockdown but again this is completely dependent on the people you do the course with.

I tried the positive birth company course after recommendations on here, and ended up getting a refund as it wasn't for me. As long as you haven't watched too much of it and ask within 14 days I had no problem getting the refund, so you could see how it suits for the first bit and if it doesn't then change your mind?

NCT seems to depend on where you are locally, my local friends have raved about the NCT course so I'm optimistic that my course will be good. It's online though as we're doing it next month

Oh and I should say the free nhs classes, which we also did were fantastic with realistic and useful information.

Personally I didn’t find NCT very helpful. If you have absolutely no clue about birth, never done any research or reading etc then it may be helpful but I found it very basic and I knew most of the information despite being a FTM. If you want it for a social element then there may be some benefit but again that really depends on your group.

I also did hypnobirthing via the Positive Birth Company online which is a fraction of the price. It equally wasn’t for me but much better value for money in my opinion as you can watch the videos in your own time.

There are some other companies which offer free courses as well as some paid cheaper ones that I have found far more useful including Blossom antenatal (free breastfeeding course) and the Baby Academy (practical care).

My local trust also has online videos which were good so it may be worth checking with your midwife to see what they offer.