Many women use some form of hypnosis to help them manage labour. Some use self-hypnosis techniques, while others may follow a specific course, eg Hypnobirthing, which is the trademarked name for the Mongon method course, or the Natal Hypnotherapy course, or perhaps use hypnotherapy in some other form - eg traditional hypnosis with post-hypnotic suggestion.
Two of the most popular approaches to hypnosis for birth in the UK are are 'HypnoBirthing®' and 'Natal Hypnotherapy'.
'HypnoBirthing®' is a trademarked course which originated in the USA and is also known as the 'Mongan method'. You attend for a total of at least 12.5 hours - often two full days at a weekend. The course includes lots of general antenatal education as well as hypnosis techniques, and your birth partner is a vital part of the process and so must attend the classes with you. Below you will find an introduction to HypnoBirthing® courses in the UK, and the link at the start of this paragraph will take you to the HypnoBirthing® UK website which has lots more information.
'Natal Hypnotherapy' is an approach developed by UK hypnotherapist Maggie Howell and you can either attend classes or listen to CDs in your own time at home. The classes are a 2-day course including antenatal education as well as hypnotherapy and the cost is similar to that of HypnoBirthing classes. You can read more about the classes on the Natal Hypnotherapy website.
The Natal Hypnotherapy birth preparation CD is a low-commitment, low-hassle, low-cost way of using hypnosis. It focuses solely on relaxation and hypnosis, rather than on antenatal education, and it does not require your birth partner to be involved (although he or she can be involved if you choose). It lasts for around 35 minutes and takes you through a relaxation session followed by lots of positive suggestions about your ability to manage late pregnancy and labour. For instance, you are encouraged to think of contractions as a sensation of 'power, pressure and warmth' and that you can control the intensity of those sensations. There is a sequence of relaxing music in the background. You simply listen to the CD as often as you can at the end of pregnancy, ideally daily, but it's OK if you can only do it weekly or even just once or twice. You can buy a separate CD of relaxing birth music which you can play during labour - it's the backing music from the birth preparation CD, and it helps to reinforce the positive suggestions you heard before.
This is an introduction to one hypnosis technique, 'HypnoBirthing®', by practitioner Deborah Henley:
by Deborah Henley
"HypnoBirthing®" is an approach from the USA which I brought to England in 1999 and developed into a style more suited to our culture, adding many approaches from my experience as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and from the excellent work that has been done in this country by the NCT, Sheila Kitzinger and AIMS, among others. I run weekend courses in and around London to teach mothers-to-be how to use their own natural instincts and new skills to bring their babies into the world. The course participants learn the basics of hypnosis for childbirth including deep relaxation, self-hypnosis, visualisations and breathing techniques for each stage of labour. They are also given a wealth of childbirth information and hypnotherapeutic treatments to release any fears and anxieties.
The preparation is an important aspect of the course. Having a positive frame of mind can make a tremendous difference to the rest of pregnancy and to the birth itself - in terms of how interventions and unexpected occurrences are handled. People leave the course informed and with a new perspective of what birth can be. They are empowered to trust their bodies to instinctively know what to do, as they relax and let nature take over. Most HypnoBirthing® mothers give birth comfortably, easily and naturally - whether they are in hospital, a birth unit or at home, but it is the familiarity of home that best facilitates an environment in which most can feel relaxed, confident and in control.
With their confidence in place, participants are then provided with specific tools for each stage of labour. A popular one is the balloon-breathing, used with each contraction. As the labouring mother feels the surge of energy she welcomes it, instantly going into a relaxed focused state of hypnosis and breathing deeply and slowly. As she does this she imagines that she is filling up a balloon, and as she breathes out she releases it. Its as if the balloon floats away taking with it any tension and discomfort she might feel. As one woman said "I didn't have any time to think about whether the contractions hurt or not, I was so busy filling up my balloons. They were no trouble at all."
The courses are attended with the birth partner, who plays an important role. He learns how to facilitate the relaxation and focused state of the mother. They are given preparation exercises to practice at home, as well as cassettes to listen to before and during labour. He will also learn a lot of information about childbirth enabling him to feel calm and relaxed so that the couple can work together to have the most positive experience possible.
HypnoBirthing® mothers are encouraged to use active birth positions - including squatting, being on all fours and kneeling. The uterus is said to be twice as effective when the body is moving around as opposed to when the body is prone in bed, and making use of gravity is just common sense. Once couples have developed a vision for how they wish to manage their birth, they naturally feel more empowered to make choices and to be assertive. For instance, they may want to choose to be able to move freely, to be monitored by sonic aid rather than e.f.m. or to put off inductions for as long as possible (provided their is no risk to the mother or baby). They may also like to have bonding time after the birth.
Another benefit is that many HypnoBirthing® mothers report a very quick recovery and calm, happy babies. The birth becomes a wonderful experience which they can enjoy remembering for the rest of their lives.
The following letter was from Mandi who had already had a terrible time with her first birth so needed a lot of convincing to trust herself and her body during the HypnoBirthing® course. She had planned a hospital birth but after the course was so confident in her own abilities that she decided to have a home birth. Even though she was overdue she put off two inductions at the hospital as there were no medical risks to the baby or to herself. She ended up having the "best experience of her life" and reported a much quicker recovery than she had had with her previous birth. Mandi, like many HypnoBirthing® mothers, also reported that her baby was really calm and that the bonding they had after the birth has been important in creating a happy family environment.
Our baby was 13 days late, and we were due to go into hospital on the 14/3/01 for induction of labour, which I was absolutely dreading and I had already put off once. But then on Monday night 13/1/01 around 12pm contractions built up and by 12-30pm I had had a show and knew the baby was arriving.
Unfortunately or fortunately (whichever way you look at it) it all happened a bit fast. I managed some visualisations of the balloon but then things escalated to contractions every 2-3 minutes. I had a bath and then at 3am asked Tony to call the midwife as baby was being born at home. At 3-30am my waters broke and I asked Tony where the midwife was. Apparently they said they would take 40 - 45 minutes to get here and he knew they weren't going make it in time so he lied to me and said they would be there any minute. Ten minutes later, after about five pushes the baby was born at 3-40am with no midwife present. Tony had to catch the baby when it came out. It was brilliant!
The midwife arrived ten minutes later and my placenta naturally just fell out, they cleaned it up had a cup of tea and left. We then spent two hours on our own bed just staring at each other in complete happiness. My daughter then go up at 7-30am and was totally amazed to find the baby had arrived and joined us on the bed for a family cuddle.
I felt my recovery time was very short as I was on all fours when I gave birth. Last time I had been in hospital and constantly made to lie down so people could see what was going on feel around inside me. I had terrible backache and felt like I had been ripped apart - I walked like a duck for a couple of weeks and felt extremely damaged and painful for a good month after. But this time I feel great. Within a few days it hardly felt like I'd just been through labour at all. The whole experience was brilliant.
I must say without the HypnoBirthing® course I would never have considered a home birth. I really enjoyed listening to my tape in the bath and enjoyed the relaxation it gave me. The course made a very important difference to me which was that I was looking forward to the birth rather than dreading it. And it was this that led me to be strong and to hang on as long as I did before ringing for any help (which of course was unnecessary anyway). I actually cancelled my first induction, determined to have the baby at home.
It was the best thing I ever did.
My baby is also so calm and contented. Again I feel this is because the birth was so relaxed and easy and because we were able to spend two hours all staring at each other on my bed, with my covers and my comforts around me. I have had no problems breast feeding and he put on 10oz last week which is incredible for a breast fed baby. Basically the birth has been the catalyst for a relaxed and loving start to my babies life, which I can't thank you enough for. As without you and your course we would never of had such a wonderful experience.
I hope our story will inspire people to have home births and know that labour is such a natural process and that it is possible to have a wonderful experience. I had no tears or wounds that needed stitching as my body naturally took over at the pushing stage and stopped several pushes to make it a gentle passage for my baby to enter the world.
Thank you again for your inspiration and encouragement that has ended up with us having the best experience of our lives.
Love, Mandi
DEBORAH HENLEY is a Clinical Hypnotherapist and HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator. Deborah's website gives more details of her practice and HypnoBirthing® in general.
www.hypno-birthing.org.uk
Yes, there is. I'm aware of several studies, all with positive results. Here are two, but more will be added.
An article from Medscape
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 13 - Self-hypnosis during childbirth may ease some of the pain of labor, lower the risk of medical complications and reduce the need for surgery, study results suggest.
Hypnotherapy has been shown to reduce pain and the need for anesthesia, as well as ease anxiety and fear during childbirth, Dr. Paul G. Schauble and colleagues note in the Journal of Family Practice for May. The use of hypnosis during pregnancy to prepare women for delivery may be key since it gives them a sense of control, they say.
To investigate, the researchers, who are at the University of Florida in Gainesville, assigned 42 pregnant teenagers to receive either counseling or four sessions of instruction in self-hypnosis for childbirth. Teens in the hypnosis group learned deep relaxation and imagery techniques to help them cope with pain. They also received suggestions to help them respond to possible complications and boost their confidence in their ability to manage anxiety.
According to the report, only 1 of 22 patients in the hypnosis group remained in the hospital longer than 2 days after delivery, compared with 8 of 20 patients who did not learn self-hypnosis. None of the patients in the hypnosis group needed surgical intervention, compared with 60% of those in the non-hypnosis group.
In addition, fewer patients in the hypnosis group experienced complications such as high blood pressure or vacuum-assisted delivery, opted for medical anesthesia or oxytocin, or required medication after delivery.
"This study provides empirical data demonstrating that the use of hypnosis in preparing pregnant women for labor and delivery reduces the risk of complications, decreases the need for medical intervention...and promotes safer, more comfortable delivery for mother and child," Dr. Schauble told Reuters Health. "We anticipate this will lead to a reduction in the costs involved in childbirth."
J Fam Pract 2001;50:441-443.
And here's the abstract of a study of women giving birth in South Wales, which found that hypnotherapy shortened the first and second stages of labour. For women having their first babies, the first stage was reduced from an average of 9.3 hours to 6.4 hours, and the second stage from 50 minutes to 37 minutes on average. The differences for women having their second or later children were less dramatic, but it was still significant.
Jenkins MW, Pritchard MH.
Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1993 Mar;100(3):221-6
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of hypnotherapy on the first and second stages of labour in a large group of pregnant women.
DESIGN: A semi-prospective case control study in which women attending antenatal clinics were invited to undergo hypnotherapy.
SUBJECTS: One hundred twenty-six primigravid women with 300 age matched controls, and 136 parous women having their second baby with 300 age matched controls. Only women who had spontaneous deliveries were included.
SETTING: Aberdare District Maternity Unit, Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
INTERVENTION: Six sessions of hypnotherapy given by a trained medical hypnotherapist during pregnancy.
OUTCOME MEASURES: Analgesic requirements, duration of first and second stages of labour.
RESULTS: The mean lengths of the first stage of labour in the primigravid women was 6.4 h after hypnosis and 9.3 h in the control group (P < 0.0001); the mean lengths of the second stage were 37 min and 50 min, respectively (P < 0.001). In the parous women the corresponding values were 5.3 h and 6.2 h (P < 0.01); and 24 and 22 min (ns). The use of analgesic agents was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) in both hypnotised groups compared with their controls.
CONCLUSION: In addition to demonstrating the benefits of hypnotherapy, the study gives some insight into the relative proportions of mechanical and psychological components involved in the longer duration of labour in primigravid women.
PMID: 8476826 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Maggie Howell used self-hypnosis to such great effect in her own first labour that she went on to develop a range of Natal Hypnotherapy CDs for other mothers.
Steph found HypnoBirthing® very effective during her second baby's birth, and for third baby Rafferty it was invaluable in helping her to manage an extremely rapid labour which would have sent many women into shock and panic.
My own fifth baby, Athena, was born at home on 10 February 2007. I'd used the Natal Hypnotherapy CDs and I had a dream of a labour, far easier than the previous four.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith is a HypnoBirthing® instructor who has had some experience of using different hypnotherapy approaches in her own labours. Her first baby, Sebastian, was born in hospital after transferring when labour was long and tough. She didn't use hypotherapy for this labour. For her second baby, Flynn, she used hypnotherapy to help her manage labour. By the time she had Rafferty, she had trained as a HypnoBirthing® instructor, and she went on to have Violet at home too.
Katherine ended up with hospital inductions and one caesarean instead of the two homebirths she planned, but her HypnoBirthing® training still came in very useful. She explains:
"I did a Mongon-method HypnoBirthing® course, over 4 weekends. I highly recommend HypnoBirthing® - but you do need to practice regularly - every day really as the more you practice, the less time it takes to relax into it. It was great to sit and watch my stomach contract, but be so relaxed that it doesn't hurt!! Fab! Means we could sit and play scrabble and cards while midwives were wondering whether monitoring machine was working properly as "you should be REALLY feeling those strong contractions".
Paula used Natal Hypnotherapy training with great success and writes: "I still marvel at how wonderful Fraser's birth was. I will always remember it was a truly euphoric experience, and have no memory of pain".
Rachelle and Richard both write about their experience of hypnotherapy. Richard is a hypnotherapise himself, but his wife had always been scrptical. After the birth, she wrote:
"Basically I learnt how to take myself into deep relaxation, that lovely state you get to, just before falling asleep, or the state you get into when you daydream or meditate. Then I did things like learn how to breathe through contractions, draw on my own strength, develop a connection with all women throughout time who had ever gone through childbirth (very emotional and incredibly empowering) and things like developing faith and trust in my body and in nature that every thing would work out perfectly for me and baby. "
Julie Kennedy used the Natal Hypnotherapy CD to help her manage a long early labour with her second baby.
Victoria Whitworth found the combination of Natal Hypnotherapy and birth pool very effective.
Amber attended HypnoBirthing classes and her instructor came round to act as a labour supporter or doula for her first baby's birth.
Jackie Rickman used Natal Hypnotherapy.
Angela Hennessy used Natal Hypnotherapy
Anna Grube writes: "I had read about Maggie Howell's hypnobirthing CD's on this website, and purchased the one designed for homebirth preparation. I listened to it a few times a week from the beginning of the third trimester on, and then every day during the last few weeks of pregnancy. I had a pretty low success rate of managing to stay awake throughout the entire thing, but I still felt that it helped tremendously in preparing me mentally for the whole process of the labor and birth."
Hannah Worthington used Natal Hypnotherapy during a long labour at home, and remained very calm even after transferring to hospital for slow progress.
Danielle is a HypnoBirthing instructor who found the method very useful during her own labour at home: "The labour was everything I dreamed of:- pain free, calm, relaxed. The hypnobirthing was wonderful; the only time I felt pain was when his head crowned."
Helen M used Hypnobirthing when she had her first baby at home.
Rebecca N used Natal Hypnotherapy in her first labour, which included a difficult transition and second stage, pushing for three hours; her husband's support with the hypnotherapy made a clear difference at a crucial moment.
Charlie Paris found Natal Hypnotherapy very effective for the births of her first and second babies. Both were rapidly progressing labours, the second a BBA.
Natal Hypnotherapy (www.natalhypnotherapy.co.uk) - therapist Maggie Howell has produced a range of CDs for pregnancy and birth, including one especially for women planning a home birth. I used Maggie's CDs during my last pregnancy, before my fifth baby Athena was born in February 2007. It was a wonderful way to relax and rest in late pregnancy, made me feel very positive about the forthcoming birth, and for that alone I would recommend it. I also had a labour which was much, much shorter and easier than any of my others - I suspect it helped! The birthstory of Maggie's first baby, Joseph, is on this site.
Birth Hypnosis UK is home to the Birth-Hypnosis Register, a listing of independent hypnotherapists offering hypnotherapy and self hypnosis for birth.(www.birth-hypnosis-uk.org)
HypnoBirthing® UK - 'HypnoBirthing®' is a trademarked term referring to the Mongon method classes, and this is the umbrella organisation for its practitioners.
(www.HypnoBirthing.co.uk)
Email group for parents interested in using hypnosis for birth - international
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HypnoBabies
Good Childbirth - Dr Steven Reid's new book about making labour easier through mental preparation for birth, using self-hypnosis techniques.
(www.btinternet.com/~steven.reid/index.htm)
I have set up a collaborative Google document on Birth Hypnotherapists in the UK. You can view it to find a therapist near you, or add your own hypnotherapy practice - follow the link for info.
**********************************
You might also find the pages on Practical Preparation for Home Birth, Home Birth Plans and Antenatal Preparation for Home Birth interesting.
This page updated 13 November 2007
Home Birth Reference Page
Site Contents
www.homebirth.org.uk