hypnobirthing - does it work?

[byngo]

Hi, does anyone have any views on this, good or bad? If anyone has a CD I could borrow if they felt it worked then that would be fab too. Am due in 2 weeks so could return fairy soonish (hopefully) Thanks.

[Fuschia]

It does work, certainy in the sense that it relaxes you and gives you positive expectations of labour. I have never actuallu tried the techniques in labour (you'd need a coach) but I did listen to an mp3 in the early stages. Both my births (ds1 - 8lb 7, plus twins later on) have been easy and ecstatic.

I did find that the techniques helped me alleviate backpain... they do work!

[sparkle]

I'd say it's definitely worth a try, even if it only gives you another strategy to use. I used a cd in the run up to my third birth, and it was definitely the easiest birth of all- same speed and intensity of the second, but I did, honestly feel much more positive and able to cope with the labour. Can't say for definite that was all down to the cd, but I do think it helped- being able to relax can only help reduce pain. Sorry would lend you the cd but have a friend I've already promised it to.

[Fuschia]

The library should have Marie Mongan's book and CD... they told me they would order it, though I can't see it in their online catalogue

[Sanne Panne]

My experience is a bit like Fuschia's. The hypnobirthing book (and to an extent cd although I wasn't too crazy about the voices on any of the CDs which made it harder to get "into" it) was one of the various things that helped me feel very confident about being able to have a natural birth. Before reading the book or listening to the CDs I thought I wanted to have a proper hypnobirth but after feeling so-so about a few things in the book and not getting into hypnosis during a session with a local hypnotherapist I decided to just use the method for general relaxation and confidence purposes.

I had a great homebirth, mainly using one of the breathing techniques and one of the birthing positions learned during pregnancy yoga (all the other techniques we learned at yoga were great during class and during mid to late pregnancy but I ended up using just one of each for birth - good enough for me!) and again, the confidence built up during the chats we had with the teacher in and after class was the most important bit.

Another thought that helped me loads was "everyone in Holland does it naturally, my mum did, my sister did, my friends did so I can do it too" (I grew up in Holland where epidurals are only available for medical emergencies. I don't agree with this policy - you should be able to choose - but it did provide me with a large pool of evidence of successful natural births).

With two weeks to go you're probably a bit late to go for a full immersion or conversion to the hypnobirthing method, but I'm sure that it'll help you get focus and rest.

Just my opinion and experience of course!

[Emski]

I would firmly advocate that positive thinking and training yourself not to be scared of birth/contractions does help. I did a short course on hypnobirthing with a lovely local practitioner, Natalie at yoursmaternally.co.uk, and coped well with several days of contractions. Sounds a horror story, but they genuinely didn't hurt while I was in the right mindset. Unfortunately I had my heart set on a home birth, so when I had to go into hosp due to failure to progress, I lost my focus completely, and then it bl**dy hurt!!

I tried reading the Marie Mongan book but was far too airy fairy for my taste, and made a lot of claims I simply couldn't believe. I found the term 'hypnobirthing' very misleading, as in my case (and as several above say) it had nothing to do with what I would think of as hypnosis.

Would highly recommend Natalie. Maybe you could give her a bell to see if she thinks you have enough time to fit in sufficient sessions? Good luck!

[CF]

hi, it worked for me with both my big boys - i did a session with jane crowe at the grove vale practice and she taught me how to self hypno etc - definatly reccommend!

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[healthylulu]

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