Hypnobirthing – It offers more than you think!

Hypnobirthing supports the entire perinatal period, and one could be forgiven for thinking it’s all about the birth… it isn’t! Yes hypnobirthing is about preparation and practice for birth, it’s about lots of little things that are done during pregnancy that make a big difference to the experience of birth, but it has a much wider impact. It can positively impact the postnatal recovery, the baby’s experience, and the bond that is developed with baby. It also influences feelings about giving birth again in the future. Naturally women that have had a good experience of birth will feel better about doing it again in the future.

As a specialist mental health midwife I see time and time again the impact on women and partners of negative experiences of birth, I know that when things don’t go well for couples it can be devastating and very challenging to deal with, and can take a long time to recover from. Of course a negative experience of birth does not necessarily relate to ‘what happened’, but more about ‘how it felt’ at the time.  For example, a woman can give birth in a way that may be deemed as straightforward, but can feel traumatised for one reason or another, and alternatively a woman may experience a very complicated birth, but feel it was a positive experience, and this is an important distinction to make. Hypnobirthing is not about the ‘type of birth’, yes it certainly does help to facilitate a straightforward physiological comfortable birth, but it also supports couples to feel empowered, in control, and calm throughout the pregnancy and during the birth experience.

 

Benefits – to name but a few!

– Releases fear of giving birth, allowing mother to look forward to her baby’s birthday!

– Gives partner practical techniques to help the birth process, and highlights the importance of their role during labour and birth process

– Strengthens the relationship between the couple by exploring relaxation and breathing techniques together, making decisions together, and spending regular dedicated time to focus on their baby which helps promote family bonding

– Boosts confidence in mothers ability to give birth by providing knowledge of the birth process and how to promote this

– Aids informed decision making by providing evidence based resources and knowledge of the maternity system, enabling couples to feel confident to deal with situations if things stray away from their preferred path

– Birth will be more comfortable and calm with less need for medical forms of pain relief, which will mean that both mum and baby will be more alert around the time of birth to support baby’s instinct and ability to start feeding sooner.

– Baby has a calmer experience of birth

– Increased ‘feel good’ hormones at birth that will promote positive feelings and facilitate bonding with baby

– Parents will learn skills that can be used for life to promote and enhance emotional wellbeing for the whole family