Hypnobirthing - A CALM PREGNANCY & LABOUR

 Hypnobirthing 

Doctors and scientists have studied the benefits of meditation on pregnant women and they have shown that it can help mums-to-be throughout pregnancy and especially at birth. Mums who have high levels of stress or anxiety during pregnancy are more likely to deliver their babies at preterm or low birth weights.

Hypnobirthing is a method of pain management that can be used during labour and birth. It involves using a mixture of visualisation, relaxation and deep breathing techniques.

Breathing techniques have been a vital part of antenatal classes since the beginning, hyponobirthing adds visualisation and mindfullness to help you focus on the birth of your baby. There are also several affirmations used during the practice of hypnobirthing throughout the latter stage of your pregnancy.

 

What is involved?

 

 Hypnosis focuses on preparing a woman for birth by shifting her view of labour from a painful and gruelling experience to a positive one.

Every women's experience of labour pain is different in intensity; but fear, tension and anxiety can heighten it and not only lengthen the labour but make it seem more painful to mum.

The mental and physical activities practised through hypnobirthing can lessen this and lead to a shorter more easily managed labour. 

Hypnobirthing experts can create an altered state of conscious awareness. Hypnobirthing involves learning techniques that you can use in preparation for and during labour like:

 

• visualisation
• pregnancy and birth affirmations
• relaxation
• deep breathing
• self-hypnosis
• mindfulness.

 

These skills enable your body and mind to work together, helping you to release any fears or anxieties that you may have.

Using self-hypnosis techniques to induce deep relaxation helps to reduce pain during labour. When you are in a calm and relaxed state, endorphins are released, which are the body’s natural painkillers.

You can learn these techniques by reading about them online, listening to podcasts or hypnobirthing pre-recordings or attending a class/121 session in person.

Advantages of Hypnobirthing

 

• 77% of HypnoBirthing parents who birthed vaginally did so without epidural anesthesia
• 45% of HypnoBirths happened in eight hours or less
• 17% of HypnoBirthing parents birthed via cesarean-section, compared with the national average of 33%
• 9.5% of HypnoBirthing parents chose to birth in the comfort of their homes (the national average is less than 1%)
• 6% of HypnoBirthing parents chose to birth in freestanding birth centers (the national average is less than 1%)

*Data provided by the HypnoBirthing Institute, between 2005-2010