HypnoBirthing® Benefits

 

 HypnoBirthing Benefits Why is it so good?

 
The HypnoBirthing® Advantage

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"I have attended over 200 births of women who prepared for birth
using the techniques and philosophy of HypnoBirthing® - The Mongan Method.
All of the families have left their birthings excited about the birth event. I have had no complications.
No babies needed oxygen or any other support other than warming by mother's body.
My C-section count is three - in as many years.  I have given no analgesic drugs since I began using HypnoBirthing® with mothers."

Lorne R. Campbell, Sr M.D, Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Mercer School of Medicine, 2009
The Benefits: Why is HypnoBirthing® so good?   

The effects and proven benefits on mother, baby and birth partner of using the HypnoBirthing® Programme has been monitored and evaluated closely by the HypnoBirthing Institute since its inception in 1989. The proven benefits of the programme that have been identified consistently over time from both parental surveys and feedback and from scientific outcomes from clinical trials are as follows

  1. Teaches deep levels of relaxation to release and eliminate the fear and negative emotions that causes tension and, thus, pain.

  2. Greatly reduces and often eliminates the need for chemical painkillers and drugs, episiotomy, and other medical or surgical intervention

  3.  Significantly fewer surgical births.

  4.  High number of comfortable, natural births with no technological assistance.

  5. A high rate of success in assisting babies to turn into appropriate birthing position with the use of posture and deep relaxation; thus lowering the chance of a breech birth.

  6. Shortens labour by upto several hours. The first stage of labour can be reduced by anything between 2-4 hours.

  7. Teaches breathing techniques that allow a woman to gently breathe her baby into the world, rather than pushing for long, exhausting periods of time. Reduces risk of pelvic floor damage.

  8. Mothers don’t run the risk of hyperventilating from shallow breathing.

  9. Leaves mother fresh, awake and energised as she brings her baby into the world.

  10. Greatly reduces the risk of post-natal depression due to experiencing a much gentler, calmer and less painful birth.

  11. Helps keep oxygen supplied to the baby during birthing.

  12. Supports and encourages pre-birth parenting and bonding of mother, birth partner and baby before, during and after birth.

  13. The birth companion is an integral part of the birth rather than a helpless onlooker.

  14. Babies are better adjusted and happier, resulting in better eating and sleeping routines.

  15. Enables mothers to increase their milk flow by using the relaxation techniques learned in class, if they are intending to breastfeed.

  16. Empowers parents with techniques to achieve a gentle, calm, safe birth for themselves and their baby.

  17. Teaches birthing techniques that can be used again and again with any future births. 

  18. Teaches relaxation techniques that can be used anytime in the future when life gets stressful and tense for whatever reason. 
The Supportive Role of Your Birth Companion

The attendance and active involvement of your birth companion or birth partner on the course ensures that they feel confident and are fully able to support you. 

Instead of standing by helplessly, uncertain of how to best support you, HypnoBirthing®  gives them a very central role in the birthing process.  By taking care of the practical side of the birthing, mum is free to focus on her body and baby and the HypnoBirthing techniques at each stage without needing to be unnecssarily involved in unhelpful distractions.  In addition, the birth companion's role is to support mum in a hands-on way in making full use of the hypnobirthing techniques during labour and birth. You will learn the full HypnoBirthing® programme together in class, including the techniques, before practising them in preparation for the birth.

As well as helping you to feel really supported during pregnancy, labour and birth,  birth partners report that their active involvement in the birth creates a close bond between you and with your baby.  This is one of the most significant course benefits for you all. 
Additionally, partners report their sense of pride at having such an effective and integral role in labour and birth.
 
“HypnoBirthing is beneficial for birth partners, in particular fathers, as it provides them with a practical role during the labour and birth and enables them to remain calm, informed and in tune with the birth process.”  Nathalie, UK independant midwife

To read more about your birth companion's attendance at classes, read our Birth Companion's FAQ response: Go to FAQ→

If you have decided to give birth without a companion or partner being present you can still benefit from the HypnoBirthing programme.  To read more about this, go to our FAQ response: Click here→

The Supportive Role of Your Birth Companion

The Supportive Role of Your Birth Companion
When Birth Plans Change?

In a small minority of births, special circumstances can arise – for example, needing to be induced when you go significantly past your due date or sometimes even needing a caesarean.  Even in this situation, women can still use and  benefit greatly from the HypnoBirthing techniques to have a calm, positive birth experience.  Therefore, you are not set up to fail if your birth plan changes for whatever reason.

Of course I cannot promise you a ‘perfect’ birth – no one can do that – but I can promise you a far, far more comfortable and calm birth than you would have had otherwise, provided you learn and practise the simple Hypnobirthing techniques . 

For more information on the suitability of HypnoBirthing where a caesarean section is planned due to special circumstances go to the FAQs page of this site:  Go to Special Circumstances FAQ→
Beneficial outcomes from scientific studies

Recent meta-analyses of controlled clinical trials identified beneficial outcomes associated with the use of hypnosis in labour demonstrated that prenatal hypnosis can:

  • Bring substantial pain relief in 75% of cases (Montgomery, DuHamel & Redd, 2000).   

  • Radically reduce or even eliminate pain, the need for fewer epidurals and a reduction in augmentation of labour (Cyna, Andrew & McAuliffe, 2006). 

  • The alpha brainwave state present in hypnosis automatically creates endorphin release (Motha, 2004).  200 times more powerful than morphine, endorphins create the tranquil amnesiac state that occurs near completion for all birthing mammals.

  • Bring about better birth outcomes than for women who did not undergo hypnosis. Further assessment suggested that hypnosis worked by preventing negative emotional factors from leading to an complicated birth outcome (Mehl-Madrona, 2004).

  • Bring a significant reduction in the use of analgesia during childbirth (VandeVusse et al. 2007).

  • Result in a decrease in the duration of both first and second stages of labour in women (Brown & Hammond, 2007). 

  • Bring about a reduction in fear and lack of pain  in labouring women (Abbasi et al., 2009; qualitative study).   

PLEASE NOTE - For a list of references of studies reported on click here→
What Midwives Think

Whilst it would be impossible to speak for all midwives, there is certainly evidence of an increasingly positive reception towards HypnoBirthing®  from UK midwives, both independant and in the NHS and from the Royal College of Midwifery itself.
A significant and growing number of UK midwives are certified HypnoBirthing practitioners as a result of their positive experiences of supporting women in having hypnobirths both at home, in hospital or in birthing centres or midwife-led birthing units across the UK.

The fact that midwives witness women feeling more calm and confident during labour and birth and, in the absence of special circumstances, with a reduced likelihood of needing drugs, medical intervention and surgical births means that midwives are generally very supportive of HypnoBirthing mums and their partners.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has in January 2012 announced that one of its most prestigious awards for Promoting Normal Birthing has been given to two Scottish midwives for their work using HypnoBirthing® (the Mongan Method) to help women overcome their fear of childbirth. You can read all about this very positive response to HypnoBirthing and its benefits  in the RCM's press release:  Click here→

In my own experience, the midwives at Rotherham Hospital were extremely supportive and respectful of the decision of myself and my husband to use HypnoBirthing during the labour and birth of our son.  They were also extremely impressed with my ability to cope so well throughout, and how energised I was immediately after the birth.  They mentioned being particulalrly impressed  with and supportive of the gentle introduction to the world that we gave to our son, the relaxed, peaceful ambience that we created in our hospital room, the gentle birthing techniques and the early bonding methods that we used immediately after his birth.

It is good news to be able to say that all of the couples I have taught HypnoBirthing to so far, have had similar very positive experiences with their midwives at hospitals across South Yorkshire.
NEXT: Click here to return to the HypnoBirthing® webpage:  Return to HypnoBirthing® page→

To request further information or to book your place on the programme (classes in Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley, Wakefield, Worksop, Sheffield and beyond) - Check out our FAQs page first and then contact Clare Moore at Birth Freedom using these links:
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