Hypnosis for Childbirth - Nature's Way

Whether you are expecting your first child or your eleventh the birth process can seem daunting, particularly if you had a previous difficult experience. There is however a way to reduce your levels of anxiety and let your body do the job nature programmed it to do. Hypnotherapy empowers you to trust your body to instinctively know what to do allowing you to relax and enjoy the experience. This may seem to contradict everything you have ever been told about the birth process but your body is designed to produce children, and is capable of managing the process without the need for you to think about it.

Stress and anxiety interfere with the body’s natural resources. Studies have shown that the use of hypnosis in childbirth reduces the length of labour and reduces the mother’s need for medication during the process. The benefits are not just limited to the birth as rates of post-natal depression have also been shown to be reduced.

Safe and effective

In the Journal of Family Practice, Dr Paul G. Schauble and colleagues noted that hypnotherapy reduced pain and the need for anaesthesia in women, as well as easing anxiety and fear. A subsequent study at the University of Florida found that women using hypnosis spent less time in hospital after the birth and needed less surgical intervention.

In a report in the British Journal of Obstetric Gynaecology 1993 March 100(3), 221-6 a study by Jenkins and Pritchard concluded that, for those mothers who had received hypnotherapy, the length of labour was reduced and the use of analgesia was also significantly reduced.

Relaxed and in control

Hypnotherapy provides a wonderful sense of calm and wellbeing and enables you to prepare emotionally for the most fantastic event in your life – the safe arrival of your precious child. You will be able to view the birth process with confidence and an inner strength. A calm outlook also benefits your baby and ‘hypnobabies’ record higher Apgar scores, a test that is conducted immediately after birth. 

Hypnotherapy for birth gives a decreased perception of pain and a greater ability to manage the sensations of labour. It is possible for some women to eliminate pain completely and feel only pressure. While this may not be achievable for everyone we are all capable of decreasing our perception of pain and increasing our ability to cope with it. Mothers who deliver their babies using hypnosis report positive feedback on the whole experience and feel better able to cope with any challenges of motherhood.

The use of hypnosis for childbirth also allows your partner to feel more engaged with the experience as they are involved in maintaining the right conditions for hypnosis to do it’s work, and they are able to witness their partner relaxed and in control.

How does it work?

Hypnotherapy for childbirth uses powerful suggestions for relaxation and confidence as well as suggestions for analgesia, and the sessions usually begin at the start of your second trimester. The sessions also teach you self-hypnosis techniques for you to use during labour as well as ways in which your birth partner can assist you through the birth.  

Q Hypnotherapy is based in Whitstable and ideally located for Herne Bay, Faversham and Canterbury.