Research suggests hypnobirthing has significant impact on post natal wellbeing.
Every day in advent, I’ll be bringing you the latest maternity statistics or interesting facts plus busting some maternity myths! Welcome to the antenatal advent calendar!
Does hypnobirthing work? Is hypnobirthing real?
Yes, it’s my speciality, but I’m proud to say that hypnobirthing can be taught from an evidence based perspective. A three-year NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) funded study into the effectiveness of self-hypnosis during childbirth found that it had a significant impact on the women’s levels of postnatal anxiety and fear about childbirth. There was also a reduction in the number of women taking epidural pain relief whilst using the techniques.
One of the participants, who has since gone onto have another baby and practised self-hypnosis during both pregnancies, commented: “Hypnotherapy is something that I had never considered before. I have an anxious personality and friends had suggested that it might be something that I could try, particularly during labour. The hypnobirthing script provided during the trial was easy to listen to and during the latter stage of my pregnancy I practiced it twice a day. I think that this was the key to it being successful during my labours. I would highly recommend this technique to women as I had big babies and with the help of the hypnobirthing was relaxed and in control. I used gas and air with one labour and nothing with my second.”
Maria Williamson, a Midwife at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust who took part in the study, said: “Women and their families engaged so well with the sessions, you could see their confidence grow. Their ability to remain calm and relaxed enabled them to have a positive birth experience. For me as a midwife, to see a family begin is a privilege but to experience women and their birth companions leaving the sessions not terrified about giving birth, but actually feeling excited about meeting their babies, was truly amazing.”
The only downside to using hypnosis, according to the study, was that maternity staff were less likely to believe a woman was in active labour.
Professor Downe added: “The results suggest that self-hypnosis poses no danger to participants. However, if self-hypnosis is offered to women, maternity care staff will need to be made aware of how relaxed some women can appear when they are using self-hypnosis, even if they are actually in strong labour.”