You can begin HypnoBirthing® any time, but we recommend from 20 weeks so that you have ample time to practise the self-hypnosis, relaxation and other effective techniques for gentle, easy birthing. If you are at least 34 weeks, we encourage a Private Session.

HypnoBirthing® teaches you everything you need to know in order to have a safer, easier, more comfortable birthing.

Other childbirth methods focus on the belief that pain in childbirth is inevitable. They teach you how to cope with pain, or even how you can achieve ‘empowerment’ through pain. HypnoBirthing® teaches you that pain during childbirth is not inevitable. Through HypnoBirthing® you will learn how to actually relax to such a point to reduce or even eliminate pain entirely while birthing. 

Rather than exhausting, shallow breathing and the distraction techniques of typical ‘prepared childbirth’ programs, you will learn deep abdominal breathing and total relaxation, which will allow you to achieve a shorter and more comfortable labour. 

Only if you would like to. Antenatal classes do cover a broad range of information from pregnancy to parenting, however most hospital-based antenatal classes tend to focus on complications. Parents who take childbirth classes that do teach about complications often end up afraid that those things will happen during their babies' births. Learning about what could go wrong can replace previous fears about childbirth with new ones about complications. This is why HypnoBirthing® only focuses on the positive, on reducing fears and letting go of negative beliefs, so that you can be truly relaxed during your birth experience. 

Yes, HypnoBirthing® works wonderfully for first-time mothers. The great thing about the first time giving birth is that you don't have certain expectations based on your previous birth experiences. You can adopt positive beliefs about birth more easily and can make good decisions to create a positive birth experience without having to go through a negative experience first.

Yes, HypnoBirthing® works well for women who have given birth before. Through self-hypnosis, HypnoBirthing® will help you release your fears, anxieties, and negative thoughts about birth based on your previous experience. This in turn will allow you to learn how to relax deeply - a skill you probably didn't have when giving birth before. With your new HypnoBirthing® skills your future birth experiences will be profoundly different from past ones. 

Yes, because of the deep relaxation and specialised breathing techniques you will learn in your HypnoBirthing® classes, you will be able birth your baby gently and easily. You will learn how to work with your body's natural pulsating rhythms, without the forceful, violent pushing taught in other ante-natal methods, which can put a strain on your uterus during VBAC. 

The Birth Companion of the mother’s choice is an integral part of the HypnoBirthing® experience. He or she practises with the mother in helping to prepare for deep relaxation. During labour the Birth Companion guides the labouring mother through hypnosis prompts, relaxation techniques, deepening methods, and visualizations, provides comfort measures, and joins in welcoming the new baby, often by receiving the baby as he emerges.

Despite misconceptions and misinformation, you are definitely not unconscious during self-hypnosis. Though you will be deeply relaxed, you will be completely aware and may return to a conversant state or choose to become mobile whenever you desire. HypnoBirthing® mothers often find that they experience time distortion and are not distracted by other people or their birthing environment while they focus on their birthing and their baby.

Absolutely. The things you will learn in your HypnoBirthing® classes will help you to learn relaxation skills that will be useful to both you and your baby, regardless of your birth experience. In the event that medical intervention of any sort is needed, you will find yourself better able to remain calm and in control. Mothers who have needed scheduled cesareans for medical reasons report that they were totally relaxed before, during and after the procedure. Many report that they needed little or no medication following the birth, and they were able to return to normal functioning in a very short period of time.

More and more care providers are becoming aware of the benefits of HypnoBirthing®. 

If your care giver is not knowledgeable about HypnoBirthing®, take the opportunity early in your pregnancy to discuss the techniques you will be using and the type of calm birthing environment that you desire. In class, you will learn how to create a plan of Birth Preferences, which will help you to communicate your birthing goals and preferences to your doctor or midwife. 

Your Birth Companion: Partner, Husband, Friend, Doula, Mother, Sister etc. Your birth companion will be someone who supports your gentle birth wishes and whom you trust and can rely on.

No we don't, however HypnoBirthing® mothers often report feeling nothing more than 'tightening' and/or 'pressure' from the surges. During an undisturbed labour and birth, your body produces hormones called endorphins which are up to 50 times stronger than morphine. Endorphins have a pain-numbing effect and also create within you a wonderful euphoric feeling. Through HypnoBirthing® you will learn how to increase the release of your own endorphins during labour.