London - Keeping mothers-to-be calm and relaxed is crucial to helping them cope with the pain of labour.
Now as well as breathing techniques and the reassuring support of a partner, many women are using an alternative method to deal with contractions – self-hypnosis.
One hospital has seen a 20-fold increase in the number of expectant mothers taking courses in the practice ahead of their due date. Colchester Hospital University Trust began running its scheme in 2012, when it attracted just 48 women.
Now they are hosting ten “hypnobirthing” courses a month and believe there will be up to 960 women attending this year.
“Hypnobirthing is where water-birthing was 20 years ago,” said Teri Gavin-Jones, a midwife at the trust. “Back then it was considered a bit weird and there was a lot of scepticism among medics.
“But now every trust in the country does water births. Give it ten years and hypnobirthing will be standard antenatal practice.”
New mother Rachel Chilver admitted being initially “quite sceptical” of the idea. However after learning more about the process, she said it helped to make the experience of giving birth to her daughter six months ago “absolutely amazing”.
“There was a sensation, but I wouldn’t say it was pain,” said the 35-year-old, who lives in Colchester, Essex. “It was pressure, I needed to use a breathing technique, but I didn’t ever go ‘ooh, pain’.”
Katharine Graves, founder of KG Hypnobirthing which runs courses, claims the technique can even help women avoid all pain. “Hypnobirthing works on the premise that it’s unnatural to have pain in the first place,” she said. “The root of the problem is fear because everybody “knows” that birth is painful. If you’re in my world you frequently get reports of women saying birth was the most empowering experience and no drugs were needed.”
Daily Mail