Pregnancy can put a lot of pressure on women, and labor can place a large strain on the body, something that can lead to a tense and painful birth experience.
For some pregnant women, the pain experienced can get to the point where it is almost unbearable, which is why many of those women who are pregnant seek aid through hypnobirthing, allowing them to bring the pain in their bodies down.
So how can something such as hypnobirthing make vaginal birth easier, and does a hypnobirth help with the pushing stage of labor? These are questions this article will answer.
So let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What Is Hypnobirthing?
Hypnobirthing is an approach to childbirth that aims to reduce stress and pain by using relaxation, breathing techniques and positive affirmations to help women cope with labor and birth.
The goal of these techniques is to reduce fear, anxiety, and tension surrounding childbirth, which can lead to a more comfortable, efficient, and empowering birth experience.
This process generally involves attending in-person or online hypnobirthing classes, where you learn techniques for relaxation, breathing, visualization, and self-hypnosis.
How Does Hypnobirthing Help?
Hypnobirthing techniques are designed to help women enter a state of deep relaxation and focus during labor and birth, which can reduce pain, promote natural hormones in labor, and improve the overall birth experience.
The birth partner also plays an important role in hypnobirthing, as they must ensure that the mom is comfortable in their birth room and that they are breathing properly.
Birth partners are also there to help encourage them to relax and to breathe deeply, allowing the mother to take and breathe in more oxygen, which is essential for the process.
While hypnobirthing is not for everyone, many women find it a helpful, relaxing and empowering approach to childbirth.
Is Hypnobirth A Natural Birth?
One of the concerns held by many pregnant women and moms is that they want their babies to be born naturally.
However, it can be difficult for them to find a way of ensuring that the birthing process is natural, while easing as much pain from their own body as possible.
Hypnobirthing techniques are all completely natural, and involve employing a variety of breathing techniques as the body progresses through labor to the pushing stage.
By utilizing these techniques, moms are able to relax, breathe and push much better than they usually would.
By helping mom feel relaxed, her body can do what it needs to do naturally, and this is usually the best way to ensure a positive birth experience for a vaginal birth.
A hypnobirth allows a natural birth that gives the mom plenty of feeling and control over her body during the birth of their baby while managing labor pain.
Does A Hypnobirth Help With The Pushing Stage Of Labour?
Pregnancy is difficult enough, but one of the most painful and tiring parts of giving birth is when it comes for a mother to begin pushing out the baby’s head, which can be a long and excruciating process.
Most women find that they have to push for hours in order to be able to get their baby out. So how can these techniques help to provide a more positive birth?
The answer lies in the intense relaxation and calmness that women feel when they hypnobirth. A woman who is fearful will tense up subconsciously, and her body will try to slow down labor until the perceived danger has passed.
This is what causes the long, slow, pushing process.
A woman who is calm, relaxed and feeling in control will find she doesn’t have to fight against her body, and the pushing process can happen so much faster.
Does Hypnobirthing Help With Tearing?
As most moms will be able to tell you, the worst thing about birthing is that it can lead to vaginal tearing, which can be extremely painful.
The best way to combat this?
To control your breathing, and ensure you are relaxed throughout.
That’s because one of the biggest contributors to tearing is the gripping and tensing of the pelvic floor.
Many moms are often so scared about a tear, that they refuse to release their pelvic floor, which can increase the pressure on your body, and increase the chances of a tear.
Hypnobirthing is one of the best ways of preventing a tear from happening as it helps to teach moms how to relax their pelvic floor.
Best Hypnobirthing Techniques
There are many other techniques out there, such as the Mongan Method, Katharine Graves, Kathryn Clark, Mindful Mama, and more.
We also have our own hypnobirthing techniques, which are based on a cognitive hypnotherapy approach.
They all have a similar philosophy at their core – that relaxation is key to success.
And breathing is one of the main keys to relaxation.
There are many breathing techniques that work well, such as J-breathing (demonstrated in this video).
Final Thoughts
The roots of hypnobirthing go back to at least 1942, and the work of British Obstetrician, Grantly Dick-Read. The philosophy is simple – reduce fear and tension and a woman’s body can handle the pushing stage of labor with ease.
With enough practice, hypnobirthing techniques can be extremely helpful for any mom who wants to lessen the pain of childbirth, and to help make the pushing phase much easier.
By ensuring that your breathing is regulated and that you relax, you’ll be able to ensure that your childbirth is a successful one.
If you feel like you’re going to be scared to push, and you want to help make sure that you have better control over your body during labor, then learning hypnobirthing will help you push much easier, and will allow you to push out your baby in no time.
If you feel like this is going to be something that will help you, then check out my downloadable hypnobirthing program!
