hypnobirthing vs hypnobabies

[jenjenp]

Hello,

I'm preg with my 3rd and for the 1st 2 did Bradley. When preg with the 1st we took a hypnobirthing class and for some readon the whole thing was way too weird for me. The lady was creepy and I just couldn't trust her and I think that effected my experience. We ditched hypnobirthing and took a bradley class instead.

My first birth was fast and furious, Bradley techniques helped but I was in PAIN!!! Second birth slow and wonderful at first. But it just took so dang long to progress to the point of pushing that by the time I could push I was exhausted. Almost had to intervene with forceps, but didn't thank God I was able to push him out!

Fast forward to now. I am thinking that I should give hypno-something a try. Can anyone tell me the difference between the two>

Thanks,
Jennifer

[Sudonk]

Hi, Jennifer!

It's kind of hard to tell you the difference, because they have almost nothing in common, so the number of differences is huge. But since I took a HypnoBirthing class with my first and went on to use Hypnobabies for my other two, I can tell you a bit about my experience.

I was disappointed by HypnoBirthing and the overall lack of childbirth information, and really lack of guidance on what to do to make birth better. I kept asking my instructor, "Ok, but what do we DO?" and she really didn't have an answer. I was wildly underwhelmed by the CD we were supposed to use every.single.night. It was just some guided relaxation with a bit of chakra clearing, and really wasn't my thing. I do think it was better than nothing at all, but totally not worth the money. I wound up doing a bunch of research and getting some supplemental materials that taught me actual self-hypnosis skills and gave me real post-hypnotic suggestions that allowed me to have a comfortable birth. But even while I was giving birth, I kept telling my husband - "Next time we're learning Hypnobabies!"

During our second pregnancy, I got the Hypnobabies Home Study and was extremely impressed. It taught real, useful self-hypnosis, described in detail tons of ways to put the skills to practical use before, during and after the birth. It also tied the hypnosis in to "regular" natural childbirth techniques and provided all the same childbirth information in Bradley. I was extremely impressed with the materials, and really happy with the number of scripts, and depth of the self-hypnosis lessons. But when I gave birth, I really understood just how powerful Hypnobabies is. The "Eyes Open Childbirth Hypnosis" skill was amazing. I was able to easily move around chat and do whatever my body needed me to do for comfort or to help move the baby down. I was so calm and happy that my midwives didn't want to check me and have to send me home in the middle of the night. But when I insisted on an exam, they were shocked to find I was fully dilated and still smiling and acting "normal". Pushing was a breeze, despite the baby being born with his hand beside his head, and I was able to use the skills to remain so relaxed that I didn't even bruise, let alone tear. It was beyond wonderful. My Hypnobabies birth was downright fun! And I found it really easy to use the skills. I didn't even really think about it most of the time. All the post-hypnotic suggestions I had heard on the scripts were just there, keeping me comfortable and helping me work with my body. It was very intuitive. My second Hypnobabies birth was even easier, if you can believe it. 3 hours, start to finish, with no discomfort or tearing, despite a 25 second pushing period.

Having used both, I strongly recommend Hypnobabies, even if you weren't a fan of HypnoBirthing. They are way too different to let that bother you. I can't remember exactly where it is right now, but if you do a search for something like "free introductory Hypnobabies CD" or MP3 or something, you should be able to find a sample of the voice of the person who does the scripts, so you know in advance if you'd be ok with that aspect of it.

[ExuberantDaffodil]

I'm a huge fan of Hypnobabies! I can't compare it to anything else, though.

[St. Margaret]

LOVED my HBs homestudy/CDs. They needed to edit the booklet a bit, but it was basically all the info you'd need for learning about childbirth AND how to prepare yourself for it. We also took an in-person class that was a mix of various techniques, it was nice to connect and do some discussions, as a couple... I had a great outcome with HB (and using RRL tea I should note), very good first birth I think, and DH likes to tell people how I "napped" through transiition.

[jenjenp]

Thank you so much for the information. I am so thankful to you all. I'll give hypnobabies a try. I am relieved to know that it is different from hypnobirthing as that just was not informative enough and our instructor was downright creepy.

Thank you!!
Jennifer

[Lilcrunchie]

I'm late to this, but I've done both programs and liked both.

With my pregnancy with my son 6+ years ago DH and I did an in person hypnobirthing class held in our instructor's home. It was great, but mostly because *she* was great. She was also trained in shiatsu so she'd show partners some things they could do to help us that way, and she had a home recording studio and made us CDs with a bunch of tracks she narrated. So we had a LOT more variety than you typically get with Hypnobirthing (Mongan). If you didn't connect with the "rainbow relaxation" track, she had others for us. I did feel a little like...how can this work? What do I *do* in labor, etc. though. When labor kicked in, I just listened non stop to my various tracks, and DH and I just walked and walked (we were in a hospital attended by a CNM). That was working, so I just kept going with it, kwim?

With my 2nd, I used the Hypnobabies supplementary course which isn't really the full program (and I think they stopped selling the supplementary course, which was directed to those that had used Hypnobirthing previously). So I can't share the experience of doing the *full* hypnobabies program. However, it worked great, and it was nice to have the variety once again. With that labor (relatively fast...3 hours), I listened to my tracks for a bit at home, but once we arrived at the birth center, I just used the techniques. I wasn't really in the mood for the actual tracks. It was funny how I listened to them non stop with my son, but didn't really listen to them much with my labor with my DD. Both times it worked great though.

I'm pg with #3 and practice using both programs plus the extra tracks from my instructor.

I never liked the Hypnobirthing book. I also could never have dealt with DH reading me the scripts from within the book. I like to "be in my own head" in labor and would NOT have wanted anyone reading them to me.

I think my enjoyment of the Hypnobirthing class was that I had a great instructor and more variety than that program typically offers. I can see how without those things it would be less than satisfactory for some.