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Can Hypnobirthing Lead to Pain-Free Labor and Delivery?
Filed under: In The News, Delivery
Would you try hypnobirthing? Credit: Getty
The concept is a lot like using hypnosis for smoking, weight loss and breaking other bad habits. Expectant moms are trained to relax on demand and avoid dwelling on pain, which can lead to a natural and relatively pain-free labor, the newspaper says. Costs for the courses range from about $140 for home kits and CDs to $500 for the growing number of classes, the Journal adds.
So, how does the hypnosis work during delivery? Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation, where a person is particularly susceptible to the power of suggestion, David Spiegel, psychiatry professor at Stanford University, tells the Journal. Successfully used for weight loss, smoking cessation and pain management, when people are hypnotized, their brains are better able to alter perception of different senses, including feeling less pain, he adds.
Critics worry such programs may set up a pain-free birthing ideal that sets prospective birthing moms up for unreal expectations in a process that can be fraught with possible complications, Nancy Chescheir, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina, tells the Journal. She says it's important to be flexible and open to medical interventions if necessary.
"You can't predict how your labor is going to go," Chescheir tells the newspaper. "The childbirth education experience should be about 'How can I partner with my provider?' "
Cassie Friesen of Broomfield, Colo., tells the Journal she imagined she was inside a bubble and repeated the word "peace" with each contraction when she gave birth to her daughter last July.
"It's so corny-sounding," she tells the newspaper, "and yet it worked."
HypnoBirthing LLC was started in Chichester, N.H., in the early 1990s by Marie Mongan, a former college counselor trained in hypnotherapy and author of the book "HypnoBirthing," the Journal reports.
Today, more than 1,300 certified "Mongan Method" instructors guide couples through visualization sequences such as "opening rose" and "rainbow relaxation," to be used during delivery, according to the newspaper.
Hypnobabies LLC, in Stanton, Calif., began in a community center and now sells classes and self-study kits to some 20,000 women a year, founder Kerry Tuschhoff tells the Journal. Her method promotes "eyes-open childbirth hypnosis," in which women are said to remain in deep hypnosis even as they walk, talk and move around the room during labor.
"Many Hypnobabies' moms have pain-free and fear-free births," Tuschhoff tells the newspaper, adding that the pain of childbirth is transformed into "comfortable feelings."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
12-11-2010 @ 8:24PM
Sarah said...Screw you Chescheir and "partnering with your provider." Last I checked OB's only show up to catch a baby or slice you open. Managing pain is really up to the mom and how she chooses. Not all moms want 900 interventions and a "medical birth." A "provider" should EMPOWER women and maybe we wouldn't have so many "complications"...oh wait, that might not be as profitable. Forget it, let's give everyone c-sections and then sit around a wonder why health insurance costs have gone up.
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12-11-2010 @ 9:41PM
m. linzey M.D. said...Sarah if you really feel that way stay home and have your child at home!! You sound angry and ignorant when you talk of doctors that way!!! How about hypno appendectomy????
12-11-2010 @ 9:41PM
elinzey said...you are ignorant Sarah..we get paid no more for c/sections than vaginal delivery and we have gone thru 12 years of training post high school...which is more years than you went to school at all!!!! Get your data right before you open your mouth and show wvweryone how ignorant you are!!!!
12-11-2010 @ 11:14PM
Hooper said...You two "doctors" sound very unprofressional responding to Sarah that way.
12-12-2010 @ 1:51AM
Linda Klauschie said...Perhaps the doctors are tired of so many people thinking they only perform their work for the money. Most physicians are very dedicated and want to help their patients remain as healthy as possible at all times. Yes, they make good money, but many also have 100s of thousands in student loans to pay back.
4-20-2011 @ 2:50PM
Kristen said...I agree! That is why the infant/mother mortality rate in the U.S. is worse than 40 other countries, why our c-section rate is through the roof (some hospitals have c-section rates close to 70%!!) and for the supposed "doctors" to say that they don't get paid more for a c-section than for a vag. delivery is an out and out lie.
I had 3 c-sections, I KNOW how much went to my doctor - I asked for a copy of what he billed my insurance, and for an explanation of how they pay out - and BELIEVE ME - it was WAY more. He got $18,000 for my c-section (just ONE) and would have gotten $3,500 for a vag. And that was just HIS fee. Not including the hospital bill, 3 day stay, meds, baby care, etc.
If doctors really cared about their customers, then they wouldn't have such high c-section rates, and practice fear based (fear of litigation, NOT fear of harm to the mother/baby) medicine instead of evidence based medicine.
So, my question for those "doctors" are: are you ob/gyns? If so, what is your/ your practice's c-section rate?
If a woman can find a way to make her childbirth a better experience without intervention from doctors who want her to quickly deliver in an unnatural way, then more power to her. The less medicine she uses, the more likely she is to avoid a c-section.
Women have been birthing babies for thousands of years before there were doctors.
You have to ask yourself: is all this medical intervention actually helping the women, or hurting them? Why do countries that use midwives for births have healthier moms/babies?
12-11-2010 @ 8:40PM
nancy said...I have been a labor and delivery nurse for most of 42 years...this is nothing new..it was done, sometimes successfully in the 60's...there is nothing new under the sun..
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12-11-2010 @ 9:02PM
Ruth Louison said...I gave birth under hypnosis in 1969. It was absolutely painless, as was my recovery. No drugs, totally calm and relaxed. It was a great experience.
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12-11-2010 @ 9:27PM
mani said...same idea as lamase- worked wonders- this is not a new idea.JUST A COPY CAT
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12-11-2010 @ 9:48PM
Catherine McGaughey said...two of my children were born in Navy hospitals ans mainly it was either suck it up or an epederal I chose to suck it up, Had the middle child in a civilian hospital and they were shocked that I chose to suck it up. Whatever drugs you take for the pain go straight to the baby, and hpnosis was not an option,nor would have chosen that. I know some women have a low pain tolerence, but we've been giving birth since the time of Eve
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12-12-2010 @ 2:39AM
Sheila said...We may be related but our name is spelled without the e.
12-11-2010 @ 9:51PM
Pat De Range said...This sounds all well and fine, but I think I'm one of those people who can't be hypnotised mainley because when some one asks if I can visulize some thing (I can't), I see nothing. And from what I remember of my BACK labor I don't think I would have been able to hear them let alone listen to them.
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12-11-2010 @ 10:16PM
Nancy said...I used self hypnosis with my second child. My first birthing experience was to deliver naturally, in a Naval Hospital, no drugs, not even allowed to have my husband with me. Three days labor and 11 pound 13 ounce baby later, I swore I would never have another baby. This was 1977. In '79, here we go again... But I studied everything I could find on hypnosis, since the trend was to have "natural" childbirth, no drugs even offered. IT WORKED!!! Three hours of labor, not one bit of pain, was so relaxed that they had to manually press my daughter down from the top of my abdomen. She weighed 12 pounds, 6 ounces. I don't even remember much of the labor process, just that I was so relaxed it seemed that it was a breeze. Did the same for my third one, ten years later when they induced me, but ended up with a c-section for her. And she was little! 9 pounds, 3 ounces! But she was uncooperative... Highly recommend hypnosis, it works if you are open to it as I was!
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12-12-2010 @ 12:04AM
katodd1978 said...No, No....I think I will try it. I'm pregnant with my 5th child. I'm up for "New" things. I gave birth this past Feburary to a 9lb baby. The spinal tap made my left foot numb for 5 days after I gave birth. I think it's better to go drug free & natural. But everyone is different. I'll try it out this last time, but hey, I may end up getting something for the pain. BTW I had pain blockers with all the other children...lol
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12-12-2010 @ 12:25AM
Sandy Rollins said...52 years ago I had my first child under hypnosis, after reading a book called "Childbirth without fear" by Dr. Grantly Dick Read. It was the most beautiful birth you could ever imagine, and I was so lucky to have found a practicioner at that time. My next 3 children were all born the "normal" way, and I remember each birth with horror and pain. I've often wondered why hypnosis didn't catch on as a method for childbirth. It was so special, and made moreso because I lost that child to leukemia at the age of 3. I'll never forget that beautiful birth.
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12-12-2010 @ 5:17AM
Antonia said...I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing this touching story with us.
12-12-2010 @ 12:51AM
Susan said...Puhlease...Why would anyone want to be under mind control?
Sounds like something out of scientology or something.
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12-12-2010 @ 1:38AM
jenaiarmock said...You should really do your reserch before you make a comment like that. It is not mind control you do it to yourself not some labor alien. You have never been able to calm yourself down in time of complete pain? My mom taught it to me when I got 3rd degree burns when I was 10 and I have done it for everything just about since and I will also be doing it for the birth of my son also. I don't see why people make it out to be such a bid deal people have been doing it for years. My sister wants drugs, her words,I think it everyones choice but I don't talk down to her or about her decision as if she is wrong.
12-12-2010 @ 1:37AM
Jan said...Giving birth under hypnosis is nothing new. Another poster mentioned her experience 52 years ago after reading Grantly Dick Read's book. My first child was born almost 48 years ago, and hypnosis was used at that time too. This is nothing new folks, and all the women I've spoken to about it say it was a positive experience. Undoubtedly some women were not happy with it, but many more were.
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12-12-2010 @ 2:41AM
Sheila said...Nancy, I agree. My mom told me about having me naturally or with self hypnosis method and i was born in 1961. She also helped us get through some trying times in our life such as fears after the 71 earthquake in CA by teaching us the self hypnosis methods. It really does work to relax you. You focus on other things instead of the fear or pain. This is nothing new as you said... I think that the new generation is just now realizing they want to have a child without all the drugs that sometimes cause side effects to them and the child during child birth. Good for them if they can do it that way i think its the best for both mom and child.
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