Traditionally the word ‘childbirth’ is associated with the word ‘pain’. The interesting thing to know is that research has found that pain largely occurs in the presence of fear and tension.

During labour, the body releases endorphins into the blood stream which have a natural painkilling and tranquillising effect. Unfortunately stress hormones released when experiencing fear negate the effect of these endorphins. By learning to relax deeply and through learning self hypnosis, you can remain calm and in control throughout the birth. Ultimately, empowering you and giving you confidence in your own innate ability to bring your baby into the world and creating a more natural, comfortable and gentle experience for you and your baby.

Hypnosis can help with more than just the birth itself, it covers pre-conception, pregnancy, labour, birth and post-natal well being. From helping you to relax to improve the chances of a successful conception, through morning sickness relief to coping with breastfeeding and lack of sleep. Whether this is your first baby or you are still traumatised by a previous negative birthing experience. Whatever your concerns may be, I would be happy to discuss them with you in complete confidence.

If you are interested in using hypnotherapy for the birth only, your initial consultation should take place when you are around 32 weeks pregnant, followed by a further 2 to 4 sessions on a weekly basis. Between each session you should be prepared to practice the self hypnosis techniques that you have been taught and you will be given a free CD to assist you after your last session of hypnotherapy.

Unlike structured birth preparation classes, which are usually a group situation, my service is personal and tailor made for each individual, on a one to one basis. I will take great care to discuss any issues that may be of concern, from fear of the birth itself to needle or hospital phobias or anything else that may arise during the initial consultation.
For contact details for appointments please click here.

Small Group Sessions

For first time mums-to-be who do not have any specific concerns and just want to feel calm and relaxed, I have now started some Hypnosis for Birth small group sessions. These run on three consecutive Tuesday mornings between 10.30 and 11.30 am, from my home on Kings Hill near West Malling. They offer the same as the one to one sessions but are obviously not personalised as there will be up to four ladies at each session. The total cost for the course is £60 per person which includes 3 CD’s to use at home.

The start dates for 2012 are Jan 10th, Feb 7th, Mar 6th, April 17th, May 15th, June 12th, July 10th, Sept 4th, Oct 2nd, Nov 6th and Dec 4th. You should aim to attend the course that starts as near as possible to when you are 32 weeks pregnant and you will need to request a booking in form a few weeks before the course begins.

Post Natal Depression

For any new mum’s reading this who suspect they may be suffering from post natal depression, or if you know somebody who may be suffering, you may be interested to know that the Netmums website runs an online course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which can be as effective in lifting your mood as anti depressants. Please click here for more information.

IVF
If you are considering trying for a baby via IVF you may be interested in visiting http://ivfpredict.com/index.html which is a free online IVF success predictor