Natal Hypnotherapy™ Manchester

 

Dot Parry 

Understanding Natal Hypnotherapy™ from a Midwives Perspective

Dot has been a midwife since 1998 and has a wealth of experience in providing midwifery care for families in hospital, in their communities, in the lovely birth centre at Salford Royal (Hope) Hospital and at home. Dot qualified has a Natal Hypnotherapy™ Practitioner in 2007 and runs sessions for women and couples in groups and on a one to one basis. Here are her top tips to help midwives to support a Natal Hypnotherapy Mum.

Dot Parry's Top Tips for Midwives

• Relax -the mum will tell you what she needs from you.
• Triggers - mums might have special phrases and physical cues which help them to sink in to hypnosis at the beginning of a contraction. Their birth partner can help them with these.
• Music -Natal Hypnotherapy™ mums might choose to listen to the NH Birth Music -it reminds them of their pregnancy hypnosis sessions and act as a powerfully relaxing trigger. You can leave it on repeat.
• Peace and quiet make it easier for her to let go -only talk when you need to support a calming environment -dim the lights, keep the room warm, maintain her privacy, sit rather than stand.
• Keep the clock out of her line of sight if you can.
• Hypnosis works in high tech situations too - encourage the mum to keep using her techniques even if she needs assistance -it will keep her and her baby calm and well oxygenated.
• Use positive language whenever you can -"good, strong, powerful contractions", "beautifully relaxed", "strong woman". You can use the words "pain" and "push" with NH mums but you probably don't need to.
• If she seems to be overwhelmed by the sensations maybe she is nearly there? Maybe she just needs a little time, support and encouragement to allow her endorphin level to rise and help her with increasingly powerful contractions? We talk about passing through a periods of “self doubt” and she will have practiced how to manage these emotions.You know how to handle this - buy a little time, encourage her to sip some juice/eat a little/go for a wee, tell her she's brilliant.
• Be prepared for lovely surprises: It can be more difficult to "read" where an NH mum is at in her labour by her behaviour. I sometimes can't see when the contractions are unless I sit beside the mum and watch her belly rise and fall.

• If she says her baby is coming get ready to catch!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Someone told me the other day about someone she met on a train in Preston who had followed Hypnobirthing. Apparently the Hypnobirthing Mum-to-be was asked by the midwife to stop hypnosis as the pain was needed for her own safety. I'm not a midwife and I'm not medically trained so if anyone else could shed some light onto these comments I would appreciate it!

Hypnosis is a natural form of pain control. I think maybe medical staff who don't know about it might feel a little threatened if they are out of their depth? It is common for medical staff to be caught out by a birthing mother who is so calm and contented that the medical staff don't realise how imminent birth is!!

Going back to the train lady. If pain was a measure to keep her safe, what would happen if she had pethedine or an epidural? I wish I had more information!

I think midwives in general are becoming more accepting to 'alternative' methods of pain relief. Natal Hypnotherapy™ has actually just received accreditation from the Royal College of Midwives, so there shouldn't be any issue about using Natal Hypnotherapy™ techniques. I think the more midwives that see the results of a Natal Hypnotherapy™ birth can only be a good thing, restoring their faith in the abilities of women they attend to.

Natal Hypnotherapy™ doesn't guarantee a pain free labour, but is more about how women are able to manage the experience. In the following article midwife Mary McCallan at Altnegelvin Hospital, Northern Ireland discusses her experiences of Natal Hypnotherapy™ from a personal and professional perspective.

I Love Labour

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