Bradley classes and self-study hypnobabies?????

laurasuzanne2006

DH and I will start bradley classes in May.  We are planning a homebirth.  My question is, I've done guided imagery, etc before and find it a good source of relaxation for myself.  Is there any reason I couldn't incorporate hypnobabies along with Bradley into my birth? 

blainethetrain

In my Bradley class they encouraged us to do whatever kept us the most relaxed. If for you that means doing self hypnosis stuff, do it!

AshasaurusRex

Hypnobabies instructs you not to incorporate any other techniques, unfortunately especially Bradley beacause they conflict with eachother. Bradley (from what I have gathered teaches pain management, and Hypnobabies teaches pain elimination and even gives a specific list of books on pregnancy and childbirth that are "okay" to read.

jcsumm0

AshfieldMay:

Hypnobabies instructs you not to incorporate any other techniques, unfortunately especially Bradley beacause they conflict with eachother. Bradley (from what I have gathered teaches pain management, and Hypnobabies teaches pain elimination and even gives a specific list of books on pregnancy and childbirth that are "okay" to read.

The hypnobirthing book says this, but I don't think there is any harm in reading about different methods.  I am doing Bradley classes and I am reading Hypnobirthing and hope to get the CD.  I don't think there is any harm in having a variety of tools to use in labor because you don't know what will work for you.  Plus, after reading the Hypnobirthing book and starting our Bradley classes, I don't really think they are that different.  They just use different terms for some things.

Christine&Chris

jcsumm0:

AshfieldMay:

Hypnobabies instructs you not to incorporate any other techniques, unfortunately especially Bradley beacause they conflict with eachother. Bradley (from what I have gathered teaches pain management, and Hypnobabies teaches pain elimination and even gives a specific list of books on pregnancy and childbirth that are "okay" to read.

The hypnobirthing book says this, but I don't think there is any harm in reading about different methods.  I am doing Bradley classes and I am reading Hypnobirthing and hope to get the CD.  I don't think there is any harm in having a variety of tools to use in labor because you don't know what will work for you.  Plus, after reading the Hypnobirthing book and starting our Bradley classes, I don't really think they are that different.  They just use different terms for some things.

I agree about giving yourself as many tools as possible.  We just finished our Bradley classes - Bradley focuses a lot of physical relaxation (poses, breathing, recognizing labor cues; pregnancy in general); I just started Hypnobirthing and it seems mostly about mental relaxation.

SageBeginnings

Hi there.

Having been a prior Bradley educator and now being trained as a hypnodoula, I can assure you that, although both are wonderful methods - it is best to choose one or the other. 

They contradict one another. The woman who wrote Hypnobabies is a prior Bradley instructor who believed birth could be pain free. Marjie and Jay of the AAHCC (Bradley) teach their instructors pain (discomfort) with a purpose. Both are very valid methods and women who study either have amazingly wonderful births. But, I have found that the women who I work with who try to incorporate both end up feeling like one method failed them while the other worked - or they end up feeling more confused than empowered.

Both methods are comprehensive complete courses that teach healthy pregnancy, A&P, nutrition and exercise, labor stages, newborn care, emotional indicators of birth, breastfeeding, postpartum care, and the like... the ONLY DIFFERENCE is how the perceive labor.. and that is a BIG difference. Hypnobabies works because/when the women who study it diligently listen to their CDs and change their vocabulary and their mindset to truly reflect and believe the precepts of the teachings. 

Bradley works because the women actively practice the relaxation techniques through active relaxation (breath awareness, pain tension cycle, guided relaxation, etc..) and work through 'birth baggage' before the event.BTW, they do teach progressive relaxation.

Oh, and hypnoBABIES and hypnoBIRTHING are completely different in method and process of reconditioning. 

I would encourage you to do one or the other, but that is MHO from the experiences I have had with clients. 

LindseyJW

SageBeginnings:

Hi there.

Having been a prior Bradley educator and now being trained as a hypnodoula, I can assure you that, although both are wonderful methods - it is best to choose one or the other. 

They contradict one another. The woman who wrote Hypnobabies is a prior Bradley instructor who believed birth could be pain free. Marjie and Jay of the AAHCC (Bradley) teach their instructors pain (discomfort) with a purpose. Both are very valid methods and women who study either have amazingly wonderful births. But, I have found that the women who I work with who try to incorporate both end up feeling like one method failed them while the other worked - or they end up feeling more confused than empowered.

Both methods are comprehensive complete courses that teach healthy pregnancy, A&P, nutrition and exercise, labor stages, newborn care, emotional indicators of birth, breastfeeding, postpartum care, and the like... the ONLY DIFFERENCE is how the perceive labor.. and that is a BIG difference. Hypnobabies works because/when the women who study it diligently listen to their CDs and change their vocabulary and their mindset to truly reflect and believe the precepts of the teachings. 

Bradley works because the women actively practice the relaxation techniques through active relaxation (breath awareness, pain tension cycle, guided relaxation, etc..) and work through 'birth baggage' before the event.BTW, they do teach progressive relaxation.

Oh, and hypnoBABIES and hypnoBIRTHING are completely different in method and process of reconditioning. 

I would encourage you to do one or the other, but that is MHO from the experiences I have had with clients. 

All of this. And especially the bold text.

SageBeginnings is much more experienced in birth than me, I have only become a HypnoBirthing instructor in the past few months. However, I studied Bradley for my first birth and found it utterly lacking in the relaxation techniques that worked for me during birth. After having a disappointing experience with Bradley methods during my first birth, I employed methods I later learned were much more in line with HypnoBirthing. So for my second, I took a HypnoBirthing class. Bingo! I found the relaxation techniques that I needed from this class and had a peaceful birth with my second baby.

As a professional hypnotist, it is certainly true that we attract what we believe to be true. If we believe pain to be a necessary accompaniment to childbirth, then we will subconsciously will that pain to our experience. Bradley teaches methods to manage the pain. HypnoBirthing teaches to eliminate the pain thorugh various methods, the foremost being changing our mindset, birth terminology and expectations, which is done through a total reconditioning in the first class.

AshasaurusRex

SageBeginnings:

Hi there.

Having been a prior Bradley educator and now being trained as a hypnodoula, I can assure you that, although both are wonderful methods - it is best to choose one or the other. 

They contradict one another. The woman who wrote Hypnobabies is a prior Bradley instructor who believed birth could be pain free. Marjie and Jay of the AAHCC (Bradley) teach their instructors pain (discomfort) with a purpose. Both are very valid methods and women who study either have amazingly wonderful births. But, I have found that the women who I work with who try to incorporate both end up feeling like one method failed them while the other worked - or they end up feeling more confused than empowered.

Both methods are comprehensive complete courses that teach healthy pregnancy, A&P, nutrition and exercise, labor stages, newborn care, emotional indicators of birth, breastfeeding, postpartum care, and the like... the ONLY DIFFERENCE is how the perceive labor.. and that is a BIG difference. Hypnobabies works because/when the women who study it diligently listen to their CDs and change their vocabulary and their mindset to truly reflect and believe the precepts of the teachings. 

Bradley works because the women actively practice the relaxation techniques through active relaxation (breath awareness, pain tension cycle, guided relaxation, etc..) and work through 'birth baggage' before the event.BTW, they do teach progressive relaxation.

Oh, and hypnoBABIES and hypnoBIRTHING are completely different in method and process of reconditioning. 

I would encourage you to do one or the other, but that is MHO from the experiences I have had with clients. 

Allllll of this. I was 1ht while nursing when I wrote my previous reply. Sage explained it beautifully:).

julyjennifer

I agree that different approaches are going to work for different people.  You could get both perspectives into your toolbox and then maybe you'll draw more heavily from one during actual labor.  Or maybe that would be to "confusing" and you'd be better off starting with just one...I'm sure it's different for everyone.

We took the Bradley class with #1 and I didn't perceive birth to be particularly painful at all.  The contractions "hurt" somewhat at the start (though I always describe it in quotes like that because I learned not to think of it as pain), but when I relaxed my muscles as I'd practiced, my perception of the sensations was quite different and the contractions were easier.  After awhile of that, my natural endorphins kicked in, or something, and the rest of the labor and delivery was not painful, just included intense sensations. 

So my experience was that from the Bradley classes you can also obtain a mental redefinition of the labor experience, and tools that can help your mind not experience the sensations of your body as painful.

flyer23

I did Bradley classes with DD and Hypnobabies self study with DS. I agree 100% with what SageBeginnings and LindseyJW said.

Honestly, I don't see the point in doing both. I found the Hypnobabies self study to be almost identical to Bradley classes. (Not surprising, since the Hypnobabies creator is a former Bradley instructor.) They taught the same things, they even prescribed the same exercises. It would be a waste of time to do both, because you'd learn the same things twice.

I think you can learn enough about each method to figure out what will work for you. With DD, I looked into both and found Hypnobabies to be a little too "woo-woo" for me, which is why I chose Bradley. And overall, I had a great experience, although I did feel like what I had practiced in class didn't really work for me in labor, e.g. I had always practiced relaxation while lying on my side, but I couldn't get comfortable in that position while in labor.

With DS, I looked into Hypnobabies again and found that its view of labor was much more in line with what I had found my labor with DD to be like. I also liked that it had more concrete relaxation techniques than Bradley. So that's why I chose to study it. In retrospect, I don't think it would have worked well for me with DD, for a variety of reasons (relating to my own mindset about childbirth at the time) -- but it was just perfect for where I was at with DS, and so it worked really well.