Hypnobabies vs hypnobirthing

caralck

What exactly is the difference?!?  Only thing I can tell is a price difference so far.

JLG95

I did hypnobirthing.

My best guess is it's coke vs. pepsi.

Original vs. Knockoff.

jhunter89

I've been researching this a bit and there are lots of articles out there comparing the two. From what i've read, Hypnobabies gives your scripts and cd's to play on your birthing day which a lot of women love, it's also an 'eyes-open' kind of true medical hypnosis rather than a deep relaxation. Most women seem to prefer hypnobabies including myself. Here's one article from a mom who used both:

https://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/comparison_between_hypnoclasses.htm

 

HTH! 

jhunter89

JLG95:

I did hypnobirthing.

My best guess is it's coke vs. pepsi.

Original vs. Knockoff.

Also, Hypnobabies isn't so much of a knock-off as an elaboration. The woman who started hypnobabies used to be a hypnobirthing instructor, but she though the program was missing some things, so she started her own.  

caralck

Thanks!  That was very helpful.  I think I might get a used copy of the hypnobirthing book and if I feel I need more, see if I can find a used copy of the home study hypnobabies.  I know there's a local hypnobirthing instructor who's also a MH provider so I'll have to see if there are classes for hypnobabies.  I went through an FP residency so the medical aspects of pregnancy and childbirth are not a scary thing intellectually or foreign for me but DH doesn't know these things so we need a class that won't bore me to death or cause me to have conflict with what they're teaching while he learns more.  This is part of the reason why the bradley method doesn't appeal to me.

LindseyJW

Hypnobabies is not a knock-off. it's a method of natural childbirth using hypnosis that is slightly different in philosophy and approach than HypnoBirthing. the benefits listed on their homepage are identical to the benefits of HypnoBirthing!

i don't think it's fair to say that more women prefer Hypnobabies to HypnoBirthing without prefacing it as anecdotal, and especially not if you are basing that statement on your own personal preferences and not an actual study of the two methods.

i am a certified consulting hypnotist and i also teach HypnoBirthing, studied (as a pregnant student in a class) the Bradley Method and I am familiar with Hypnobabies. 

HypnoBirthing's philosophy is that childbirth does not need to be a painful experience. the premise of the program is that fear of the childbirthing experience leads to tension in the body, which causes pain. by eliminating fear, women can have more comfortable, easier and safer birthing experiences. HypnoBirthing has four basic techniques: breathing, visualization, deepening and relaxation. Each techniques has several practices. HypnoBirthing moms condition their mind and body with daily practice of the same techniques and the same hypnosis scripts. 

Hypnobabies uses medical grade hypnotic anesthesia and this is their claim to fame. HypnoBirthing also teaches moms how to apply hypnotic anesthesia to any part of their body they wish to be numb. 

hypnosis works by repetition. the repeated experience and thought causes an imprint in the subconscious. this is a philosophical difference between HypnoBirthing and Hypnobabies. the latter uses many scripts for daily practice and the former uses just one.  

Hypnobabies is most commonly taught in a home-study, self-paced setting, though not always. there are classes available. HypnoBirthing is most commonly taught in a classroom setting (or office, home, etc) and is not recommended for self-study. for reference, in the DC metro area, there are two certified Hypnobabies instructors, but there are nearly 30 certified HypnoBirthing instructors.

OP - what kind of conflict do you envision with Bradley? childbirth, physiologically, is what it is. the methods of "pain management" as taught in Bradley certainly wouldn't have been covered in your residency. i can see how sitting through 12 weeks of learning about the physiological changes during pregnancy and childbirth could be dull for you, but don't think you'd find conflict with the teaching. unfortunately, i think a lot of physicians don't understand Bradley, which teaches parents to understand their options, and be better advocates for themselves, rather than just ignorantly consenting to whatever procedures their providers want to do, without question.

my personal opinion is that if you are not in a position to take a class, then study Hypnobabies. if you can take a class, and i recommend that you do, i prefer the succinct and easy techniques of HypnoBirthing. 

caralck

My biggest concern with Bradley is that some instructors make the choice to possibly consider analgesia a failure.  Granted not all instructors are the same but I really don't want to discover that after I've shelled out the $$ for the class.  And yes, the time spent on things I really don't need to pay someone to read in my textbooks is also a detractor but it would be unfair to send dh by himself.  

LindseyJW

caralck:

My biggest concern with Bradley is that some instructors make the choice to possibly consider analgesia a failure.  Granted not all instructors are the same but I really don't want to discover that after I've shelled out the $$ for the class.  And yes, the time spent on things I really don't need to pay someone to read in my textbooks is also a detractor but it would be unfair to send dh by himself.  

you realize you could run into this problem with any instructor for any method, not just Bradley? whether it's about medication, induction, or even surgical birthing, it's important to talk to the instructor before signing up for a class...make sure they are teaching the certified curriculum, or that you fully agree with their philosophy in the event they stray from the curriculum. as professionals, we are expected to keep our personal opinions and experiences out of the classroom, unless a student asks specifically for us to share.  

caralck

I do realize that.  When I did some online research a few weeks ago, it just seemed that was one of the universal complaints about Bradley, even In reviews that also pointed out the benefits.  And yes, I checked many different sites.   And I guess the thought of paying for the same  education all over again when all I really need/want is training/techniques for pushing the kid out naturally.  Just didn't seem worth the cost in financial terms or time spent.  And I guess it is a trust issue that if I interview my instructor for any method, I have to trust that they won't say one thing to sign me up then do a different thing.  I guess I could ask "what if I feel the need to use analgesia of some sort?" and see what the person says.  I'm sure the response to that might give me an idea of their attitude.  I'd like to avoid the epidural if I can but wouldn't be opposed to iv meds if I need some pharmacological assistance on getting back on track with the other coping skills.  I can be tough when I want to be (dh calls it selective toughness) so I guess I'll have to figure out how to consistently tap into that psyche.  I've had teens deliver med free by choice...surely I could do it too, right?  Guess I've never had to interview someone for something like this.  Even finding my own doctors and dentists was just by either friend referral or even as silly as looking online at their photo and thinking, "yep, that person looks nice." guess I've been lucky in that I've been more than happy with those practitioners.  In general I knew professionally that all the docs in that clinic were excellent so I didn't worry about their clinical expertise which is why the final decision was based off something shallow.

Sudonk

I took a HypnoBirthing class during my first pregnancy.  I had heard better feedback from Hypnobabies moms, but assumed I would benefit from having a teacher, and there wasn't a live Hypnobabies class in my area at the time.  It still annoys me that I didn't do more research and find out the differences, because HypnoBirthing just wasn't a good fit for me, but Hypnobabies was wonderful.  Since I hadn't given birth before, I wanted to learn as much as I could, and I walked out of the HypnoBirthing class knowing basically nothing about how to achieve a natural birth.  I wanted to learn deep hypnosis skills to help me have a great birth, and all I learned was guided relaxation and some visualization.  There was discussion of "glove anesthesia", but we only did the script one time in class.  And as previously mentioned, hypnosis requires repetition for the subconscious mind to absorb the concepts, so that wasn't helpful at all since we only did it one time.  The only thing we did repetitively was the one CD that had some basic relaxation and chakra clearing on it.  It was good for getting to sleep, but it really bugged me, and during the birth I didn't want to hear it, and had no additional skills from HypnoBirthing to use.  The class wasn't nearly what I was looking for, despite being told by the instructor that I would be learning everything I mentioned wanting to know.  My husband was very disappointed, because the class didn't really give him any preparation and he had no idea what to do to help me.  We kept asking our instructor for specifics about what to do and all she would do was smile and say that we would "know what to do when the time came."  HypnoBirthing took simplicity too far, in our experience, and left us totally unprepared.  When we asked questions about what to expect or how to prepare, we were just told to "practice, practice, practice."   We walked out of the last class feeling completely defeated and unsure how to have the birth we wanted.  Luckily, we wound up having a nice, drug-free birthing, but we had to spend a great deal of additional time and money finding supplemental materials that taught us actual hypnosis skills.  But my birth was still much more complicated and difficult than it needed to be, because I lacked basic childbirth knowledge and wasn't able to remain mobile enough to do simple things to help with the baby's position and descent.  In short, the HypnoBirthing class failed me, and actually made my birth more difficult than it needed to be, because it didn't teach me how to remain comfortable while following my body's instinctual need to change position, or even that position changes may be helpful.  When I developed complications and needed to discuss possible medical intervention, I felt like an idiot, because all I had learned in the class was to avoid interventions, but didn't know enough about them to intelligently discuss the pros and cons with my caregiver. 

With our second baby, there still wasn't an instructor in the area, but we got the Hypnobabies Home Study and were blown away by it.  We literally knew more about birth, hypnosis and how to have the birth we wanted within an hour of opening the Hypnobabies Home Study than we had picked up through the entire first pregnancy and HypnoBirthing class.  Hypnobabies does have far more scripts, and each one teaches a new skill to use during the birth.  But the later scripts also reinforce everything that you have already learned, so all the techniques remain fresh and powerful in your mind as you work through the program.  Hypnobabies is clearly written, and gives real, practical explanations of all the ways women and their birth partners can improve the mother's comfort using a variety of skills and movements and other comfort techniques.  It discusses potential medical interventions in detail, explaining the pros and cons, and how to determine when the use of an intervention may be appropriate for you, as well as offering natural alternatives.  I found Hypnobabies to be far more thorough, much easier to learn, and infinitely easier to use during our birthing time.  Plus, Hypnobabies was so much more effective it seems unfair to even put the powerful self-hypnosis skills and comprehensive education in the same category with the simplistic guided relaxation of HypnoBirthing.  My husband loved that he had so many ways to instantly increase my comfort, and the guidance to use them like a pro.  We felt excited going into our birth with confidence because we actually knew what to do and how to do it!  The birth itself was so fun, we were positively giddy for days.  I was so comfortable I actually did our taxes in active labor, then slept for 4 solid hours before wandering cheerfully into the birth center fully dilated. 

Here is another bit of information on the differences from mothers who have learned both:

https://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/comparison_between_hypnoclasses.htm

https://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/options.htm

and there is a free CD you can find at the Hypnobabies store, discussing Hypnobabies and a sample hypnosis relaxation session, so you can "try before you buy", which I thought was a cool thing to offer.

In retrospect, I compare my taking the HypnoBirthing class with an instructor instead of the Hypnobabies Home Study to learning Japanese at a local college to prepare for a trip to France, just because there isn't a live French class nearby.  The class simply didn't teach what I needed to learn, and I would have been FAR better off doing the Hypnobabies Home Study.  So make absolutely sure the class you are looking at actually teaches exactly what you want to learn, or having an instructor isn't going to be the benefit you hoped.  Luckily there are way more live Hypnobabies classes available these days, so many people can find one if having an instructor is important to them.  And if one is too far away to go to weekly, but relatively nearby (a couple hours away, maybe), I've heard of many people doing the Home Study, then doing a 1-time private session to get all questions answered, watch videos, do a guided birth rehearsal, etc., which seems like a good alternative.