- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Natural Birth
What's the difference between all the birth methods?
Disclaimer: You will be seeing a lot of questions from me in the coming months, I'm sure. Although I have made the decision to go natural, I know nothing about it. I just feel very strongly that this is something I need to do.
That said, I have heard of different birthing methods (Bradley, Hypno, Lamaze, etc) and was hoping to find a side-by-side comparison, so to speak, of all the methods. It's not very clear on some of their websites what it is exactly that they do.
Thanks so much!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: What's the difference between all the birth methods?
Here's what I could find (I'm doing hypnobabies:)
Lamaz - breathing, confidence, intervention is sometimes necessary
According to Lamaze International, the goal of Lamaze classes is to "increase women's confidence in their ability to give birth." Toward that end, women learn a variety of simple coping strategies, of which breathing is only one. The classes aim to help women "learn how to respond to pain in ways that both facilitate labor and increase comfort."
The Lamaze philosophy of birth stipulates that "birth is normal, natural, and healthy" and that "women have a right to give birth free from routine medical interventions." But Lamaze also educates women so that when interventions are needed, or pain medication is desired, women are able to give true informed consent.
Bradley - husband coached childbirth, give in to the pain
This method embraces the idea that childbirth is a natural process and that, with the right preparation, most women can avoid pain medication and routine interventions during labor and birth. It's named after American obstetrician Robert Bradley, who developed the method in the late 1940s.
The class techniques for relaxation during labor and birth, with an emphasis on breathing methods to help you "tune-in" and manage your pain rather than distract you from it.
Hypnobirthing - self hypnosis and relaxation
The method teaches you that, in the absence of fear and tension, or special medical circumstances, severe pain does not have to be an accompaniment of labor.
Hypnobabies - self hypnoses, natural anesthesia
These are babies whose parents choose to easily and naturally prepare for childbirth using the Hypnobabies method of Hypnotic Childbirth, which some might call "hypnobirthing". Hypnobabies however, is very different in that we teach real medical hypnosis techniques, creating an automatically peaceful, relaxing and more comfortable pregnancy, a calm confident Hypno-Dad, and an easier, fearless and often pain-free birthing for our Hypno-Mom.
Hypnobabies is a complete childbirth education course that also teaches Gerald Kein's famous Painless Childbirth techniques to Hypnobabies mothers so that they can enter hypnosis, deepen it themselves and remain mobile during labor, completely comfortable at all times. Most of our Hypno-babies have no drugs in their systems when they are born, and are able to nurse, breathe well and interact with their happy parents immediately.
The bolded part is inaccurate. Bradley only uses natural abdominal breathing. There are not special methods. The relaxation part is important so that tensing your muscles doesn't take energy away from the working uterus.
Sorry for the inacuracy! That's the info on Bradley from babycenter.com since there isn't a short and sweet descritption on the Bradley site. I guess the main point about Bradley is it involves the husband (or whoever your birth partner is) a lot, and teaches you to relax through the pain and give into it rather than teaching you that there is no pain like some of the hypnoses techniques.
Abdominal breathing is a breathing method
I think the point they're trying to make is that Bradley breathing is designed to help you manage pain, as contrasted to Lamaze, which teaches special (i.e. not natural) breathing techniques to distract you from the pain.
I did Bradley with DD and Hypnobabies with DS, and I would say that those two methods are a lot more alike than they are different. The main differences:
1. Bradley teaches pain management. Hypnobabies teaches that when you employ self-hypnosis, labor is not painful.
2. Both methods teach that relaxation is the key to a positive natural birth experience, but they differ in how they recommend achieving relaxation. Bradley teaches deep abdominal breathing, Hypnobabies uses self-hypnosis scripts.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
I see what you are saying, but natural breathing really isn't a technique. I don't have to learn how to breathe. That's just my point. I consider the Lamaze breathing techniques to be techniques, but maybe we are just getting caught up in technicalities.
I have been looking all morning for a good comparison chart, but can't really find one. I do have some info in my Bradley book on the difference between Bradley and Lamaze but it is very anti-Lamaze, so that wouldn't really be helpful to someone trying to make an objective decision.
Yeah, I've been trying to find one also, and it seems that most of the ones that will do a comparison are biased toward one or the other. I do know that the woman who developed Hypnobabies is a former Bradley and Hypnobirthing instructor, so it seems like the three would probably have things in common.
And if you believe that breathing makes a jot of difference to how much it freaking hurts...then I have this lovely bridge to sell you in Sydney :-)
Sorry ladies, couldn't resist. A first time mum needs to know what's what before buying the snakeoil imho.
No one is saying that breathing will help with the pain, it helps keep you relaxed, focused, and in control even though you are in pain.
I fully expect to feel pain. I don't think there's any magic med-free method that is going to make the pain disappear. If I wanted a pain-free delivery, I would get an epidural (as I have twice in the past). I am not a first time mom, I have felt contractions, I have a general idea what to expect. But managing your pain and having control of your own body during that situation is quite different than saying "shoot me up!" to pretend like nothing's happening down there.
BTW, there is nothing "natural" about an epidural, imho