We are asked many times what is the difference between Hypnobabies and other natural childbirth or birth hypnosis programs, and here we answer that question by telling you what we do well without disparaging any other particular group. Other natural childbirth courses have excellent programs and benefits that have helped many women have better, more relaxed births. We recognize that and celebrate them and what they do every day for birthing women!

In Hypnobabies, our objectives are to help our pregnant couples bond with their baby in utero, teach you how to stay healthy and low-risk and be an excellent consumer, trust in your body, mind and baby, as well as become self-reliant and confident about birthing your own way; unmedicated, safely and in comfort. We overcome negative belief systems and programming, get you in touch with your own beautiful pregnant body, support you through your own excellent birth experience and give you skills that you will use for the rest of your life. Birth Partners are brought into the preparation process and have their own hypnotic relaxation cues, as well as a special role to play as they await the birth of the precious newborn with our Hypno-mom.

We use real medical hypnosis techniques, addressing the mind, body, and spirit of both Mother and Baby, so our success and satisfaction rates are wonderful and very gratifying. Our goal is helping families to “enjoy your baby’s birth in comfort, joy and love”!

Unique to Hypnobabies: We are not a typical birth hypnosis class. Hypnobabies is very detailed, comprehensive and successful, uses medical hypnotic anesthesia techniques, from Gerald Kein’s powerful Painless Childbirth program, as opposed to simple visualization and imagery, and contains the same kinds of powerful somnambulistic hypnosis scripts used by people who undergo surgery successfully using hypnosis as their only anesthetic.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Long before they ever step foot in their first Hypnobabies class, our Hypno-moms receive their first hypnosis CD with 2 tracks: Your Special Place, which allows them to learn and become proficient in deep physical relaxation, and Easy, Comfortable Childbirth, enabling them to easily master  deep hypnosis and positive birth training. Each Hypno-Mom is able to learn deep relaxation and hypnosis skills for several weeks (or months!) before Hypnobabies Class even starts. This makes it much easier to learn her Hypnobabies Hypno-anesthesia Techniques in each class, bringing the Birth Partner into the preparation, (if they have one) and also how to use hypnosis for many other issues: nausea elimination, back and hip pain, insomnia, pre-term labor, pre-term bleeding, perineal massage, internal exams, turning a breech, etc.

Unique to Hypnobabies: 11 powerful, deep hypnosis audio tracks for use by our Hypno-Mothers as they learn, practice and use their Hypnobabies program, and 1 hypnosis track for our Birth Partners.

Unique to Hypnobabies: 2 separate hypnosis cues for entering hypnosis quickly and deeply, and 7 hypnotic deepening techniques.

Unique to Hypnobabies: 6 somnambulistic hypnosis scripts in booklet form, for use by our Hypno-Couples to work with as a team. Our Hypnobabies students participate in one new hypnosis script each week in class and their scripts booklet provides them with that same script to work with for reinforcementduring the next week. This makes a huge difference when training the inner mind for success of any kind. It is called “compounding” in the world of hypnosis and is necessary for hypnotic suggestions to be retained by the woman’s subconscious. Working on progressively more powerful scripts several times week together also allows our moms to become “hypno-trained” to the touch and voice of their birth partner and therefore respond much more easily and quickly to birthing cues during labor.

Unique to Hypnobabies: We provide detailed, comprehensive training for our Birth Partners by providing them their own Birth Partner’s hypnosis CD for a calm and confident attitude towards pregnancy and childbirth, and their own 15 page detailed Birth Partner’s Guide booklet for labor, which allows them to fully grasp their role in the preparation for baby’s birth as well as easily supporting the Hypno-Mom during birthing. This includes 4 pages of verbal birthing cues which keep the Hypno-Mom in hypnosis during first stage, transition, beginning to push, the pushing phase as well as tools for remaining calm, relaxed, confident and comfortable in between contractions.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Hypnobabies can also be very successfully used by Single Mothers or those whose partners will not be participating in their birth preparation process since we have specific CD sets as well as personal help and support for single Hypno-Moms, to make their Hypnobabies journey easier and more fulfilling. All of our hypno-anesthesia techniques can be easily learned, practiced and used alone, or with a Birth Partner or doula.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Hypnobabies classes also provide excellent and Complete Childbirth Education,and we are the only birth hypnosis program that does so (see information below, and our Class Outline). Providing our *Complete Childbirth Education* ensures that our Hypnobabies students will not need to take other childbirth education classes where techniques and philosophies are learned which can negate childbirth hypnosis instruction. “Pain management and coping skills” are actually opposite of what is learned in Hypnobabies; we teach Pain Elimination by using real hypno-anesthesia, and attempting to embrace opposing belief systems can be detrimental to success with hypnotic childbirth. Including Complete Childbirth Education is essential for any birth hypnosis program.

Hypnobabies’ Complete Childbirth Education includes the following:

• Staying healthy and low risk
• Comfort in Pregnancy
• Detailed Birthing Choices
• Creating Informed Consent
• An in-depth Nutrition and Exercise program
• Avoidance of Toxic Substances
• Optimum Fetal Positioning
• Turning a Posterior Baby
• Stages of Labor
• Anatomy and Physiology of Birth
• Prenatal Parenting
• Avoiding Back Labor with the Abdominal Lift and Tuck
• Baby Kick Counting
• Belly Mapping
• The Risks, Benefits and Alternatives to Common Labor Interventions
• Birth Empowerment Skills
• Birth Plans & Baby Plans
• Touring the Birth Facility
• Doula and Midwifery information
• Avoiding Induction and Cesarean Section
• Delayed Cord Clamping and other Baby Kindness information
• Using hypnosis for 3^rd stage
• Comprehensive and detailed birth preparation and labor support training for Birth Partners
• A 28 page Quick Reference booklet for labor
• Birthing Rehearsals using Hypnobabies techniques in class.
• Information on New Baby Care, Breastfeeding and Postpartum care for our moms.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Hypnobabies’ “Eyes Open Childbirth Hypnosis”, which allows each Hypno-mom to walk and talk and move around freely yet remain very relaxed, fully present, aware and in touch with her body and baby and *comfortable while doing so*. Other programs rely on immobility for focus and concentration, which can severely impede the progress of labor and the descent and positioning of the baby.

Unique to Hypnobabies: We conduct full Birthing Rehearsals in class # 6 so that our Hypno-moms canexperience using their actual Hypnobabies techniques and many different labor positions *while in hypnosis in class* which is invaluable, and also shows the Birth Partner hands-on exactly how to use his/her cues and assistance. What a confidence builder, and has made a huge difference in success rates here at Hypnobabies!

Unique to Hypnobabies: Our very successful Hypnobabies Birth Visualization, in which you can mentally and emotionally practice entering labor, experience your comfortable birthing techniques and give birth easily and in a very detailed and personal way. This “mental birthing rehearsal” is very important to the process of easy and comfortable birthing and is done many times until your Hypno-baby is born, helping program the subconscious mind to produce exactly the kind of birthing you want. Athletes and public speakers of all kinds do this to prepare with great success, and so do our Hypno-moms!

Unique to Hypnobabies: Our wonderful 2-track Birth Guide CD which keeps our Hypno-mom deeply in hypnosis with constant hypnotic relaxation and anesthesia suggestions for both the first stage of labor and the pushing phase (avoiding the “ring of fire” and mother-directed pushing) as well as “positive birth team” hypnosis throughout. Birth Professionals are fascinated at how completely relaxed and physically comfortable our Hypno-moms are, how easily they are able to move around and communicate and still be deeply hypnotized, and how “in control” they are of their bodies, minds and emotions. Our Hypnobabies students tell us that our Birth Guide CD is “Pure Gold!”

Unique to Hypnobabies: We require that our Certified Hypnobabies Instructors have a fully trained background in Childbirth and a minimum of 50 hours of Hypnosis training before becoming accepted into our Hypnobabies Instructor Training Program. This ensures that as a Hypnobabies Instructor, all childbirth questions and concerns from each Hypno-couple can be addressed, hypnotic depth can be assessed, and problems such as resistance and abreaction can easily be dealt with. We also require 32 hours of Hypnobabies Instructor Training and have a demanding and rigorous Instructor Certification process.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Our Hypnobabies Instructors are always available for help before, during and after your Hypno-baby is born, and we also have a free Hypnobabies Moms support group attended by certified Hypnobabies Instructors for support and encouragement so that you can enjoy a community where others are using Hypnosis for Childbirth as well.

Unique to Hypnobabies: Hypnobabies includes 18 hours of classroom instruction instead of 8 or 10, and although other childbirth programs may contain some excellent hypno-tools for birthing, none contain the amount of information, in depth hypno-anesthesia, training, practice and support of Hypnobabies. All elements have been carefully designed to work together and the results are excellent.

Hypnobabies is an empowering choice for any woman wanting Hypnosis for Childbirth that works easily and beautifully!

Please see our Hypnobabies Course Outline for more information on what we teach in Hypnobabies Classes.

For self-study options, please visit our Self-Study page for more information on our “Home Study Course for Expectant Mothers”.

Testimonials:

A Hypnobabies Mom who has used and taught both Hypnobabies and another birth hypnosis program, presents her clear and unique perspective on the differences between them.

We asked the experts, our Hypno-Moms, “Have you used another method of childbirth preparation before doing Hypnobabies for a subsequent baby’s birth? Please share your experience with those who are new to Hypnobabies and would like some encouragement that Hypnobabies is ‘worth it’ ~

That is what happened to me while using regular hypnobirthing, (for my first birth) and the result was a much longer birth than I likely would have had if I had been able to remain upright and mobile, as I did with my Hypnobabies birth. That was one of the main reasons I knew Hypnobabies was the best choice for me, and it really came in handy during my second birthing. In fact, I walked very calmly into the birthing center at full dilation. That’s something I never could have done in my first birthing.

Basically, even though Hyp-birth includes much more in depth hypnosis techniques than regular hypnobirthing, it still didn’t have the two things I found to be missing during my first birth. Namely, a complete childbirth education (so I could understand all my options in the rare case that complications arose, and discuss them intelligently with my caregiver – plus use natural alternatives avoid to medical intervention, when possible) and a way to remain calm and comfortable while upright during the more intense parts of the birth. Even though I looked into Hyp-birth while preparing for my second birth, I had discovered during my first birth that I needed more birthing information than I had learned through my hypnobirthing classes, so choosing a program that didn’t include ANY childbirth information wasn’t a good fit for me. And once I found out that it didn’t specifically teach “mobile” hypnosis skills, my decision was clear. I chose Hypnobabies for my second birth and had a fabulous, fully informed, pain-free and mobile birth, just as I hoped I would!