Hypnotherapy during Pregnancy
Historically and globally, women’s experiences of pregnancy, labour and birth have been managed in a variety of ways. Today, pregnancy is, more often than not, managed by a team of midwives, obstetricians, radiographers, anaesthetists, and family GPs. These are highly skilled professionals who aim to give you the best care and best outcomes for you, your family and your baby.
Think about that for a moment, though. You remember that first time you knew you were pregnant and the emotions you felt? Congratulations – maybe…. Hopefully, you were joyful but many women are not euphoric about being pregnant. Stress trigger.
Your first and subsequent booking appointments usually mean a trip to your local maternity unit. If this is your first visit, everything is strange. The environment is strange. The smells and sounds are strange. The people you meet are strangers – albeit well-meaning.
Consider how your mind reacts when you are in strange and unfamiliar surroundings, not knowing who you will meet, how long you will be there, what they will do to you or how you will react. Your mind can perceive all this unfamiliarity as a threat, or stress trigger, a trigger that may be set off at each visit, particularly if your pregnancy has risk factors or anomalies (which are usually ably managed by your clinical care team).
That stress can build up, leading you to poor sleep patterns, irritability and negative forecasting. If you have had a previous difficult birth, this can also play on your mind and exacerbate your stress levels.
In primeval terms, mothers want to find a safe and secure place to deliver the baby, away from potential threats, where the newborn can establish itself and suckle its mother. If you are full of stress and anxiety, your ability to go through labour and give birth is compromised, although the health professionals can and will help you.
Hypnotherapy is a supremely useful tool for managing those stress levels. Some women who experience fear of birth in the past can find their way to managing that fear, enabling them to look forward to a positive birth experience and thereby establishing new neural pathways moving forward.
Regular hypnotherapy during your pregnancy, with or without your partner present, helps your mind to learn techniques to maintain your level of fear and anxiety at minimum, from as early in your pregnancy as possible, techniques that will help right through to when the baby is born. Solar can also work with your partner to help him/her to use the hypnotherapy programme for the pregnant mother, or the couple, so everyone’s anxiety levels are kept optimally low.
Contact Solar to find out about your tailored hypnotherapy programme!