What to Know About the HypnoBirthing Technique

HypnoBirthing teaches self-hypnosis to combat fear and pain during labor. Learn more about the technique and decide whether HypnoBirthing classes are right for you.

While most pregnant people look forward to meeting their baby, the actual process of giving birth can bring on different emotions, including fear about labor pain. Fortunately, there are many different options for pain management during birth—including hypnosis through a technique called "Hypnobirthing."

Hypnobirthing combines visualization, breathing exercises, and affirmations to help a birthing parent through discomfort. It's supposed to bring your body into a state of deep relaxation, which allows the muscles to work optimally during childbirth.

Read on to learn about what HypnoBirthing is, how the technique works, and whether HypnoBirthing classes might be right for you.

pregnant woman in the hospital ward sitting on fitness ball and ready to delivery a baby

Getty Images / 1264005760

What Is HypnoBirthing?

This childbirth pain management technique is a trademarked program created by Marie "Mickey" Mongan, MEd, MHy, a highly awarded hypnotherapist, and Harvard University Ford Foundation fellow. It combines practiced deep breathing, visualization, prompts from partners, and labor comfort measures. There are also branded programs that use similar techniques, including Hypnobabies and The Positive Birth Company.

HypnoBirthing proponents believe that pregnant people can train their brains to elicit a deep relaxation response on demand, as long as they prepare before giving birth. People who successfully use HypnoBirthing techniques often describe feeling "pressure" instead of "pain" during labor. They may also use different words, such as "surges" or "waves" instead of "contractions" to describe the sensations.

At the core, HypnoBirthing relies on the concept of "mind over matter," and thousands of people have proven it can work.

How Does HypnoBirthing Work?

The HypnoBirthing method is partly based on the work of Grantly Dick-Read, MD, the English obstetrician who wrote Childbirth Without Fear in 1944. According to Dr. Dick-Read, the use of hypnosis helps laboring people break what he termed the "Fear-Tension-Pain syndrome" that makes labor more difficult.

He believed the syndrome actually caused blood to flow away from nonessential organs such as the uterus to large muscle groups in the legs. He theorized that relaxation achieved through hypnosis would prevent that from happening.

Mongan says that with the aid of hypnosis, a pregnant person in labor can bring their body into a state of deep relaxation in which the muscles can work the way they're meant to during childbirth. She says it feels similar to daydreaming, or the feeling you get when you are lost in a book or movie. People who've used this technique report feeling relaxed, calm, aware, and in control.

HypnoBirthing Classes

Hypnobirthing classes are available across the country; you can find a certified educator through the search feature on HypnoBirthing International. Classes might focus on the following techniques:

  • Controlled breathing techniques
  • Visualizations
  • Deep relaxation techniques
  • Meditation
  • Affirmations

HypnoBirthing Techniques

HypnoBirthing is based on the power of suggestion. The laboring person uses positive affirmations, meditation, and visualizations to relax their body, guide their thoughts, and control breathing. This can be done through self-hypnosis or by receiving assistance from a hypnotherapist.

Sometimes people interested in this method will work with a certified hypnotherapist to learn self-hypnosis. They often play a tape of verbal affirmations that help them enter a calm state of self-hypnosis. Alternately, they might use a visualization—such as a flower opening its petals—to picture what's happening in their body during labor and achieve relaxation.

A hypnotherapist may or may not be present during the birth, depending on the needs of the laboring person. For some people, self-hypnosis is easy to achieve, while others respond better to the assistance of a therapist.

The Benefits of HypnoBirthing

HypnoBirthing has many potential benefits. For starters, it's a medication-free form of pain management without potential side effects.

A 2023 study found that HypnoBirthing gave people confidence and focus during labor, helped them find more meaning in childbirth, and resulted in a positive delivery experience. Other research suggests HypnoBirthing might be linked to a shortened first stage of labor, better infant Apgar scores, fewer C-sections, and reduced use of pain medication during labour (though it's important to note that research isn't conclusive about these potential benefits).

Kristen Olberz, RN, CH, HBCE, is a labor and delivery nurse at Portland Providence Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, and a certified HypnoBirthing educator. Out of the more than 1,500 births she has witnessed, approximately 300 have been HypnoBirths.

Olberz was drawn to this particular method because it supports birthing people "being OK with what's going on during labor, being fully supported by staff and loved ones, and feeling safe and empowered." The experience of birth is raw and sacred, says Olberz, and those aspects cannot be fully realized and appreciated when terror and chaos dominate.

Advantages of HypnoBirthing

The reasons people seek out the HypnoBirthing method vary, but many agree on some of the main advantages of the technique, which might include the following:

  • It's a medication-free form of pain management with no potential side effects.
  • It can provide comfort, relaxation, and pain relief during labor.
  • It can decrease stress and fear during childbirth.
  • It can help support the postpartum experience.
  • It has been linked to a shortened first stage of labor, better infant Apgar scores, fewer C-sections, and reduced use of pain medication during labour.

The main difference Olberz notes with families who choose HypnoBirthing over other methods: "They enter labor with tangible tools and working knowledge of what their body can do. Even when things take a turn (and an intervention-free birth isn't possible), my wish is that they feel prepared and able to meet those turns with grace." In other words, if a medical intervention does become necessary, the parent can still use HypnoBirthing techniques to stay calm and present during an emotionally difficult time.

Kim Wildner, a certified HynoBirthing educator in Appleton and Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin, and author of Mother's Intention: How Belief Shapes Birth, sees other advantages of HynpoBirthing: The birthing person tends to exude a quiet strength, while partners tend to provide loving support that creates quite an intimate and relaxed birthing experience, she says.

The effect on the person after giving birth is also worth considering, says Wildner. When a person feels that they made the best decisions for their particular circumstances, no matter how the birth played out, they tend to have an easier postpartum recovery and a positive birth memory.

Olberz adds that if a person has a birth experience where they felt heard and supported, they're less likely to experience postpartum depression (PPD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—a fact supported by research that found a higher rate of postpartum mood disorders in people who reported having a traumatic birth.

Disadvantages of HypnoBirthing

Most people have positive experiences with the childbirth method. However, some people have reported the following downsides to self hypnosis for labor:

  • Not taken seriously by hospital staff
  • Feelings of frustration and disappointment when they didn't have the kind of birth they anticipated
  • Labor progress was misjudged by staff due to the relaxed state

Even so, most often the skills learned through hypnosis are valuable in preparing for labor and in coping with labor. If you choose this method, it may be important to talk to a health care provider about their experience with it.

It may also help to consider and plan for a variety of outcomes. That way, if your birth doesn't go as hoped, you're prepared.

Misconceptions About HypnoBirthing

Despite common misconceptions about hypnosis, HypnoBirthing has nothing to do with a swinging pocket watch and a shady stage show. Hypnosis is not mind control, deep sleep, or being unaware of your surroundings.

Myth: Hypnosis is mind control

A common myth about hypnosis is that it is a form of mind control or brainwashing. However, that is not the case.

According to a 2019 editorial in the journal Palliative Care, since hypnosis has been misused for entertainment, some people perceive it as mysterious and magical, outside of the subject's control. However, that is not how hypnosis works.

In fact, especially in the case of self hypnosis, people enter a hypnotic state deliberately and at will. This is in stark contrast to the idea that hypnosis is mind control or that a person loses free will when hypnotized.

Myth: Hypnosis puts you in a deep sleep

Although hypnosis creates a state of relaxation, it is not a state of sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, hypnosis is actually a state of consciousness where a person is intently focused. Their focus may be on a particular thought or image.

During hypnosis your brain activity changes, but not in a way that causes you to lose consciousness. Instead, a person becomes highly focused to the point where peripheral awareness. This can sometimes appear as a trace-like state.

Myth: You're unaware of your surroundings when hypnotized

Hypnosis changes a person's focus to be more inward. But you do not lose all awareness of your surroundings when hypnotized.

Research has found that hypnosis is a state of awareness distinct from a resting state, and that parts of the brain have increased connectivity compared to when at rest. Hypnosis helps people become hyper-focused on a task, while reducing awareness of alternatives.

What is Hypnobabies?

You might also come across Hypnobabies classes, which are based on the Painless Childbirth Program by hypnotherapist Gerald Kein. Hypnobabies focuses on childbirth education and "medical grade, somnambulistic hypnosis," according to its website. It's supposed to recreate the effects of anesthesia.

How to Get Started With HypnoBirthing

If you're interested in working one-on-one with a HypnoBirthing practitioner, you can ask a health care provider for a referral. You can also contact your hospital or birthing center for a list of hypnotherapists specializing in childbirth. Once you've found a few practitioners, ask for patient referrals and follow up. Share your birth plan with your hypnotherapist so they understand what you envision for your birth experience.

Working one-on-one with a hypnotherapist is not accessible or desirable for everyone. Other options for getting started include reading Mongan's book, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method, or taking a HypnoBirthing class in-person or online.

Was this page helpful?
Sources
Parents uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Women’s experiences with hypnobirth – A qualitative study. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare. 2023.

  2. The efficacy of hypnosis as an intervention for labor and delivery pain: a comprehensive methodological review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2011.

  3. Comparison of the Bradley Method and HypnoBirthing Childbirth Education Classes. J Perinat Educ. 2015.

  4. Hypnosis for pain management during labour and childbirth. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016.

  5. Maternal perception of birth trauma and its association with postpartum mood and parenting stress. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2019.

  6. Unexpected consequences: women's experiences of a self-hypnosis intervention to help with pain relief during labourBMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2015.

  7. What is hypnosis and how might it work?Palliat Care. 2019.

  8. Sleep hypnosis. Sleep Foundation. 2022.

  9. Brain activity and functional connectivity associated with hypnosisCerebral Cortex. 2017.

Related Articles