Perhaps you have heard about the many benefits of hypnosis to prepare for your baby's birth. Whether it is prenatal classes or private appointments, to ensure the best experience possible and to protect you and your baby, read on for the seven most important questions to ask your Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist...
As you research Hypnosis Childbirth Specialists, remember that in most jurisdictions, hypnosis is not regulated. Being a well-informed consumer is first and foremost your best protection.
Here are common questions most people usually ask:
hours of business
location
fees
length of appointment / classes
parking / public transit access.
But are there more important questions?
Even when you have a referral from a trusted friend, consider the following questions to make sure that you have booked with the Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist who is the best fit for you.
1) Designations: is the hypnotist a member of an accredited organization? The basic designation with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) is Consulting Hypnotist (CH or CHt). As a large international hypnosis organization, the NGH has very clear and specific requirements for ethical practice that all members must abide by.
Some hypnotists have earned advanced designations - ask what this represents.
2) Post-certification training: Basic hypnosis training is typically 100+ hours and provides the training for smoking cessation, weight loss and reducing stress.
You will want a practitioner who is both a hypnotist and has training in the specific needs of childbirth hypnosis. A hypnotist using a script with outdated or inaccurate medical information is exactly what you do not want!
3) Collaboration with the medical community: In addition to following the ethical guidelines of her/his professional organization, the hypnotist needs to be very clear that medical care decisions remain with the primary care-provider (doctor or midwife) and the pregnant woman only.
Medical care-providers will accept complementary modalities as long as they do not cause harm. Once a modality proves to be helpful, care-providers are very pleased (i.e. reducing anxious feelings for needles, medical procedures, etc) because the hypnosis their patient did makes their job easier. Some will even refer.
Most importantly, care-providers need to know that the pregnant woman is using hypnosis for reducing her awareness of pain in labour. Pain is considered the "fifth vital sign" and is part of the diagnostic process in determining whether labour is taking place or not. It can be dangerous when medical staff are unaware that hypnosis has reduced someone's perception of pain...they may think that she is not in labour and send her home -- this is not a good thing!
Ask the Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist what procedures are in place to ensure that the doctor/midwife is informed in advance about the use of hypnosis for birth.
4) Full-time practice: does the Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist work full-time at hypnosis? Like anything, practice makes perfect and hypnotists are no exception. The hypnotist you hire to help you prepare for your baby's birth should be doing hypnosis full-time instead of dabbling in it as a part-time hobby.
5) Experience: How many clients has the hypnotist helped with preparing women for childbirth? Doctors and midwives are considered competent when they perform a minimum number of births annually; the same principle applies to hypnotism. The more pregnant clients in the practice, the more well-skilled the hypnotist is likely to be.
Additional training in the childbirth field (present or previous) is a bonus:
midwife or physician
nurse - especially one with labour and delivery experience
doula
childbirth educator
having birthed one or more babies of her own using hypnosis.
Nothing beats real-time experience at actual births to add to the hypnotist's skill set.
6) Outcome: ask about statistics the Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist has for clients who have used the services. Not every hypnotist will have statistics to provide you, but it is a good sign when these are made available.
It can be something simple like X clients planned for natural birth and Y percentage then achieved this. Be aware that with a small number of clients, the hypnotist could claim a 100 percent success rate. While unusual, this would be normal when numbers are small. The more clients the hypnotist sees, however, the more variation will occur.
The average Caesarian rate in North America varies from 20 to 30 percent. A hypnotist with a caesarian outcome of less than this is doing good work.
Also...ask about client satisfaction. A client could have a birth that did not meet her goals (birth can be unpredictable), but she could be deeply satisfied with the outcome, nonetheless. Satisfied clients return again for other issues and will refer friends and family members. Ask the Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist what follow-up procedures are in place for client evaluation.
7) Agenda: be on the look-out for a hidden agenda during your conversation. If the hypnotist is "against" anything (i.e. is anti-epidural, anti-homebirth, etc)...keep looking. The hypnotist is there to serve you and your needs, not a personal agenda. Your Hypnosis Childbirth Specialist should be able to determine what you want and then do the hypnosis that supports this.
After your appointment with a hypnotist, you should leave feeling much better than when you first arrived.
Fears and worries seem to go hand-in-hand with pregnancy. Pregnant women especially benefit from childbirth preparation using hypnosis...reducing fears and boosting confidence make a huge difference the closer you get to your due date.
You should count on leaving your hypnosis appointment with three things:
A sense of achievement that you got what you came for
Feeling relaxed and refreshed
Renewed confidence in yourself - maybe even looking forward to an amazing birth!
Click to learn more about Hypnosis or Melbourne Hypnotherapy or even more about Hypnosis Melbourne Suburbs.
Shawn Gallagher, BA, BCH is a Board Certified Hypnotist in Toronto, Canada. To learn more about her ChildbirthJoy Prenatal Hypnosis series, visit http://www.childbirthjoy.com
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