Thursday 17 November 2011

Lots of wonderful women at the RCM conference


It was wonderful being at the RCM conference this week and meeting SOOOO many wonderful midwives.  In total we spoke to over 300 midwives, all of whom now have the antenatal pregnancy relaxation cd.  what was particularly nice was that almost all of them were familiar with the use of hypnosis for childbirth and at least 80% being familiar with Natal Hypnotherapy. A far cry from when we first started 11 years ago and had to explain the concepts to every single person

On the slightly negative side is the persistent misunderstanding of the fact that there are key differences between NH and HypnoBirthing.  I had many midwives initially confuse us with hypnoBirthing, often saying that they felt uncomfortable with the need to change their language, had to watch everything they said, felt nervous of doing something Wong, have a list of do's and dont's etc.  As ever I reassured them that that is not the approach that Natal Hypnotherapy takes.  I have heard this so many times from literally hundreds of midwives. I am so glad that we have developed NH alongside the Uk maternity system and work so closely with midwives.

I met lots of wonderful people using NH CDs in different ways.  One was Val Watson who uses the CDs with pregnant asylum seekers.  She mentioned several women who felt that listening to the CDs was a turning point in their pregnancy, that is was the first time they had been able to relax since coming to the UK, that they were beginning to look forward to the birth etc.  She uses the CDs with an interpreter for a few times after which they do not need one any more.

I also met the lovely Helen from Cheeky wipes who used out CDs for all 4 of her births. She has created a fantastic product - a reusable baby wipes kit - check it out at http://www.cheekywipes.com/

I had a long chat with the girls from the NCT telling me all about the babycafe initiative - a friendly, welcoming support network for breastfeeding mums - http://www.thebabycafe.org/

I had a right giggle with the girls from MIDRS I wont mention helium balloons, mannequins and glasses of wine - they will know what I am talking about!

It was great to see the team from tummytub who we exhibited with 7 years ago at the NEC - amazing how time flies. www.tummytub.co.uk

So all in all a great couple of days

1 comment:

  1. As a midwife, and long time teacher of Hypnosis for Childbirth,(since 1984), with five children all born using hypnotic techniques, I now teach HypnoBirthing. I think it is a shame that the two most successful hypnotherapy preparation programme in the UK are at all at odds with each other. There are slight differences, but that's what gives women choice. (Incidentally, I certainly work very closely with my local hospitals and midwives and don't ask anyone to use particular language.) I don't think it helps women to see us at all in disagreement, it just causes confusion. Both Natal Hypnotherapy and HypnoBirthing are brilliant programmes, both work, both empower women to give birth more easily....let's work together to make birth great for all women, regardless of which course/programme/cd they follow.

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