The Calm Way To Give Birth

Giving birth is an event worth planning and preparing for and having a baby is one of the most significant events in every parent’s life. Labouring mothers should be filled with empowerment and joy right? Calm birth offers an alternative direction to hospital based education. It is a form of childbirth education that addresses people’s attitudes and beliefs around pain in labour.

Calm Birth

The Calm Way To Give Birth - Memotions / CC BY 2.0

It offers simple and efficient tools for all birth choices and birth settings. Self care and taking time in practicing relaxation has a positive effect for both mother and baby, no matter how many babies a woman has birthed before. Feeling calm, confident and connected to the unborn baby and partner are important, no matter where and how the birth unfolds.

The philosophy of calm birth is based on the belief that pregnancy, labour and preparing for childbirth are normal life dealings and that birth is a likely process to be experienced in a calm and joyfully memorable way by all mothers.

Calm birth in Australia

Calm birth is an Australian childbirth preparation programme which was developed by Peter Jackson in 2005. He has developed calm birth from his years of study and experience in these fields.
Peter Jackson has an experience in General, Psychiatric and Midwifery disciplines of nursing in Sydney and NSW regional hospitals since 1970. Peter spent most of his years working as a registered midwife assisting hundreds of birthing mothers. He is also a Private Subconscious Mind Therapist.

Difference of calm birth and hypnobirthing

HypnoBirthing (mongan method), was developed in USA during 1980’s by Marie Mongan, A hypnotherapist. Hypnobirthing follows the philosophy of absence of fear and tension, severe pain does not have to be experienced during labour. It also promotes the reduction in anxiety and fear, bringing expectant mothers into an awareness of focused, relaxed, calm and empowered experience of giving birth.
There’s a wrong perception by some people in the community that calm birth is an Australian version of HypnoBirthing. It’s not. Each programme reflects the profession of its founder one being a midwife and the other a hypnotherapist. Each has been written in different ways.

Calm birth Hypnobirthing
Have a therapeutic component in which personal healing of fear takes place on a subconscious level. Have a therapeutic component in which personal healing of fear takes place on a subconscious level.
Calm birth uses the tools of relaxation, breathing and creative visualization HypnoBirthing uses Hypnosis
It uses the broad understanding of cardiologist Dr Herbert Benson’s work on the Relaxation Response to help mothers and their partners that are attending the classes. The couples are encouraged to utilize their natural inner resources to work towards an empowering and optimistic birth experience. It was recaptured in the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, who, in the 1920’s. He was one of the first to promote the concept of natural childbirth.
Calm birth practitioners have required qualifications. Their experience backgrounds can include working as midwives, childbirth educators, doulas and/or birth counsellors. The hypnobirthing training requires no previous experience in birth work. But hypnobirthing educators are successfully teaching women.

What will you learn during calm birth classes?

In a calm birth class, you will learn and practice the following easy yet powerful techniques;

  • You will be taught of breathing techniques for the different stages of labour.
  • You will learn and practice to create a Deep Relaxation Response within your body.
  • Discovery of visualisation and other focusing tools.

If these techniques are used correctly and practised beforehand, it will help you to have an easy, gentle, calm and natural way possible to give birth. Pain, drugs or any medical interventions during labour and giving birth would be less likely.

To get more information about calm birth please check their website http://calmbirth.com.au/par-whatiscalmbirth.html