Hypnobirthing is a collection of hypnotherapy techniques that aims to lessen fear, pain and anxiety during childbirth. It involves powerful calming breathing methods, deep relaxation, guided mediation, visualisation, positive suggestions and affirmations. With birth hypnosis women can feel more relaxed which allows labour to progress more smoothly and can ease the pain of contractions. While it does not eliminate all pain, it does promote a more positive and empowering birthing experience.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba is an American Actress and Entrepreneur. She rose to prominence at age 19 as the lead actress of the television series Dark Angel.
In 2008 when she had her first child, she had a great deal of anxiety about labour and giving birth. She use Hypnobirthing techniques to help prepare for labour and motherhood. This was such a positive experience when she was pregnant in 2011 she used it again.
Explaining on the Ellen DeGeneres Show she said, “It’s not like the clock in front of your face and you go out and you wake up and you got a baby. Basically, my husband takes me through a sort of a meditation. So he’s saying, ‘You’re relaxed and you’re floating on clouds,’ while you’re going through labour and your contractions.”
Giovanna Fletcher
Giovanna Fletcher is an English author, actress, blogger, vlogger and presenter. In May 2012 she married her husband, Tom Fletcher from the pop band McFly.
She used hypnobirthing techniques with her first child to help her relax. Afterwards she recalled happily that her labour was nothing like some of the horror stories she’d heard. In addition to hypnobirthing she also used Michael McIntyre DVDs and singing along to Coldplay albums to help her through labour. She said, “Tom was as encouraging as I knew he would be – rubbing my back and reminding me to breathe anytime a frown appeared on my brow. He anchored me and made sure the day was as we’d hoped it would be.”
By her third birth, she found hypnobirthing’s techniques were the only pain management she needed. As husband Tom wrote on Instagram “I’ve witnessed her go through labour and give birth three times now and all three have been different but equally special experiences. She once again used hypnobirthing and had no drugs or pain relief, just breathing and relaxation techniques. It is truly incredible to watch! She is the most focussed, strong, determined woman I’ve ever met and our boys are the luckiest kids on the planet to be able to call her Mum.”
Gisele Bundchen
Gisele Bündchen is a Brazilian fashion model. Vogue credited her with ending the heroin chic era of modelling. She was a Victoria’s Secret Angel from 1999 until 2006. She is married to American footballer (NFL) quarterback Tom Brady.
Talking about the birth of her first child in 2010 she said, “[it] didn’t hurt in the slightest”. She also said, “I didn’t want to be drugged up, so I did a lot of preparation. I did yoga and meditation, so I managed to have a very tranquil birth. It didn’t hurt in the slightest. The whole time my mind was focused in each contraction on the thought that my baby is closer to coming out”. She went on to described giving birth as “the most intense and life-changing experience of my life”.
Fearne Cotton
Fearne Cotton is an English television and radio presenter. From 2008 to 2018, Cotton appeared as a team captain on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice.
In 2015 she shared her hypnobirthing experience on Facebook after recently giving birth to her second child, Honey Krissy. She said it was a “‘positive experience” that was both “intense and euphoric”.
She went on to write, “Love my YES MUM cards [affirmation cards] who brilliantly guided me through hypnobirthing before my big day. Having a natural pain relief free birth was the most intense and euphoric experience ever. My first birth was very different to this and although all we want is our babies to be healthy, I think it’s important to remember how strong us women can be and what our bodies can do. Each birth story is miraculous and amazing however it turns out. I just feel grateful I had a positive experience”.
Katie Goodland
Katie Goodland is a fitness instructor and is also known for being the wife of English footballer Harry Kane. They have been married since 2019 and the pair have three children together.
For the birth of their second daughter, Katie used hypnobirthing techniques. Her husband proudly announced on social media, “Our beautiful addition to the family! Vivienne Jane Kane. So proud of @KateGoodlandx for having the most amazing water birth with no pain relief at all. #mygirls #hypnobirthing”
He drew some criticism for this post for being proud of a pain relief free birth. However, he addressed this by saying, “Let’s get one thing straight, any woman can give birth however they would like. I’m very proud of my fiancée for doing it the way she wanted and we both learnt a lot from hypnobirthing.”
Busy Phillips
Elizabeth Jean “Busy” Philipps is an American actress best known for her role as Laurie Keller on the ABC series Cougar Town. She married screenwriter Marc Silverstein in 2007.
In preparation for her first child, Birdie, in 2008 the couple took a Hypnobirthing course and she employed Hypnobirthing techniques during the labour. She said, “I really believe that this is something our bodies are able to do naturally, and we should get out of our body’s way and let it do it,”
Tiffani Thiessen
Tiffani Thiessen is an American actress and television host. She starred as Kelly Kapowski in Saved by the Bell and as Valerie Malone in Beverly Hills, 90210.
Talking in 2010 before the birth of her daughter Harper Renn, she said, I’m going to give a Girl Scout effort to hypno-birthing. I’m really excited about it. That’s my plan, but my husband and I are both very, very open to however the child is supposed to come out. Knock on wood it all goes well. I’m not one to judge any woman on how they choose to give birth. It’s individual and I think everyone’s different”.
It was reported that during the labour there were complications. She needed an emergency caesarean after her daughter’s umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.
Ferne McCann
Ferne McCann is an English model, television personality and presenter. She was a cast member of the ITVBe reality series The Only Way Is Essex.
In 2017 talking about the recent birth of her daughter, she said, “I think that the hypnobirthing definitely was amazing practice for my labour. Some people have a pain free birth because of hypnobirthing, did I? No, I didn’t. I felt every ounce of pain. I went into labour naturally and I had a natural birth, and all went well, she’s here and we’re healthy. Absolutely, you need to be relaxed when you give birth because if you tense that can slow down your birth and stress out you and your baby. You just need to be as relaxed as you possibly can.”
Sam Faiers
Samantha Faiers is an English television personality and model. She is best known for having starred in the ITV2 reality series The Only Way Is Essex.
In 2015, she gave birth to a baby boy, Paul Tony Knightley and again in 2017 she gave birth to a baby girl, Rosie Knightley. Talking about it she loved her hypnobirthing techniques – though they didn’t exactly get rid of all the pain. She said, “My first labour was 26 hours and my second was about 4 hours, so that’s two completely different labours. With my first (baby Paul), I had a late labour and my pain was in my back. I had hypnobirthing with baby Paul, which wasn’t pain-free but it really helped me to be really calm – I didn’t scream, shout or swear!”.
She went on to say, “I would definitely recommend it. For some people, it really works and can help them breathe through the pain. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for me but I was really calm and it did help.”
Catherine Tyldesley
Catherine Tyldesley is an English actress, comedian and model best known for her role in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
Speaking before the birth of her first child in 2014 she how she was using Hypnobirthing techniques in preparation. She said in an interview with OK! Magazine, “Every day I sit down for half an hour and concentrate on my breathing techniques. Often the baby moves around loads because I’m taking in more oxygen, so it feels like a bonding session with the baby.”
She went on to say, “As much as I’d like to go down the natural road, I can’t beat myself up if I need medical intervention.”
Catherine Middleton
Princess of Wales and former Duchess of Cambridge and member of the British royal family. In addition to using hypnotherapy to ease the effects of morning sickness, she also used it during labour for all three of her children.
She spoke to Giovanna Fletcher (also a fan of Hypnobirthing) on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast. She said, “I’m not going to say that William was standing there chanting sweet nothings at me! He definitely wasn’t, [laughing] I didn’t even ask him about it, but it was just something I wanted to do for myself. I saw the power of it, really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like that that they teach you in hypnobirthing when I was really sick and actually I realised that this was something that I could take control of, I suppose, during labour. It was hugely powerful.”
Miranda Kerr
Miranda Kerr is an Australian model and businesswoman. In 2007 she became the first Australian Victoria’s Secret model.
She spoke in 2011 to the Sydney Morning Herald about her six month old baby, Flynn. She said “I’m really lucky because I have a good-natured boy. When I was pregnant, I practised hypnobirthing, which is a daily meditation, and I practise a lot of yoga and I think that had a lot to do with him being calm because that was the first energy he felt”.
Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart is an American actress, producer, comedian and director. She is perhaps best known for her roles in Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Speaking to OK! Magazine she said, “My friend Kellie Martin [who had her own natural birth] is the one who introduced me to the whole hypnobirthing idea. It is a special way of getting through a pregnancy without an epidural or inducing”.