How can you help as a birth partner?

How a Birth Partner Can Support Hypnobirthing

A birth partner is a crucial part of the hypnobirthing journey, offering love, strength, and support every step of the way. Here’s how you can make a difference during the big day:

Offer Comforting Touch: Gentle massage or hand-holding can help calm and reassure, providing comfort and a sense of safety.

Encourage Positive Affirmations: Using positive, calming words and affirmations that you have learnt and practiced together can help maintain focus and relaxation.

Help with Relaxation Techniques: Guide your partner through breathing exercises and relaxation techniques learned in hypnobirthing classes. Your calm presence can amplify the impact of these techniques!

Stay Present & Calm: Your ability to stay relaxed and composed will create a supportive atmosphere for both you and your partner. Hypnobirthing is all about minimizing fear and anxiety – and your peaceful energy is key!

Advocate for the Birth Plan: Being informed and supportive of the birth plan allows you to advocate for choices, ensuring the birth environment is aligned with your partner's wishes.

Remember: Your presence and involvement can make all the difference, helping your partner feel empowered, loved, and confident as they bring new life into the world, no matter how your baby decides to arrive.

Our four week courses are designed for both birthing Mum and birth partner, to give you BOTH a full set of skills and techniques to remain feeling calm and in control during your baby's birth. Check out our ‘Find a Teacher’ page to find classes near you.

Pregnancy sickness

Pregnancy and Sickness: Understanding the Challenges and Coping Strategies

Pregnancy is often described as a time of great joy and anticipation, but for many women, it can also be a time of physical discomfort. Morning sickness, which is typically associated with early pregnancy, affects many expectant mothers, and while it's usually temporary, it can be tough to handle. If you're going through this, you're not alone. Let’s explore pregnancy-related sickness, why it happens, and ways to cope with it, including how hypnobirthing techniques, like those offered by Calm Births, can support your journey.

What is Morning Sickness?

Despite the name, morning sickness doesn’t just happen in the morning—it can occur at any time of day and even last all day for some women. Morning sickness refers to nausea and vomiting that typically occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy. It is believed to be linked to hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy, particularly the increase in human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and oestrogen levels.

While the exact cause isn't fully understood, several factors contribute to morning sickness, such as:

• Hormonal fluctuations: As pregnancy hormones surge, they can upset the stomach, leading to nausea.

• Increased sensitivity to smells: Pregnant women often experience heightened senses of smell, which can trigger nausea when exposed to certain odors.

• Changes in metabolism: The body is working harder to support a growing foetus, and this can affect digestion and cause stomach discomfort.

How Long Does Morning Sickness Last?

For most women, morning sickness peaks around the 9th week of pregnancy and gradually subsides by the 12th to 14th week. However, some women may experience it for a shorter period, while others may find it lasts longer, extending into the second trimester. A small number of women may even experience severe nausea and vomiting throughout their entire pregnancy, a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum, which may require medical intervention.

Beyond Morning Sickness: Other Types of Pregnancy Sickness

While morning sickness is the most common form of pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting, other issues may arise during pregnancy that can also make women feel unwell:

• Heartburn and indigestion: As the uterus expands, it presses against the stomach, which can cause acid reflux and discomfort.

• Fatigue: Early pregnancy can leave you feeling exhausted, as your body adjusts to the changes required to support a growing baby.

• Headaches: Hormonal changes, dehydration, and stress can contribute to headaches during pregnancy.

• Dizziness: As blood volume increases, blood pressure can fluctuate, causing feelings of lightheadedness or dizziness.

Coping Strategies for Pregnancy Sickness

While pregnancy sickness can feel overwhelming, there are several ways to ease the discomfort and make it more manageable.

1. Eat Small, Frequent Meals

Instead of having three large meals, try eating small meals throughout the day. This can help keep blood sugar levels stable and prevent nausea. Focus on bland, easy-to-digest foods such as crackers, toast, or rice. Avoiding overly spicy or greasy foods can also help keep nausea at bay.

2. Stay Hydrated

Dehydration can worsen nausea and vomiting, so it’s important to drink plenty of water. Sipping on fluids throughout the day can be easier on your stomach than drinking large amounts at once. You might also try ginger tea or electrolyte drinks to stay hydrated and reduce nausea.

3. Get Fresh Air

Sometimes, a little fresh air is all it takes to alleviate nausea. A short walk outside or simply sitting by an open window can help. Some women find that a gentle breeze or being in nature can provide comfort during bouts of sickness.

4. Rest and Relax

Fatigue is a common side effect of pregnancy, and exhaustion can exacerbate nausea. Make sure to take naps and prioritize rest. Stress can also make symptoms worse, so try relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation to calm your mind and body.

One way to address stress is through hypnobirthing. This practice focuses on using relaxation and visualization techniques to promote calm and reduce anxiety during pregnancy and childbirth. Calm Births Hypnobirthing offers courses designed to guide you through pregnancy, helping you manage both physical discomfort and emotional stress. By learning to stay calm and centered, you can reduce the impact of pregnancy sickness on your overall experience.

5. Avoid Triggers

Certain smells, foods, or environments may trigger nausea. If you know there are specific things that set off your symptoms, try to avoid them as much as possible. This may involve asking others to avoid strong perfumes or cooking smells around you or adjusting your environment to make it more comfortable.

6. Consider Ginger and Vitamin B6

Some studies suggest that ginger may help alleviate nausea, so incorporating ginger tea, ginger chews, or ginger ale into your routine might provide some relief. Vitamin B6 supplements are another option that some pregnant women find helpful for managing morning sickness. Always check with your midwife before taking any supplements.

7. Seek Medical Help If Necessary

In some cases, morning sickness can become severe or even progress into hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition characterized by excessive vomiting and dehydration. If you find that you're unable to keep food or liquids down or are losing weight, it’s essential to contact your healthcare provider immediately. They may recommend prescription medication or other treatments to help manage your symptoms.

When to Call Your Doctor

While morning sickness is common and usually not a cause for concern, there are times when you should reach out to your doctor or midwife:

• Severe dehydration: If you’re unable to drink fluids or keep food down, or if you notice signs of dehydration (dry mouth, dark urine, dizziness), seek medical attention right away.

• Hyperemesis gravidarum: If vomiting is persistent, severe, and accompanied by weight loss, this may require medical intervention.

• Other unusual symptoms: If you experience fever, abdominal pain, or spotting in addition to your nausea and vomiting, consult your healthcare provider for a thorough evaluation.

Final Thoughts

Pregnancy-related sickness can be a challenging part of the pregnancy journey, but remember, it’s usually temporary. With the right self-care practices, support from your healthcare team, and a little patience, you’ll get through it. If you're struggling, consider incorporating relaxation and visualization techniques from Calm Births Hypnobirthing to help manage stress and discomfort. These tools can not only assist with sickness but also prepare you for the birth process ahead.

The most important thing is to listen to your body, take it easy when you need to, and remind yourself that this phase will pass—usually by the time you reach the second trimester. Until then, take it one day at a time and remember that it's all a part of bringing new life into the world.

Calm Births empowering families!

A word we use a LOT at Calm Births is empowerment.

One of our main drivers is to empower families to achieve positive, calm births. Our other goal and passion is to empower people to share their skillset and become amazing hypnobirthing teachers themselves, who can then in turn empower people in their own communities. It’s an amazing cycle!

The two processes are surprisingly not that different - with parents-to-be we are educating them in the process of birth, and giving them specific techniques that they can use in any situation where they feel anxious or out of control. We offer them support specific to their individual circumstances and hold their hand until they are holding their baby in their arms.

With teachers-to-be, with fully educate them in birth, hypnobirthing and antenatal education. We give them a specific syllabus to use that works, we give them specific tools that work to build a business and we hold their hand all the way along their journey to becoming successful in their new businesses.

In both areas, we are people’s cheerleaders, we’re giving them accurate, evidence based information and arming them with it, and holding their hands on their special journeys.

It’s what makes us tick and we love it!

To find a hypnobirthing teacher near you just look here. Or to learn more about becoming a hypnobirthing teacher look here x

Hypnobirthing for elective C-Section.

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our new course - Hypnobirthing for elective C-Section.

We know that the use of hypnobirthing techniques during pregnancy has huge benefits for both the parent and the baby - there’s a really interesting TED talk about relaxation during pregnancy here which explains how if we are able to relax, it actually wires the baby’s brain to have lower stress receptors - it’s fascinating!

So we know the benefits are huge during pregnancy for both parent and baby , but what about the birth itself if you’re having surgery?

Did you know that the use of self-hypnosis during surgery is proven to:

• Reduce anxiety

• Reduce blood pressure

• Lower heart rate

• Increase haemodynamic stability (less blood loss)

• Lower perceived level of pain

• Lower the risk of complications during surgery

Anecdotally, it is also believed that recovery time after surgery is also quicker.

The techniques that we teach are to prepare you to feel calm and in control in ANY situation - yes for birth, but also for major events such as surgery, a visit to the dentist, flying, PARENTING a newborn! Entering a hospital and being in theatre can feel very anxiety inducing, and so these techniques are designed to leave you both feeling fully prepared, calm and in control for a really positive, wonderful experience.

Something else we feel is very important to be included in this course is the techniques for early labour, as although a C-section is booked we do know that some parents can go into labour ahead of this. This can be a source of anxiety if you don’t know what to expect or how to cope with those early surges. So on the course we run through exactly what is happening to the body, and what you can do to remain feeling calm and in control until you are taken to theatre.

We run through exactly what it will look like on the day you have your baby, so that you are fully prepared and know what to expect. We then teach you how to use those relaxation techniques during this time to make it go more smoothly and for you to feel more calm and positive.

Early feedback from clients has been wonderful - they have been left feeling ready and excited:

I’m excited! I am nervous of corse, but I also am confident that my partner and I will be able to follow through with all the techniques we have learnt, and it is going to be a wonderful experience! I am looking forward to having a happy positive birth!

So please be assured that hypnobirthing is for ANY kind of birth, including yours. So all Calm Births teachers are now able to teach this 4 session course - to find your local teacher simply click here x

Hypnobirthing teacher training in Covid times.

Well, the world has certainly changed a bit since the arrival of Covid 19. But the world is still turning, women are still pregnant and babies are still being born.

So we have been continuing to train new Calm Births teachers throughout this rocky time, in fact more than ever have joined the team since January 2020. Being able to teach online has opened us up to teachers who previously couldn’t have made it, we’ve had breastfeeding Mums on maternity leave who can easily join us online, we’ve had teachers far and wide geographically with young families - and we’ve been blessed with so many more teachers than we could have taught before.

“I really enjoyed the Calm Birth's Teachers course. Hannah was a great teacher, taking us through the content at a pace that allowed us to digest and discuss the information thoroughly whilst keeping momentum on all the content to cover. Hannah made me feel at ease and excited about putting all my learning into action in my own business.”

So what does the course look like now?

Should you choose to become a Calm Births teacher, your materials will all be sent to you with in the post and access to your pre-course learning module given. And then we simply meet on Zoom instead of face to face! Groups are working really well this way, we still have fun and connect in a really great way.

If you are not a Midwife, you’ll be invited to take the pre-course module designed to give you lots of information and suggested reading about pregnancy and birth, in order that you feel confident in working with pregnant women.

Over our two days together, you’ll learn:

• Hypnotherapy basics

• Hypnotherapy and it’s affect on birth

• The Calm Births syllabus and how it works

• Business building - how to set up and run your business

The course is relaxed, informal and jam packed full of information. I always aim to make the learning fun!

“The course was very enjoyable, relaxing, collaborative and time flew. I can’t wait to get started!”

Once trained you are invited to teach a case study client to consolidate your knowledge, and work closely with me to build up your business for as long as you need support doing so.

Our team are a wonderful bunch of passionate, positive women who’s main goal is to empower women in their communities in having positive, calm births. We have a thriving online community of teachers and meet (virtually) once per month for an informal get together.

“I really enjoyed the teacher training! A relaxed and friendly environment and a strong, well rounded course content that I’m excited to start teaching!”

And don’t forget - our course is fully accredited by the Royal College of Midwives so it is high quality, evidence based information that we are teaching.

Courses usually run monthly and are available to all, no matter what your professional background.

Click here to learn more and to see dates and prices!

What do I need to have ready for baby?

Much like the Hospital Bag scenario, it's really difficult to know exactly what you really need to have ready for baby's arrival, and what's surplus to requirements! There are so many things that you will be told that you absolutely MUST have for baby, the latest gadgets and gismos to make life easier. 

Everyone is different and chooses to live their lives differently, and that's what makes life interesting, but I personally believe that the majority of those gadgets and gismos for baby actually just make life more complicated and cluttered. 

So what do you actually need? Well a baby needs to be warm, fed, changed, loved and to sleep. Those are the things it actually needs. So with that in mind:

Clothes - well, yes. You'll need lots of vests, babygrows and hats. Depending on the time of year, they might also need a snowsuit to snuggle in for being outside (but this should be removed when they're in their car seat - see some guidelines on that here). It's always difficult to know if baby is warm enough, the best way to tell is to feel their chest or their back, it should just feel the same warmth as you. 

Food - if you're planning to breastfeed you've already got everything you need. If you're going to formula feed then you'll need formula, bottles, teats and a way to sterilise. You can get sucked into gadgetry here but you really don't need to. The easiest way to keep bottles sterile is to buy the traditional sterilising tablets and have a bowl in the kitchen with it in (replaced every 24 hours), and put bottles into it after you've washed them after each use. Then you've always got a sterile bottle ready to go, at the right temperature. If you buy a microwave steriliser, they are great but if you need a bottle NOW (which can happen!!) then it will be too hot straight after use and you'll have to wait for it to cool down. Ever tried explaining to a hungry baby that it needs to wait patiently???!!!!  And I will sound like my Mother now, but room temperature is right for baby as that is how your milk comes if you were breastfeeding. If you ever offer baby warmed milk you're really setting yourself up for trouble - be warned!!!! 

Also in the food category I would say Muslins - you cannot have enough muslins, you'll need one in every room and one in your changing bag. Baby's throw up, often on you when you're out! They also dribble whilst feeding or just after, having a mussy tucked under their chin or to hand to mop up is great. Buy lots of these!!!

Changing - The bag. God people spend £££££'s on changing bags! I've always found that a nice big handbag with lots of pockets is fine, it doesn't have to be an official 'changing bag' to serve it's purpose! 

You'll obviously need nappies (buy shares in these!), some people prefer cloth and some prefer disposable - it's your choice. Warm water and cotton wool is the gentlest way to clean baby's bottom, but this isn't practical when you're out so you will need wipes if you ever want to leave the house. I do strongly suggest buying a tub of vaseline, if you apply this generously to baby's bottom and bits after each nappy change, you will avoid nappy rash - it also means that poo doesn't stick to their skin and comes off easily. You're welcome. 

Sleeping - Again this comes down to choice, but baby is safe to co-sleep with you under usual circumstances, and you cannot spoil a newborn baby. Just because they co-sleep with you for the first couple of months of their lives (or longer), doesn't mean that they'll be 12 and sleeping in your bed. However it is important to be armed with the facts on co-sleeping, and you can find those with the Lullaby Trust. There are lots of options to have baby in your room and very close to you if you prefer not to co-sleep, such as a Moses basket next to your bed.

Baby will need other things as time goes on, but you will discover what you would like to have for him or her as you go along. You'll want a play mat or something that you can lay baby down on, but you won't need this immediately. 

The first few weeks baby will just need to be close to you - slings are amazing for this, and most (but not all) babies will be happy to just be in the sling with you whilst you are out and about. There are lots of sling libraries popping up now where you can try different types out to see how you like them before you buy one. 

When out and about you'll also want a car seat and a pram - this is pretty overwhelming for most of us, just have a play with things until you find the one that works for you. But please don't fall into the trap of carrying baby around everywhere in the car seat, it's not good for them and it's not good for your back! 

And finally: Love. And I'm pretty sure you've got that covered.