antenatal + hypnobirthing classes in greater manchester
5 star rated, realistic & local
Hello! I’m Sam. I teach evidence-based and realistic hypnobirthing to help you cope with pain and have a positive birth experience no matter what happens on the day.
My course gives you and your partner everything you need to feel prepared for birth. I work closely with the Greater Manchester maternity units to ensure my course is up to date and relevant.
Some of my clients are looking to cope entirely without medical pain relief but most simply want strategies to help them when nothing else can - at home, in the car, in the waiting room, whilst being triaged... I can provide you with the tools you need to feel confident and to realistically manage pain.
Nobody can promise you a smooth & pain-free labour. And for me, there’s no such thing as ‘having a hypnobirth’. Hypnobirthing is a set of skills to learn and use however you want to. Every choice should still be yours.
CURRENT STATUS:
Due to other projects, including launching Pregnancy Pal, I am currently only working with hypnobirthing clients privately. Please get in touch using the contact form to enquire.
I’ve launched Pregnancy Pal to support other pregnancy, birth & baby businesses in the UK. There’s an experienced army of incredible people in your local area who are ready to support you, but sometimes they are hard to find! Pregnancy Pal aims to support these small businesses by giving them a platform to share their knowledge with you. Check it out and follow along on Instagram too!
group courses
CURRENTLY ON HOLD.
Private courses
Delivered in the comfort of your own home at a time to suit you!
“Sam’s approach is scientific which was perfect for me and my partner (who was dubious before the class started!).... All of the midwives commented on how amazing my breathing was throughout labour...
We both loved the course, it provided us with so many techniques to keep calm, happy and anxiety free throughout my labour - I would 100% recommend Sam!”
“Sam’s course was fantastic and when it was time to have my baby, I felt so much more in control and educated about what to expect during labour. I’d highly recommend her course to anyone wanting to use Hypnobirthing. ”
My motto is simple: ‘You’ll only birth this baby once’.
You can rest assured that you won’t be swayed away from your existing birth choices, whatever they may be.
I’m not anti-drugs and I’m not anti-induction, anti-caesarean or anti-anything! I’ve got the stats and studies to help you decide, but what I’m here to help you with is coping strategies to bring comfort and control to one of the most memorable days of your life, whichever way it pans out.
Birth partners will learn how to effectively support you with evidence-based strategies so they can be more than just a hand to hold (though that still helps!)
Birth rarely goes exactly to plan, so I offer free follow up sessions if you find out your plans need to change in advance. Perhaps your baby is breech, or you require an induction or caesarean section.
You’ll learn hypnobirthing strategies to get you through any type of birth - so if the dimmed lights of the birthing centre become out of reach, a positive experience is still within your grasp.
Hypnobirthing strategies can also be used for pain relief in the recovery period and to help with discomfort when breastfeeding.
I do not believe that simply ‘positive thoughts = a positive birth’ and you may find that other hypnobirthing instructors do. If you’re looking for healing energy, chakras and incense sticks, this is not for you. I am an evidence-based practitioner. Read about my science-led approach!
All training has been accredited by the Royal College of Midwives. You can find out more about me and how I discovered hypnobirthing below…
“The hypnobirthing course with Sam was interesting, factual and full of great advice which came in so useful during labour. The breathing techniques in particular were really helpful.
Before the course, the idea of giving birth was scary and overwhelming, but Sam provided us both with the knowledge and skills to help towards a positive birth experience.
Thanks so much Sam!”
Latest blog posts
Before the birth of my daughter, I hadn’t heard of hypnobirthing. In fact, when I did hear about it, I was the first to declare that it sounded like the biggest load of rubbish. A trusted friend spoke up - actually, it had helped her. The local NCT course was full and I’d left it all a bit late, so I quickly booked on to a local group hypnobirthing course, hoping to make friends. And clearly, it changed my life. But not initially in the way you would expect…
“The birth of my daughter did not go to plan.”
The excitement of my waters breaking quickly turned to worry when nothing else began to happen... At triage, we were placed on a machine to monitor the baby’s heart rate. There was some concern that she might be distressed. What followed was a long, complicated labour full of intervention and multiple discussions with the medical team about the way forward. In other words… a fairly typical experience, but not the birth I’d planned for.
The course I had taken wasn’t very realistic. Hypnobirthing in it’s traditional sense had set me up to feel like a failure. My experience was not what I had hoped or planned for, but at the heart of it was a calm version of myself who I’d never met before.
Some hypnobirthing techniques had allowed me to stay in control, to breathe through the pain and to take on board everything I was told. Every decision felt like my own because I was so well informed by the antenatal side of the course. My mindset was focused and strong. I knew within weeks of giving birth that hypnobirthing had helped me so much that I wanted to share it with everyone. But I hadn’t had a typically beautiful, instagram-able ‘hypnobirth’ like most instructors experience before training...
But you know what happens after you give birth? Everyone tells you their honest experiences. I quickly realised that my experience wasn’t out of the norm. In fact, if anything, the instagram huns with the candles and blood-free birth pool pictures were the odd ones out. I knew I had to share hypnobirthing with the world, but NOT the ‘positive vibes, positive outcomes’ style that has taken over social feeds and the media. An honest course with an evidence-based ethos, developed alongside our Greater Manchester maternity units and their policies, leading you to a more realistic sense of what to expect and how to cope when things aren’t quite going to plan…
If you’re planning to give birth at St Mary’s Hospital - Oxford Road, St Mary’s at Wythenshawe Hospital or at North Manchester General Hospital, I can support you!
Similarly, if you’re planning a birth within the Royal Bolton maternity system, Oldham Hospital Birth Centre or Stepping Hill Maternity Unit, I have the local knowledge and expertise to help you to prepare.
“The birth of my son couldn’t have been any different.”
I’d been teaching my version of hypnobirthing for a few years by the time my son arrived and I had really refined my course. I got rid of all the hippy crap that I had rolled my eyes at the first time round - it wasn’t useful to teach people that thinking positively would lead to positive outcomes and I simply didn’t believe it either. I focused on evidence-based birth education and built an antenatal course for my couples that reflected real life, science & coping strategies for pain and for when things go ‘off plan’.
I was fully prepared for a repeat of my first experience. Ready for anything, I went into labour spontaneously and had a brilliant water birth in the most stunning birth room imaginable! What was different this time? I knew more about the options available and what to ask for. I knew more about the bio-mechanics of the pelvis and optimal positions for birthing. I knew how to keep myself even more focused and calm and had endlessly researched the best breathing techniques for coping with pain. I was so much more prepared and so much more realistic about what to expect. And this is exactly what my course has delivered for so many couples around Greater Manchester over the past 5 years.
I can’t predict the type of birth you’ll have - nobody can! But I can help you to prepare for any eventuality.
You might want to avoid pain relief drugs altogether or you might just want to learn techniques to help you through until it’s time to take something stronger. After all, nobody wants to take pain relief too soon for it to be wearing off when you really need it. With my course, every choice is still yours.
There are so many moments during labour when it’s useful to have some strategies to make pain manageable: if labour starts early at home, during the drive to the hospital, for the walk from the car park, for the triage waiting room! Even if your intention is to immediately ask for an epidural, hypnobirthing techniques will prepare you for everything up until that point, plus much of the recovery period. Many people end up using the breathing patterns and hypnosis throughout their entire labour because they realise that they can, but you’ll be in full control of your own choices.
Hypnobirthing for me isn’t about ‘having a hypnobirth’. It’s about using hypnobirthing techniques as and when you want or need to, like an extended toolkit for coping with labour. You’ll only birth this baby once. Make sure you’ve got all the tools available to support you through a day that you’re likely to never forget.
“The truth about the most useful baby must-have? Forget the fancy gadgets and designer prams - preparing well, for a day that will be etched into your memory forever, is by far the most useful purchase. ”
Whilst positivity and mindfulness is of great benefit during pregnancy and birth, I personally cannot teach anything without scientific grounding and without seeing, understanding and being able to quote evidence and studies for my couples. This is not the traditional hypnobirthing of meditation, wishful thinking and hoping for the best! In fact, I frequently teach doctors, anaesthetists and birth professionals who understand the clinical effectiveness of hypnosis, the importance of an accredited course and really want to learn more about how hypnobirthing can benefit them during their own birth experience.
As well as group courses, I also offer private sessions, usually in the comfort of your own Greater Manchester home, or online via video call, especially when COVID restrictions are in place. Although this means I’m sad that I can’t meet you in person, it does open up my services to anyone worldwide. So whether you’re reading this from Barbados or Birmingham, I’ll be happy to help you!
Fancy learning but your birth partner isn’t yet on board? It’s normal for birth partners to feel apprehensive about taking hypnobirthing classes, but after our first session together you’ll have all the evidence you need to understand why and how the techniques work alongside your own birth choices - whatever they may be! Birth partners often need to hear that this is valid, evidence based and beneficial for them too, so feel free to have them get in touch if they have any questions themselves.