Why Face-To Face HypnoBirthing Classes are better than Online Classes

 Why choose the 5- session,  Face- To- Face Sessions with HypnoBirthing International. 

Self-hypnosis and deep relaxation are very effective birthing techniques. They are acquired skills that need to be learned gradually and practised between sessions. This ensures that you have the time to develop the conditioned responses that make HypnoBirthing® International so successful. There is no short cut, and this why our program is taught in five, 2 ½ hour sessions. .

Learning HypnoBirthing over a day or weekend in a compacted form is not as effective in ensuring that parents are able to absorb and remember the various techniques and the comprehensive birth education that they learn in class.  The brain and body memory have a limited learning capacity, especially in pregnancy! Allowing time between classes helps parents to better assimilate what they’ve learned from the class before and to practise together during the week. Then, when they return on the following week, they are able to discuss, correct, and improve their practice experience and any techniques they may not have fully understood.  

This class schedule also allows the time to explore your feelings, to relax with your partner, to resolve and release any anxieties that may arise, and to become acquainted with your baby through pre-birth parenting.  We like to work with you personally and to follow your progress, so that we can work with you and prepare you to be ready, relaxed, and confident as you approach the birth of your baby.”

To find your next class with Groovy Babies please click on our Events Calender.

The Forbidden Sleep Zone aka My Kid Goes Crazy Before Bed

Ok its that time of night when you know/think quiet time is recommended.  Yet your kids seem to have not got this memo?  They are doing nudie runs after the bath, or squealing with delight, jumping on the bed saying catch me!!

Glorious squeals and giggles versus the quite cuddles, bedtime stories and snuggle time desire go out the window.

Well there is a reason for this mayhem, and its called The Forbidden Sleep Zone, and its a real “thang”!

What is it? Explained really well by a colleague of mine Ann Caird in a recent article from Attachment Parenting UK as:

“Its the time  before bedtime when its almost impossible to fall asleep. It happens due to the interaction of 2 biological processes that drive our wake and sleep cycles: the homeostatic sleep drive and circadian alerting system.

Our homeostatic sleep drive starts building as soon as we wake up and throughout the day sleep pressure builds until the pressure is pretty high towards the end of the day. But, you’ll notice that you don’t feel increasingly sleepier as the day goes on. We may feel a dip in energy after lunch, but typically we can be as alert 3-4 hours before our usual bedtime as when we woke at 7am in the morning. But that doesn’t make sense does it? If the homeostatic sleep pressure builds up surely we’d feel increasingly sleepier as the day goes on?

Enter the circadian alerting system – controlled by our biological clocks. The job of our circadian alerting system is to keep us awake as the day wears on to counteract the homeostatic sleep drive. So, as the pressure builds for sleep, the circadian alerting system intensifies to keep us alert and awake. The alerting system peaks and works hardest towards the end of the day – and it’s this peak that is responsible for your child’s high energy at the end of the day. It presents within a child almost like a second wind– and this is the forbidden sleep zone!”

Impossible to calm a child in this time period!  So what do you do?  Simply go with the flow…have a play, have a rough and tumble tickle feast because it is actually benefiting you and your child in several positive ways.

What it allows to have happen:

-Building Connection.

-Building Co-Operation.

-The Chance to Release Pent Up Emotions, stress and disconnections from day separation through connection play.

-The Opportunity for your Child to Cry With Support. With secure attachment these emotions float to the surface. My little girl often has what I call a laugh/cry then sigh moment.


[Article] Push For HypnoBirthing in Queensland Hospitals: The Courier Mail November 2015

THE push is on to bring hypnobirthing to the state’s maternity hospitals.

Labour wards could be a lot calmer next year if HypnoBirthing International succeeds with a pilot program to teach the relaxation and deep breathing techniques in Queensland.

Amanda Bude, from HypnoBirthing International, said the program was a success in NSW hospitals.

The birthing method has been in use for 25 years and increasing numbers of hypno babies are born in Australia each year — 5500 in 2014 alone.

[button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”left” href=” http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/push-for-hynobirthing-in-queensland-hospitals/story-fnihsrf2-1227608443616 /?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=editorial/” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the Full Article[/button]



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Happy 25th World HypnoBirthing Day 15th November 2015

my hypnobubhypno cake 2015 rainbow cake 2015

Celebrating an amazing event world wide!

Which Night Light is Best for my Baby?

You only have to pause at the entry door into a baby shop and glance around to become overwhelmed with what your baby’s nursery should or could look like! Colours, decorations, mobiles, matching laundry hampers my babies needed all of this!! 😉 The thing that did stump me was a night light. baby-nursery-awesome-nursery-rooms-decorating-ideas-with-modern-baby-girl-crib-bedding-and-pink-valance-also-with-rectangular-pink-rugs-and-white-wooden-padded-wall-panels-along

First of all did my baby need one? Would it disturb them, confuse them, overstimulate them?

Secondly how did I feed/change/settle/find my way out of the room in the dark, without doing any of the above?

Thirdly would I create a bad sleep habit by introducing a little light or confuse the day/night thing?

So I recently had a FTD (first time dad) ask me what is a night light?

A night light is a little light you leave on at night to illuminate your or your baby’s room.  They should have a soft glow that is not bright and not white.


So why have a night light?

1. So you don’t have to turn on a big light for night feeds and nappy changes.

2. Parents can easily see their child during a peek-a-check in, without turning on a hall way,  walk-in-robe, or bathroom light.

3. It allows babies older than 4 months of age to easily find their comforters, without fully wakening up from the REM phase of sleep, or during normal nocturnal arousals through the night.  That means they are less likely to call out for parental assistance unless something else is bothering them.

4. They do comfort the older child who is going through separation anxiety and night scaries.

5. Night lights can actually be cheaper than normal household light. Big tick for saving extra $$$ in a new parent household.

6. It actually is beneficial for us as parent’s in the ease of returning to sleep, once we have been up.  Our brain is not briefly stimulated by white light, which tells our brain its time to wake up.

projector night light

There are many different types of night lights all equally gorgeous and room matching.

  1. Projection Night Lights- very pretty, bright and quite stimulating. ok for the elder child, but maybe not for the younger baby. They can be blurry if you don’t get the distance from the placement to the ceiling correct.
  2. Plug In Lamps-Popular and original and often come with a light sensor that turns on and off depending on the light availability. I am wary of the motion sensor ones, especially if you have a pet in the house!
  3. Toys with night lights in them. Be aware of the age recommendation and SIDS requirements.
  4. Light and temperature lights.  Like a Gro-Egg, a personal favorite- kill two parental sleep stresses at once.
  5. Salt Rock Lamps. Another person favorite, due to the healing benefits of Himalayan Salt. You will need to change the globe wattage though to 4-7 watts. These often come with 15 watt globes which will light up your child’s room like a normal lamp.
  6. Glow-In the dark stickers/wall decals- older kids love these. Some glow all night, which might be a issue, some  fade in the first few hours. Can be a great way of keeping a child in bed!

fisher price sea horse

Which Colour Night Light is best?

White light or blue light (like our TV’s and phones), tells our brain to stop making melatonin or delays melatonin secretion. This is due to a set of receptors in our eyes that responds to the naturally blue-rich light of daytime  which keeps us alert. We and our children want to fall asleep naturally, be better rested on wake up and give our circadian rhythms the best chance to function properly.

If you turn your night light on and shut your eyes, if you can see the light through your eyelids then its the wrong choice. gro egg

Thus the winning colour is red/orange- just like a sunset! When choosing your night  light research shows that these are the best colours for being less disruptive to our brain in switching from alert to snooze. :-). Red and orange lights are soothing for babies (think about their womb environment) and in fact after black, white and grey the first primary colour a baby sees is red!!


Other considerations:

Night lights are not toys- they may look cute, but check the product disclosure details. Often they have small parts, cords, and compartments for where batteries go.

Pay attention to recalls, especially toys that are night lights as well. Be aware of what might happen if your child accidentally gets the night light/toy wet.

Happy shopping and happy snoozing 🙂

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