Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth

I knew going into pregnancy that I wanted a natural birth. I had heard people on the Internet talk about the wonders of the Bradley method of natural childbirth, and it sounded wonderful. Pain-free labor? Sign me up.

Spoiler alert, I did not have a pain-free labor. I did have a very manageable labor, which didn’t even make me consider pain medication until I reached transition. I owe that to the Bradley method.

What is it?

The Bradley method was developed by Dr. Robert Bradley in 1947. He was an obstetrician who was shocked by the practices of the day and thought there should be a better way. Having grown up on a farm and witnessed the birth of many animals, he decided to see what would happen if he applied their natural instincts to humans. It is an interesting story, and he writes all about it in his book Husband Coached Childbirth.

It is a practice that teaches relaxation and breathing to help ease the tension in the body and make contractions more manageable. There is also a big focus on intervention avoidance and education.

How do I learn?

If you are interested in the Bradley method for your labor and delivery, there are three options. You can take a Bradley class. You can read Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr. Bradley and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. Or do both. 

What I Did

The first thing I did was read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. This gave me a good baseline to start. I started reading as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and began to do the exercises and practice relaxation. 

Every night when I was trying to go to sleep, I would start at my toes and slowly work my way up each and every body part, telling it to relax, coinciding with my breath. For example, on a deep diaphragm breath in, I would name the body part, such as toes, and on the exhale, I would relax that part. I would imagine I was breathing into each part and muscle as I went.

At 28 weeks, I started my Bradley class and reading Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr. Bradley. I continued with the exercises and increased my relaxation practice to twice a day.

What do I Recommend 

I think this depends greatly on your learning style. If money is tight, I would say to buy Natural Child Birth the Bradley Way, and stick with that. It will give you the most information, as well as research strategies to help you along your way. 

I liked the class for the ability to have someone to ask my questions and for the resources provided. I learned about things that I never would have thought to ask about. My instructor provided us with a lot of the harder-to-find information. 

With that said, I only know what my instructor did. I don’t know what is the standard across the board is, and what was extra that she does.

It is a big commitment to take the course. Mine was 3 hours, 10 Saturdays in a row. If you have a lot going on, you might be better off reading.

I think Husband Coached Childbirth was an interesting read, but it was more of a sales pitch as well as geared towards husbands. I did not gain a lot of practical information from it, as the one laboring.

Regardless of the avenue you choose to take, I would highly recommend the Bradley method. Going into labor, I felt I was as prepared as anyone who has never given birth before could be. I felt like I was able to have intelligent conversations with the doctors and was not just being told what to do.

 I hope this was helpful if you were looking for more information on the Bradley method. If you have used the Bradley method or have had a positive birth experience, I would love to hear all about it in the comments below. I would be happy to answer any questions that I can!