Breathe & Birth

Sarah is in her final year of the BSc Midwifery program at the University of Leeds. Her passion for midwifery started when she volunteered as a Doula for almost two years in Hull. Sarah founded Breathe & Birth in February 2023, which is a hypnobirthing business that provides antenatal classes and hypnobirthing practices. Her goal is to educate, empower, and excite families about the birth of their baby.

‘Hypnobirthing is a technique that uses hypnosis during pregnancy to reduce subconscious fear surrounding childbirth. During labour, it helps to remain calm and centred, promotes labouring hormones, and relieves pain.’

The main inspiration behind starting her business was the positive impact hypnobirthing has on families during childbirth. Sarah witnessed this firsthand while caring for her first family during their labour. Having previously witnessed births, she understood the stress and anxiety that comes with the intense experience of childbirth. However, this birth was different. The mother breathed through her contractions while her partner spoke encouraging affirmations to her. Even when complications arose, she remained calm and centred, resulting in an immensely positive experience despite the challenges that arose towards the end.

As a result, Sarah’s main focus is to support families' emotional and mental well-being through education and hypnotherapy in three ways:

• 1. Reduce anxiety and stress during pregnancy to promote optimal bonding time for families and to aid in the unborn baby's brain development, building lasting connections.
• 2. Act as a tool to remain calm, safe, and informed throughout labour and birth so that families have techniques to reduce anxiety and promote a positive birth experience, regardless of what happens.
• 3. Improve the transition to parenthood postnatally through the use of hypnosis.

‘I am thrilled to have been awarded the SPARK Enterprise Scholarship and received 3rd place in the trading category for the SPARK Business Plan Competition. The funding I received has enabled me to hold my first in-person class and conduct numerous one-on-one sessions, both in-person and online. This has allowed me to be more flexible in my teaching approach, making my classes more inclusive and accessible, especially to anxious parents.’

Sarah’s goal for the future is to create an online hypnobirthing course that parents can access easily and at an affordable price. This course will provide evidence-based and unbiased information about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, along with regular hypnobirthing practice to improve their mental health. Currently, Sarah is experimenting with different methods of delivering this course to ensure that the content delivery is perfect before the launch of the final online course.