Lamaze Method
The Lamaze method is the most widely recognized practice for birth preparation, but its efficacy has been disputed by advocates of other methods for natural birth.
Lamaze, which has been the single most popular form of labor pain management since the 1950's, focuses on distracting the mother from labor pain by encouraging shallow, complicated breathing patterns. While the Lamaze method is intended to prepare women for the possibility of a natural birth, it also teaches that there is nothing wrong with asking for drugs or an epidural. Therefore, many women use the Lamaze method only until they get an epidural.
Many women choose the Lamaze method for birth preparation because it is a name that they feel they can trust. Some also prefer it to other methods because it emphasizes to mothers that they have not failed if they choose to use medications during labor.
Bradley Method
The Bradley method differs greatly from Lamaze. Instead of encouraging women to distract themselves from labor (a method that advocates say is ineffective), Bradley teaches that women should focus directly on it, observing the sensations of labor rather than trying to escape them. It also teaches direct partner involvement in the birth process.
Mothers who use the Bradley method have a 90% drug-free success rate, with nearly a third of these women reporting that they have had a completely painless birth. The ten percent who use medications almost all do so because of medical necessity (for example, when an emergency C-section has been deemed necessary).
LeBoyer Method
The LeBoyer birthing method was popularized in the 1970's by Fredric LeBoyer, a physician who popularized the concept of nonviolent birth. LeBoyer believed that newborn babies are less stressed and traumatized by birth when it occurs in a way that is calm and gentle.
Advocates of LeBoyer birth focus on the wellbeing of the baby more than the mother, and extra care is taken to prevent emotional trauma to the child while he is being born. LeBoyer method practitioners use low lighting, soft music, warm after-birth baths, and infant massage. Babies born using this method--which can be combined with other methods--are born without pulling or tugging, and are placed on their mothers' abdomens as soon as they are born.
This is believed by some midwives, obstetricians, and mothers to encourage bonding between the mother and baby. Some even believe that it can have a lasting effect on the baby's emotional stability, because he is encouraged to have a sense of trust in the world as soon as he is born.
Mongan Method
Also known as hypnobirthing, the Mongan method for natural birth teaches deep, total relaxation. Many women who labor using the Mongan method become so deeply relaxed that they may even appear asleep or unconscious, even during the parts of labor that are generally the most painful. A majority of women who birth according to the Mongan method report completely painless labors.
Hypnobirthing teaches that deep, abdominal breathing, a low-stress environment, and a woman's comfort with her own body can combine to create an enjoyable or sensual birth experience. Although this method works very well for some women, others find that they are not able to relax deeply enough to fully benefit from it.
If you find that none of these methods are what you are seeking, there is nothing wrong with combining features that you like from each one, or completely inventing your own pain-management method. Talk to your doctor or midwife to help determine which birth method is right for you.