London - Expectant mothers will be taught to hypnotise themselves before giving birth as an alternative to painkillers.
They will learn to put themselves in a trance-like state during labour in the hope that they will not need costly drug treatments such as epidurals, laughing gas or morphine.
More than 800 first-time mothers will take part in the 18-month NHS trial study on the effectiveness of hynobirthing.
Teaching women to control their pain might also reduce the need for supervision from midwives, which would help ease the pressure on overstretched maternity wards.
In some hospitals as many as 60 percent of mothers have epidurals - anaesthetics injected into their spine - while many others are given injections of diamorphine, a form of morphine, pethidine or inhale laughing gas.
The drugs are expensive and there have been claims they could be harmful to mother and baby.
Epidurals have been found to increase the length of childbirth, making it more likely that a woman will need a caesarean.
It has been suggested that having an epidural may hinder a mother’s ability to breastfeed - although this has never been substantiated - and there are also fears it is linked to post-natal depression.
Natural childbirth advocates also say the drowsiness brought on by painkillers prevent a woman fully appreciating the joy of childbirth.
The trial is being led by Professor Soo Downe, a specialist in midwifery at Central Lancashire University, and will run at hospitals in Blackburn and Burnley.
Professor Downe said: “There is good evidence that hypnosis works well in other areas of health management.
“The idea is to give women the capacity to manage their labour themselves. If the results are promising we will do further trials.
“The intention would then be to provide free hypnobirthing training on the NHS.” Hypnobirthing has become increasingly popular and Britain has around 250 qualified therapists.
Courses tend to last several hours and teach women to put themselves into a state of deep relaxation.
Words such as “pain” and “contraction” are replaced in training manuals with neutral terms such as “pressure” and “tightening”.
The sessions, which can cost up to £800 on a one-to-one basis, also teach women massage techniques which enable them to stimulate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers.
Critics claim such methods work for only one in four women. There are also concerns that if mothers are left to cope on their own during labour their babies may be at risk.
Maureen Treadwell, a co-founder of the Birth Trauma Association, said: “It is nonsense to say childbirth is a natural event so you don’t need drugs.
“Death is also a natural event but nobody would suggest you don’t need drugs to ease the pain.”
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