What's the best curry to kickstart labour?

[Frogling]

Okay, so it might just be an old wives tale, but am willing to give it a go!
Am due on 6th August, but if nothing has happened by the 13th, I have been booked in for a caesarean as obst. will not induce me due to complications from labour with dd. I want to give natural labour a try if at all possible (after a long labour, I ended up having an emergency caesarean last time), so am preparing a list of curries to eat next week.
Can anyone who has had success with this method of kickstarting labour please let me know what type of curry they had so that I can give it a try? Thankyou!

[Katherine]

Love it Frogling - I'm due on the 8th but have never been this pg before so I'm desperate to get going too.

Not really into Curries so can't advice but Pupace informs me that Semen is the best thing - and if you can't face the activity involved then offer DH a bowl! (Not that this persuaded my DH but it made us laugh anyway). I've also seem several good reports about reflexology. Good Luck

[Cha]

Old hand at this - dd was 12 days late and I thought I was going to go MAD. However, with the joy of hindsight, I can safely say that nothing works, you just have to wait until they're ready to come out. I tried curries (I eat very spicy food all the time so maybe this is why they didn't work), star jumps (knicker wetting in both senses of the word), walking 8 miles a day (park keepers gaily regailing me with cries of 'Not yet, love?' till I could cheerfully have kneed them), nipple stimulation on all fours (nuff said), sex with legs behind ears (HORRIBLE) and even castor oil. This is where I get serious. Have posted about this before, so forgive me if you've heard it already...
Don't try castor oil. All it did was irritate my utereus (it says on the bottle 'do not take if pregnant' because this is its side effect) and it brings on what the midwife called 'false labour'. This meant I had a night without sleep with mild labour pains (which I thought were the real thing) which went away the next morning. The midwife said that she saw this a lot and always told women not to use it. I was hense exhausted when dd was finally born 2 nights later (proper labour started the next night) as I hadn't slept for a long time.
My next is due in a month and I think I will let nature take its course this time. I do understand your need to hurry things a long though, if medically you have been told that you will need to be induced (though see the thread ' Feeling low about going into labour' just a few messages down on the pregnacy board). I have heard that acupuncture works...

[codswallop]

doesnt work...after all all of india would be born prem!..

[pupuce]

If you really MUST be in labour... what about homeopathy or accupuncture ????

[MrsS]

I am convinced that reflexology worked for me. I know that the therapist was not rubbing hard but it hurt like hell and I went into labour the same evening.

[Teletubby]

You may not feel like it but i would always swear by loads and loads of sex!
Someone once suggested to me 'tweaking your nipples' as it can trigger the hormone 'oxytocin' (i think that's the one) that induces labour but i never got to that stage.

[motherinferior]

You could also try acupuncture which my lovely acupuncturist swears has helped several clients.

[anais]

I don't know about accupuncture, but with my first I went into labour shortly after having a blood test!

[LucieB]

I found that a curry together with a couple of gin and tonics did the trick! If nothing else, the curry clears your bowels out (sorry!!) and my midwife swore by gin as a good way of bringing on labour. As it is my favourite drink, I was only too happy to oblige!

[zebra]

I thought I read that diet high in very hot foods increase the probability of more painful labours. These was based on studies of Mexican-American women and how many chilis they tended to eat.

[KMS]

I tried everthing! 4 extra chillies in a curry, G&T, pineapple, sex, RL tabs, sweep, and even castor oil (not recomended) then while watching a Billy Connoly Live DVD my waters broke but still no contractions! It will happen when it is ready!

[KMS]

tried reflexology as well, uterus pressure point still hurts!

[misdee]

i got a funny video out, had a curry (cant remember which), some ice cream and was gonna have sex but was too knackered by 10pm. woke up at 5am the following morning in labour, had dd2 at 7.47am. something must have worked!!

[ThomCat]

Sorry but castor oil worked for me, brilliantly, and four of my close friends. I took it at about 7pm, contractions started a couple of hours later, and mt DD was born 6 hours after 1st contraction. No pain and used the toilet a bit at first but was pleased to have all that out beforehand! Worked great for my mates too which is why I went for it when she was 10days late. None of us felt ill from taking it and we all (bar one who pelvis was too narrow) had really quick births (average 6 hours) with no pain relief at all, no gas & air, nothing so.......
I was desperate not to be induced and didn't want her born too near Xmas so I went for it.
I tried vindallo, I actually had the sauce over a chicken tikka and that lime chutney stuff. I hate hot curries and normally have a korma.
I did the nipple tweaking, fresh pineapple, sex (rampant as advised by 60 year old in hospital!) etc etc. Only thing that did it for me was the castor oil and I'd do it again!