Breastfeeding in pregnancy= early labour

[mush4brains]

HI, My MW is addement that because I am breastfeeding my DS- 9.5 months on demand then I will only carry my LO till about 37-38 weeks. I have been looking for some research evidence on this but its pretty non existant so wondered if anyone had any experience in this.
Thanks

I have never seen any research to back your midwife's assertion, mush - it's up to her to show you where she has her info from.

This article www.attachmentparenting.com/artnewlook.shtml is a very good, evidence-based look at the issue and concludes that no, breastfeeding does not make labour occur any sooner than it would otherwise.

If your midwife is unable to show you anything convincing, then she should really stop telling mothers this, I reckon

Thanks Tiktok- good article. As far as I am aware her "information" is not based on any specific research, I think maybe just what she has experienced- although I doubt that she has a huge amount of experience in this as she has also told me its very uncommon for my DS not to have self weaned. I personally never expected him to as he is so young & seeks the comfort from the breast as well as the milk. Only 5-7 weeks to go now so getting my head around positions!

I discussed this with my GP when I was expecting DD1 and bf DD1. He said the only evidence was that bf produced hormones (can't remember which one exactly. Oxytocin?) which made the uterus contract. He said it was more of an 'issue' in early pregnancy, but that the contractions were no more than those produced by having sex and nobody advises against that...

Hm.

Not a terribly well-informed midwife, then

self weaned by 9.5months?? er I doubt it.
I bf throiugh my second pg and dd2 came on her due date, clever little thing.

I bf both ds and dd through pregnancies, and the subsequent babies were not born early. One was 11 days overdue.