Who used castor oil to get things started?

[DivaSkyChick]

Just saw on another thread this worked for Riz, anyone else?

I thought it just made you poo lots so never tried it.

no way! makes you poo through the eye of a needle!

I did, but you know what (i dont want to sound patronising) just go to the cinema, theatre or somewhere you wont be able to go to for a while! You must be desperate to meet your baby now, but will miss those things soon enough. It only works if you were going to be going into labour soon anyway, isnt widely recommended now a days, so your prob better of waiting without the terrible diahorrea it gives you.

I would wait until i was going to be chemically induced before considering it again.

My mother was force fed it when she had me and my brother! Castor oil, and an enema and shaving - followed by 10 days bed rest after (probably needed it for the above interventions let alone the child birth).

there are plenty of other ways to gently encourage labour, rather than castor oil, which can often mean labuoring on the toilet, or just having the runs !!

I will admit to using it, it gave me the worst upset tummy, and loads of false starts, but wasnt the cause of going into labour - that was down to bending and lifting my 15mnth old for about 4 hours like a yoyo prior to first contraction!

It is VERY hard to get hold of, not one chemist would sell it to me personally as I was obviously pregnant, so DH had to buy it and claim his grandmother had sent him for it!

Gave me the worst squitts ever. It was evil tasting. Just the thought of it makes me heave 8 years later.

Don't do it!

Oh and I still had to be induced a few days later as it did nowt to shift bubba.

Don't. Just don't.

I did, and not only is it a hideous experience at both ends, it didn't bring on labour.

oh and i did have meconium in the waters too - so not good for baby.

Well good to know then! Came up in our antenatal class today as well - apparently Mary Cronk is a fan.

OK I will admit to doing it too, and it might be coincidence but I went into labour about an hour after having the squits and two hours later had dd at home as planned. I was refusing induction (was well up on my rights ) and took small amounts, gradually increasing, over about three doses over 2 days. Who knows, I might have gone into labour anyway, but my experience of it was fine, no regrets and I would do it again. I know it is recommended against here although much more common in the US, for example. Taste was fine mixed in with Tropicana and done as a 'down in one' with a fresh glass of orange juice waiting for the end of the mixture glass (small amounts of drink for both).

I tried it with DS, got the runs all afternoon, no baby for 36 hours. DD got hot curry and fresh pineapple, labour started within 12 hours. I don't know if the food helped, but it was certainly a more enjoyable experience

Worked fine for me. Four tbsp castor oil, same of orange juice, bit of bicarb of soda to make it fizzy and not so oily, really it was fine. I was two weeks late and didn't want to be induced - because I wanted to ride labour out at home - and contractions started an hour or two later. Dicky tummy, yes, but not unbearable in scheme of childbirth...

Labour then took 30 hours, so was glad I could sit it out at home with tea, TV and doula and not being prodded under hospital striplights.