Do sweeps work if you've been in labour before?

[PSL1990]

I've read differing reports on the effectiveness of sweeps during a first time pregnancy. I'm wondering if you've been in labour before, are they any more effective?

Sweeps don't work at all in my experience. It's highly likely that an overdue woman will go into labour at some point. Therefore any link is pure coincidence. Had a sweep booked, cancelled it and went into labour 6hrs later. Would have linked it to the sweep had I had one.

Had 3 sweeps with dc2 that did sweet fa

They couldn’t even do a sweep on me because my cervix was too high and closed. I went into labour within 24 hours. As coragreta says I would have attributed it to the sweep had I had one. (Also goes to show that examination only tells you the state of the cervix at that moment and nothing about what it’s going to do in the next few hours)

I've had a sweep with all 3, first 2 came a couple of days later (both 39+6) , 3rd at 37+2 came following morning. I was given it early as was going to be induced so was to try help get things going on it's own. It worked!!

Sweep with both of my pregnancies. Second one had the sweep at 10am, contractions started a few hours later, baby born the next morning.

There is no evidence that sweeps definitely work. My mw has said the 25% success rate attributed to them are probably labours that might have started anyway. Where there is some limited evidence is when a woman has higher base prostaglandin levels, or if it’s a second / third etc birth.

However, if the next available option is an induction, I would strongly suggest you try it as many times as you can stand.

I had a sweep with both pregnancies and they've both worked within hours

I have 2 kids. First pregnancy I had a sweep at 40+3 and DD was born within 24 hours. Second pregnancy I had a sweep on my due date and DD was also born within 24 hours. I don’t think it’s a coincidence so in my experience, they work for some