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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Curries to start off labour

21 replies

IHeartIona · 03/02/2012 22:33

I'm sure it is an old wives' tale but did anyone manage to go into labour soon after eating a curry?

40 w today and had a curry for dinner and hoping for it to all start soon (dc2)

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mum23girlys · 03/02/2012 22:38

Extra hot chilli both times for me. Had it for dinner and was in labour within 12 hours. My mum went into labour after mince and tatties with all 3 of us

Good luck x

IHeartIona · 03/02/2012 22:39

Thanks Mum23girlys
I didn't choose a very spicy dish due to the awful heartburn but fingers crossed!

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Emsgale · 03/02/2012 22:59

I had a korma and was in labour the next morning (friday had her by sat afternoon)?!
But had also eaten a whole pinapple drank endless rasberry leaf tea and a bit of naughty time all in one day/evening so. somthing worked x

BelleStar · 04/02/2012 00:46

I had a curry and very awkward and amusing sex and went into labour within 4 hours! But who knows...

Idlewild · 04/02/2012 01:10

I did. Hot curry at 7pm with a gaviscon chaser, 1st contraction at 11.30 pm, DS born at 4.30 am. Worked for me!

TopazMortmain · 04/02/2012 03:48

Am 40 weeks today and have been toying with the idea of a curry but... What not sure if the indigestion will be worth it. I wish crackers brought on labour.

Nevercan · 04/02/2012 06:51

I tried but still went to 42 weeks after quite a few spicy currys but worth a try me thinks Smile

ShowOfHands · 04/02/2012 07:02

It. Does. Not. Work.

There will of course be people who coincidentally ate a curry and then had a baby within 24hrs but one, they'll be attracted by the thread title and you'll get a false picture of it working, two, at 40+ weeks pregnant it was imminent anyway and three, it truly is just coincidence. No study ever has found any link between pineapples, curry, sex, long walks, sniffing badgers etc and labour starting.

The onset of labour is a peculiar chemical reaction between you and your unborn baby. It happens when the baby is ready to be born and this is a wonderful thing. You cannot, nor would you want to make it happen earlier unless medically necessary. If it worked at all they'd ban all of these things in pregnancy.

You might find a handful of women who ate curry and then had a baby. You might also find thousands who ate curry and didn't have a baby. In fact you'll find large cultures of women who eat a lot of curry and have babies at various gestations right for them. And you'll find millions of women who sat/slept/ate cake/drank tea and went into labour. Because it does just happen when it's ready.

I don't think there's any problem with trying to make yourself feel like you're doing something to help per se. But it's always eating spicy foods and getting indigestion or sex you don't want or marching around doing lunges and women are on here daily saying they're exhausted with trying and it not working. Why can't people start myths about cake starting labour off? It's as accurate but more pleasing.

Pregnancy is on average 37-42 weeks and it's psychologically a lot more bearable if you don't get to 40 weeks and assume you're overdue and need to start forcing the unforceable.

TreesDogsBooks · 04/02/2012 07:06

I tried it all and nothing worked. I did, however, really enjoy all the curries I consumed!

Nagoo · 04/02/2012 07:21

Show is right.

It's a bit fun to think you might be able to do something, it's horrible just waiting.

Sex 'worked' within 6 hours both times. Or it might have been the cake.

IHeartIona · 04/02/2012 08:34

Thanks for all the replies.
ShowOfHands, I'm just clutching at straws really, would be good if cake started labour, though in that case think I would already have had the baby Wink
Perhaps I can start a new trend of lying on the sofa eating chocolate starting labour. I will try that today.

OP posts:
Flisspaps · 04/02/2012 08:43

Everything ShowofHands and Nagoo said.

ShipsCat · 04/02/2012 08:49

DT1's waters broke as I got out of the car to go for a curry. I was very pissed off, as I'd been looking forward to going out all day!

FutureNannyOgg · 04/02/2012 08:52

If you fancy a curry, have a curry, it won't do any harm. Well, unless you get the runs when you are in labour, but then it's just your MW who will suffer Wink

georgethecat · 04/02/2012 09:07

fun? science ruins playfulness at times.

Its a bit like prepping for christmas and having lots of silly little traditions to apply. Why not eat vindaloo with a raspberry leaf chaser with a big fat pineapple for pud, there is little else to do at this weeble stage.

ShowOfHands · 04/02/2012 09:57

Little else to do? I can think of 78,343 things without even trying. Including lying on the floor and seeing how long it takes to get back up again without using the furniture for leverage. I found plenty of things to do which weren't trying to start labour. Half of them avoiding labour starting tbh.

As I said, nothing wrong with any of it if you want to do it but it's the exhausted, demoralised women who think it works who end up with indigestion and aggravated spd who I feel sorry for.

Raspberry leaf tea btw has never been implicated in the whole starting labour myth. Well until now actually. It's recommended as a uterine tonic to aid the efficiency of the 2nd and 3rd stages of labour when they eventually happen. But suddenly people are lumping it in with pineapple and curry. Which as a combination of flavours is plain wrong.

Emsgale · 04/02/2012 10:04

You try whatever if all it does is take your mind off it for a bit then its done a.job nothibg wrong with.posotive thinking I tried it all on the thursday curry sex rasberry leaf tea generally hoping and I wome friday morning and had niggles all day by about 7pm I was 2cm and had a baby girl sat at 3:08 pm but hey ho it may not have been any of those things but who cares it kept me posotive as I was being proactive! Go for it it cant hurt!x

Emsgale · 04/02/2012 10:04

and I woke friday morning with a show

R2PeePoo · 04/02/2012 14:34

What showofhands said.

I tried everything to get DD out (except curry) and she popped out at 41 weeks.
With DS I went for the chocolate and biscuits on the sofa approach and he was born at 40+5.

I wouldn't eat a really hot curry though after my SILs story. She had a hot curry, went into labour and had to suffer through it stinging out both ends of her body until her DC was born. Labour is tough enough, but labour with burning vomit and poo throughout is something I wanted to avoid with my DC.

madeindevon2 · 04/02/2012 15:01

Of all the myths surrounding labour I thought that sex was the one that was medically proven? Of course I could be wrong!!! But I was under impression that the prostaglandins or whatever they called in semen help sofen/ripen cervix in preparation for labour. Is this just another myth? Started by men?! Grin

Flisspaps · 04/02/2012 15:25

Prostaglandin does indeed help ripen the cervix and is used in the pessary/gel used in induction. However it is in a VERY concentrated form, and the amount you get from sex is very, very low in comparison. You'd need a ridiculous amount of sex to get the same amount. NICE guidelines advise that MWs shouldn't advise sex as a method of induction as it doesn't work.

Honestly, if any of these lovely, easy to DIY methods worked do you really think any of us would end up being induced in hospital with various drugs or implements being introduced to the fanoir, or being stuck on a syntocinon drip? Wink

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