Has anyone tried reflexology to induce labour or used reflexology before?

[sambrads]

I am 38 + weeks and am going in on tuesday to get induced. consultant says the head is still very high so she said the only thing that would work was reflexology so im booked in for monday and the lady who is doing it said she will give me the full works an hour and a half.
I defo prepared to try anything to get me going before then but was wondering what other peoples opinions are?

I had reflexology at the end of my pregnancy with DS2, and believe it worked for me. I had a horrible induction with DS1, and was trying to avoid a repeat of that.

Good luck, by the way!

Acupunture worked for me. I did not try reflexology.

neither when in ur pregnancy did you get reflexology? when did you start feeling contractions etc??

lamb how far on were u when u got acupunture?

sambrads - it was over 10 years ago, so my memory is a bit hazy. But as far as I remember, I had reflexology on the Sunday afternoon (at about 39+ a few days), had a check up on Monday to be told i was already 2cm (without feeling anything), started on and off contractions on Monday evening so went to the hospital, everything stopped for a few hours but got going again on Tuesday, and DS2 was born a couple of hours later.

It worked for my friend! I didn't need reflexology as a curry got DD going

I've had reflexology in both my pregnancies. With dd1, I was a week overdue (41 weeks) when I had it. Contractions started that night - about 10 hours after having it. With dd2, I had it at 38+3 and had her a week later.

With dd2, I wasn't aiming for it to kick start labour, rather I was just getting myself ready for labour IYSWIM.

With dd1, the aim was to kick start labour and was very effective. I highly recommend reflexology.

And even if it doesn't work, you and your feet will feel fabulous after!

Reflexology got me pregnant! Not on it's own, obviously I had it a few days before ovulating in our first cycle of trying, and it absolutely killed and then I got a stinking chest infection so really didn't think I'd be able to get pg... but BINGO! I honestly put it down to reflex so will def have it near due date after reading this - thanks! And good luck :-)

Yes! I had 2 sessions from 38 weeks as baby was breech and he turned and arrived on time - coincidence maybe but it was lovely none the less! Also had it for fertility after a mc and got BFP straight away. I will be having some more soon for relaxation and def to help bring on labour near the end :)

My friend had reflexology to turn a breech baby (it worked!) and my cousin had reflexology with both of hers when she went over her dates and started within a few hours of the session ending so when I went overdue I booked myself in! I was due to be induced on the Thursday and the MW had already had an unsuccessful attempt at a sweep the week before (cervix out of reach), so I went on the Monday (I think?). Was v relaxing - she seemed to know her stuff and reassured me that I felt "ready". When she finished she declared that she was totally confident that I'd go into labour over the next couple of days.

I didn't! When admitted to hospital for my induction my cervix was still nowhere near ready and in the end I had an ECS.

That said - would I do it again? Totally! I think it's about distraction and control. I felt I was at least trying something and that stopped me fretting about the induction. Maybe if I'd gone earlier/more regularly it would have had more of an impact. I say try anything if you fancy it!

I am a qualified reflexologist although I don't do it much these days.

I did it on myself to try to get ds started and yes it worked, 4 hours later. When you have it done ask the reflexologist where the pressure points are and do it on yourself after a bath or shower .... If you can still reach which was my problem.

i am loving all these stories :) thank you so much.

I think even if it doesnt work at least i tried it and can say i done basically everything to get baby down in my pelvis and out before induction.

abigboy why did you need a CS? was it cause ur cervix was so far back?

Ach - it was all just a bit of a disaster! I always thought their dates were off (we were TTC so I knew my dates!), so although they said he was 2 weeks over I thought he was only just due and he didn't look overdue when he came out. Plus (and I know this sounds daft) I am very narrow built - have no butt or hips (I put my jeans on without unbuttoning them as standard!) so my MW had been hinting that I may be headed down the CS route (DS was 4kg). That coupled with the fact he was back to back and no one noticed and in a sort of superman pose.. I don't think there was any way he was ever going to come out any way other than the trap door route! Oddly, his head had been low for weeks and he even had wee bruises from where he'd been rubbing on my pelvis (oucha!) - just pointing the wrong blinking way!

Again though, what I would say was that although when I recount the experience (I wont do that now though!) it sounds pretty horrific, in reality you just go through it. I'd always said that I would rule nothing out in terms of labour and just go with the flow and that's what we did. The only thing that truly mattered to me (other than baby being healthy, obviously!) was that DH be able to tell me the sex - which he did.

Good luck - let us know how the reflexology goes!

I had it and delivered 48 hrs later but even the reflexologist wasn't sure if she could claim the credit! but it was a very nice way to spend an hour in very late pregnancy!