natural ways to induce labour?

[sashaleigh123]

hey guys :) im currently 39 weeks pregnant with my first baby and i am sooooo fed up!! I know most of you are going to say 'she will come when she's ready' but please don't because it doesn't help haha! ive heard so many old wives tales about how to get labour started and have tried some of them but no sign of her so far :( im 19 and live on my own with no partner and my mum lives an hour and a half away so going into labour is worrying me so i would just love to be able to start it myself.. the plan is for my mum to come down on my due date but she only has 2 weeks holiday so if i still don't have her my mum will have to leave :( wish i could get it started!!! help.... thank you xxx

sorry to say this but I tried everything and ended up with an induction.
the usuals are

pineapple (you need shed loads of it)
raspberry leaf tea
curry (whenever I ate curry my baby didn't move as much which was scary)
I heard chinese food works too
bouncing on a birth ball

can't think of any more atm sorry im sure you'll get plenty of other suggestions

the only thing I wouldn't recommend is caster oil ive read it can cause your baby to pass meconium before their born

Pineapple worked with both mine!

Also, there are acupressure points either side of your ankle, get someone to either tap them, put pressure on or massage them. Let me know if it works, I had this as a standby if I went over but ended up delivering on my due date!

Unless your body is ready to go into labour (and I promise it WILL be very soon!) trying to kick start it by getting diareah or eating 80 pineapples or drinking a litre if raspberry tea may give you a few contractions, only for it to stop.

A false start is far more demoralising than waiting .

Also, as appealing as an induction may be it next week, it does mean you will be treated as "high risk" and be at much greater chance of needing epidural, forceps, ventous and C section - putting you and baby at further risks of complications. So bear that in mind if and when it's offered.

First pregnancies typically go a week over the due date and only 5% of babies are actually born on their due date.

I'm on maternity leave myself (38+3) and I know it can be very lonely and boring. Try and stay as connected to friends and family as much as possible and get out every day. Hang in there! x

Castor oil. That's what started mine. Had 2/3ozs (can't remember how much but googled it), within an hour I had diarrhoea. About 5hrs after that I had mild contractions. 2hrs after that waters broke, 5.5hrs after that my DS was born :-)

I'm currently 1 week overdue and have researched (proper medical journals) this topic a lot as I'm booked for a section I want to avoid tomorrow and I'm so sorry to tell you that there is very little proven to be effective. And absolutely nothing I could find has been studied pre-40 weeks.

Some studies showed that after 40 weeks these things MIGHT help shorten the time to labour:

• membrane sweep (painful!)
• acupuncture (expensive!)
• exposing the cervix to semen ie sex (usually out if the question at 40 weeks and when single!)

Zero evidence for

• raspberry tea
• curry
• pineapple

Good luck!