Experience of dates, rasberry leaf tea, or other remedies to naturally induce labour

[SolaceSoul]

I would love to hear what people's experiences and thoughts are of naturally starting their labour

Don't bother with any of the option that use having the runs as a way of kicking things off- why would you choose to shit your ring anymore than you might do ready?

Make plans so appealing that it would actually be nice if the baby held off arriving until afterwards.

And try to spend as much time as possible in places and situations where you'd feel mortified if your waters broke.

And make sure you're just that tiny bit not ready for it to happen, like you haven't put curtains in the nursery or finalised names or something.

Best of luck 🤞

PS I think walking lots (gently) and being as active and relaxed as possible is meant to help. But the above were all pretty effective for me 😉

I have a very skewed view but I had raspberry leaf tea and x number of dates a day (maybe 6?) before having my second baby, I can't remember when from but whenever the general advice online says it's safe from (34/35?). I also had a really lovely spa bath the evening before and went for a colossal walk the day my waters broke. She came naturally at 37 and 2. Might have come anyway but I'd do the same if there's a next time 😂

I’m doing this currently and have a little bit of info for you from my own research.

So aside from people thinking x6 dates or x3 medjool dates a day may help induce labour, it seems the definite benefit is keep you pooping ok so you don’t suffer after giving birth so always worth trying anything that will give you ease PP it’s definitely worth it (unless you have GD then it’s a no-go due to high sugar!)

Rasberry leaf tea doesn’t induce labour but it does help to tone the uterus as it causes braxton hicks, essentially giving your womb a work out. Start off with x2 cups a day and build up to x4 cups a day.

These things often don’t do anything for people because they start using it too late thinking it will induce them. I’ve started with both of these things since the start of my third trimester.

I’ve heard of girls using Okra water but it’s hard to get okra where I live so when I visit family I’m sure I’ll find some in a bigger supermarket.

Clary sage oil in a bath, plus a clary sage foot rub, focusing on pressure points around the ankle (Google it, there are videos on YouTube IIRC).
I went into labour the following day and I'm convinced it was the clary sage and foot rub that did it.

Sex. It did it for me!

Raspberry leaf works by toning the uterus making contractions stronger therefore the active stage of labour shorter. They should be started from 32 weeks at one a day gradually building to 4 a day. I’ve used this in my pregnancies and all 3 have been quick active stages.

Dates work by ripening the cervix making it more likely to go into spontaneous labour, you should start having 6 a day from 36 weeks. There is actually research done on this that show they do actually help, one of the few things that has had studies done on it. Personally I couldn’t stomach them.

Neither of these actually induce labour. Unfortunately labour won’t begin until your body is ready and it’s a combination of things that will start it. Lots of people say a certain something worked for them but it’s just that their body happened to go into labour after they did something so they put it down to that.

How does raspberry leaf tea tone the uterus? Which type do I need to buy?

Oxytocin (and low stress) - so sex, nipple stimulation, orgasm
Swimming (breaststroke) and plenty of walking
Sitting on a Swiss ball (diameter of your height minus 1m), knees below pelvis
Colostrum harvesting

And nothing else proven, according to my midwives and the NCT class.

@Whataretheodds causes mild braxton hicks. Bit like a workout for your uterus. You can have either tea or capsules. I do a combination of both. Just build them up gradually and if you find the braxton hicks getting too strong then lower the dose for a bit before adding again

Am already 35w - wonder if worth starting? I'm not holding out much hope for my pelvic floor

I ate pretty much a whole fresh pineapple and went into labour with my second a few hours later!

Nipple stimulation is apparently the only one with any actual evidence to support it (according to QI!! 🤣) But i did go into labour the day after attempting colostrum harvesting for the first time at 38w so there was some truth in it for me.

@Whataretheodds you can certainly try it, you may not get the full benefit but it may well do something. In my mind anything that makes labour shorter was an absolute positive to try.

I drank raspberry leaf tea, both my dcs arrived early dc1 3weeks early & dc2 was 10 days. Both labours were pretty quick, active labour for both dcs totalled under an hour.

Nearly nothing works. It's not completely understood how labour begins but research has never found a link between pineapple and sex and similar theoretical natural methods and labour. In fact, some of the research shows, for example, that sex might prevent labour happening soon. Of course people do all of the old wives tales and then go into labour. But hundreds don't. It's just coincidence. People also eat biscuits, watch Love Island and pick their nose just before labour starts. But we don't quote them as linked.

Because we don't understand the process really (it seems to be the baby that decides the process in communication with the woman's body), people take a theory and run with it. Like an enzyme in pineapple is linked to labour, but actually you'd need to eat 8 pineapples, leaves and skin included, in one sitting to replicate it. And even then, it probably wouldn't work. And the prostaglandins in semen, are also linked to the induction process BUT the type of prostaglandin would need to be ingested orally to replicate the process and again, research shows no link.

Raspberry leaf, as others have said, was never recommended to induce labour, but to make it more effective in the later stages. I'm not sure how but during my time on MN, it's been erroneously linked with labour induction.

A sweep then a curry. Not advisable tho for reasons stated above …

How would anyone know if it started labour or just a coincidence?
A bit like amber for teething how do you know this particular baby would have teething issues at the time if they were not wearing them?

I did the dates and raspberry leaf tea for both babies, both were very quick labours with no pain relief or interventions and good recovery. So possibly worked for me but obviously don't know what it would have been like otherwise!

I was blowing balloons when I went into labour apparently that has been shown to work as you bear down and it stimulates the cervix or some such.
Also acupuncture and being shagged doggy style (as semen hits the cervix and contains something that stimulates labour).

I drank a lot of raspberry leaf tea, but I like the taste of it so it wasn’t too arduous. I also did lots of walking/exercise, and sat on a bouncy ball for the last 4-5 weeks unless I was walking or asleep.

I did have a sweep on my due date & gave birth three days later so it was probably that which worked the best

Sex works best. Definitely the most fun too

As someone who has gone overdue with all but one of my pregnancies (twins were born 37 week elective c-sec ) nothing works lol my first i was 15 days over, second- 8 days and currently 3 days over with this one, i have tried and tested everything, ive eaten so much pineapple had sex every which way possible given my huge bump haha i eat spicy stuff alot anyway, prune juice, raspberry tea leaf, staying active to the point i had piles lol bouncing on ball as much as possible, cow/cat, hand expressing, massage and 4 sweeps so far (another tomorrow) and still nothing, babies really do just come when they are ready x

It's so tough when you are just READY for baby and your baby/body is having none of it.

With my second I ate 6 dates a day (with branflakes) from 32 weeks, expressed using a breast pump at least 3 times a week from 36 weeks, as well as Clary sage baths probably from the same time.

Eventually it was a sweep that did the trick- I booked in with a midwife known to do a good one 🤣 also after the sweep I bounced all evening on a ball and got expressing with the pump. Was in established labour the next morning, baby born in the afternoon.

I'm 37 weeks and am on the raspberry leaf tea 2-3 x a day and eating 3 medjool dates. I didn't do this with my first and was induced at 41+6 so am interested to see if anything changes this time around.