Er.....Olive Oil down there??

[berri]

I'm nearly 28 wks and a friend of mine said her friend swears by rubbing olive oil on your perenium every night from this stage of pregnancy in order to make the skin more supple and therefore less likely to tear during labour?

I've never heard this before - have you?

I don't know what my DH would think if he saw a bottle of olive oil by my side of the bed......

Its called perinium massage, it is supposed to help, but you may still tear.

You can use rapeseed oil too i think.

IIRC, I thought lavender oil was a good one too? I know there was something I used first time round, but it became irrelevent anyway as I've had 2 c sections!

Hmm interesting - from when are you supposed to use it to make a difference? Can I wait unti I'm a bit further along?!!

Yes

put in on your thumb, insert it into the lower vagina and pull backwards until you feel it sort of almost stinging, its supposed to help. FWIW i have had 3 vb and no tears.

just the last couple of weeks is fine

thumbnail facing outwards iyswim

I was told perineal massage is a good idea from 36 weeks, so I would say, yes, you can wait!

I did it from 36 weeks, had no tear or cut so I would really recommend it. I would not do it too early, wait till 35-6 weeks.

Doesn't matter which oil, it's more about what your prefer, nice smell etc.

Sorry to be crude, but it's not really massage. It's more about stretching your bits to prepare for the baby so they don't tear. In Africa women use a big gourd like vegetable and rummage around with it to loosen things up. (I'm not recommending this, by the way!!).

All I can say is it worked for me, and I understand that 95% of first timers either tear or have a cut, so it was either very pure luck or the perineal massage,..

I have an article about this from the antenatal class and it says use almond oil. But that gave me thrush. So I've been using olive oil instead. I've now got thrush again but it took longer to kick in...

I was telling my DP about this last night (I'm only 16+5) & explained that it was to reduce tearing. I've never seen anyone look so urgent as he did as he practically screamed, "then why aren't we doing it?!". I told him it was for much later on, so I'm pleased to see this confirmed here

Sounds like it might be worth a try - thanks all!