fresh pineapple - myth of fact??

[StripyMouse]

I have heard that eating fresh pineapple can bring on labour - does anyone know if this is true or just a myth? If there is some truth in it, is it a food that pregnant women should avoid apart from in the last fews weeks? I wonder if canned pineapple is also a possibility?
I love fresh fruit salad but am wary of touching it until I know how risky it is!! Thanks for any ideas.

oops - I have no idea how this thread got repeated - sorry. please igonre this one if you haven?t already!!

fresh pineapple was one of the things recommended by our NCT teacher as a 'natural' way to bring on labour - being overdue and having eaten fresh pineapple for the first time in my life (and we are talking abour 1/2 a pineapple at a time) it has made no difference to me. I think it alledgedly (?sp!) has an enzyme in it which is supposed to set of labour that isn't in tinned. HTH

I think (and I'm stressing that its my opinion) its probably the same as sex etc. If baby is ready then pineapple/sex/hot curries etc can kick labour off but if not then it wont affect it. I get the impression (and am completely open to being corrected) that what they use to induce has the same component but far far far more concentrated and that even then baby may not want to be shifted very rapidly if its not ready.

To be honest I hadn't heard of pineapple starting labour, but only as helping heartburn.
So I started eating it for the heartburn, which it seems to stop for a couple of hours, and now I'm addicted. Its one of the few things that I can keep down.

Should I stop as I'm only 23 weeks???

As other say, there is an enzyme that breaks down a substance in the cervix, I think. But it only works if you are ready to pop anyway and is confined to fresh pineapple.

Oddly enough, my mum can't eat pineapple as it breaks down the lining of her mouth and she developes ulcers, so it must have some active ingredient in it!

If you put pineapple in a jelly apparently it won't set either. Utterly nothing to do with kickstarting labour of course...

I agree, if baby is pretty much ready to come out, these things may help but if they're not prepared to move out, baby will stay put!

Interesting about the enzyme and that plenty of you have also heard this "rumour" regardless onset of labour- but as I am only coming up to 19 weeks, I think I will wait to next week and have a word with my mw before eating tons of the stuff - will stick to the canned variety as it looks like that is enzymeless!
TBH I am sick of hearing about more and more foods to avoid during pregnancy. My mw even told me not to touch salads of all varieties if eating out as you can?t guarantee how well they have been prepared. Healthily eating out in the summer is hard enough without that restriction. Oh well, I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

Gosh pie I know how you feel. I will continue to pineappele though. I don't think it will do anything until you are "ripe" and at 23 weeks you are certainly not that! . However the what if factor is awful so I do understand.

opps - left the word "eat" out

Agree with Wills. I did loads of walking for 6 weeks before ds born back in April to get him into optimum position (he was lying with his spine against mine) this worked as he turned and was head was so low I walked around like John Wayne for a couple of weeks before he was born as it felt like he was going to drop out at any minute. I did eat fresh pineapple two evenings running about 3 days before he was born, also took oil of evening Primrose capsules.....ended up with 40 minute labour and ds born at home (not planned) delivered by paramedics......so who knows whether this was the pineapple or just a very impatient ds!!!

I believe fully pineapple brings on labour. When I was overdue by two days I ate a whole fresh pineapple at 11.30pm, and went into labour at 7.20am (I was getting up to go to work!) and my daughter was born at 11.45am. Pretty quick labour. Also I don't like pineapple at all so it was really hard for me to eat it but I didn't want to be induced. So I would fully recommend it. As to when the baby is ready it will come, I had to have my waters broken so I'm not sure she was that ready to arrive.

i ate pineapple from very early on in my pregnancy it was my craving tinned,fresh,juice,about 3 tins a day never started me off have not touched a pineapple since though.

apparently you have to eat about seven to get the right amount of Bromelaine and one fresh pineapple contains a very small amount of bromelaine and is only found in fresh not tinned or juiced, so you'd probably just end up with severe diahorea.

Ive had 1 1/2 pineapples in the last 24 hours and nothings happened yet!! i reccommend Red raspberry leaf tea though its suppose to be good for preparing your uterus and cervix for labour. check out some of the links below.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_raspberry_leaf
www.maternitycorner.com/mcmag/arti cles/preg0007.html
konzababy.tripod.com/RRL.htm
www.babyworld.co.uk/wb2/default.aspx ?action=91&fid=29&read=31500

Grandmother (3rd world country) who had 7 DC and decided that she'd had enough, took 2-3 fresh pineapples to miscarry. My mum said if that doesn't work on occasions, she would then get some 'herbs' from off the garden/fields and that would definitely work. Should've really asked what they were but I was too disgusted to ask. Grandma only had 1 DC after 7th whom she failed to abort (it's very sad I know considering we're all desperate to have DCs).

Apparently fresh pineapples is used very commonly in asia and does work so just be cautious.

I can't eat fresh pineapple either, because it gives me bad mouth ulcers -- cooked is OK because the enzyme breaks down in the heating process. I guess I'll never find out whether the old wives' tale works or not. . .

In Bangladesh, Pineapple is said to bring on miscarriages and is a total 'avoid' 'do not eat' fruit during pregnancy - particularly if combined with milk. (Don't ask me any scientific answer - it's just what people do there!) So I guess when overdue, it could work as an inducer. I guess though, it needs to be pretty fresh - which may explain why people seem to be able to eat it without dangers.

Before I had heard this about pineapples, I ate two whole (not including spikes) in a day.

Baby still in there!

I personally think it is a myth.

My friend was two days overdue, then checked her emails, then went into labour. Does that mean checking emails brings on labour?

No, probably the fact that she was overdue!!

I had a craving for pineapple with cottage cheese and ate so much of it during my first trimester I'm surprised I didn't turn into one. I never had a miscarriage or any complications so far, and I'm 37 weeks pregnant :P

Clearly that's a bit of a fib that it causes miscarriage.

according to this you would need to eat about 7 to have an effect and even then it may just be diarrhoea!!

When I was in India, all the Indian women told me not to eat pineapple or papaya when they found out I was pregnant.
I had been eating loads before they said that, but didn't after they had - mainly just because of the disapproving looks!

Well i ate a whole one last night and it made my tongue swell up, and i'm still pregnant so i call myth. and my tongue still hurts

I was told that it has to be the core of the pineapple to be the most effective. It is like chewing on wood, but at 38 weeks with DC3, I fet really fed up, ate pineapple core over the next couple of days, and went into labour. SIL ate some the day before she went into labour. It could have been a coincidence both times, but you never know. I won't be doing it again, for some reason when I eat pineapple now, I get horrible stomach ache just afterwards!

Its great to read your comments, i am 15 weeks preggy and was craving pineapple soooo badly finally had a few pieces today :O) but will try and keep it to a minimum till my MW appointment.