The Lowdown on "Natural Induction"
Short answer: No
You've heard the Instagram stories and the TikTok reels: A desperate mom in her 40th week of pregnancy decides she's over being pregnant and tries what seems like a too-good-to-be-true activity to kickstart labor. And to your surprise, it worked! However, no amount of curb walking, sex, or tea will induce labor. While you might have heard of these anecdotal things working, none of them are based on evidence. While that one mom on Instagram only has her birth to go off of to claim success, any birth worker who has seen hundreds of births can tell you these things rarely work. When it does work, it's likely a coincidence or a cervix that was already showing signs of labor. These exercises typically work by encouraging the baby to come lower into the pelvis and apply pressure on the cervix, which could signal the body to create contractions or dilate. But the cervix is only receptive if it's already showing signs of progress, such as dilation or effacement. Other ideas, such as having sex or membrane stripping, could release prostaglandins that also help efface or soften the cervix. However, none of these are guaranteed to work. While you can't do much to start labor, there's a lot you can do to STOP it from happening. Any level of stress or fear will send a signal to your body that it's not safe to go into labor. When you stress out about doing all the things to start labor and blame yourself for still being pregnant, you are actually doing the opposite of what you set out to do. In my personal experience, I recommend you only attempt these things with the full understanding that they may not work and that it's not really up to you. You are simply inviting your baby to be born, not obligating. Many of these are wonderful, once labor has started and stalled, though. So, release yourself from the false notion that you're in charge of putting your body into labor, and read this while you wait for your little one. Comments are closed.
|
RSS Feed