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As you near the end of your pregnancy, it’s natural to wonder when your little one might arrive. Although only 5% of babies are born on their due dates, and about 5% of women deliver 41 weeks or later, the approach of the 40-week mark can be anxiety-inducing. After almost nine months of anticipation and planning, packing your hospital bag, enduring countless pregnancy symptoms and staying up to date with your prenatal care, waiting just an extra week or two can feel like forever.
If you want to give your baby a gentle nudge out of the womb, here’s everything you need to know about how to induce labor.
[READ: Checklist for Choosing a Maternity Hospital.]
Consultation With Health Care Professionals
There are two main concerns to labor induction methods: safety and efficacy. The two are not mutually exclusive — an effective method for you might not be safe; a safe method for you might not be effective. That’s why consulting with the medical team overseeing your pregnancy is crucial. They are aware of your health history and any pregnancy risks you may have.
When she hears about her patients considering a “DIY approach,” the safety factor is concerning for Dr. Kecia Gaither, a double board-certified OB-GYN and maternal-fetal medicine provider and director of perinatal services and maternal-fetal medicine at New York City Health and Hospitals, Lincoln in the Bronx. She adds that without proper oversight, there can be catastrophic results for mothers and babies.
Always discuss your questions with a medical provider when considering how to induce labor.
[READ What Is a Doula?]
Understanding the Labor Process
If you want to know how to induce labor, make sure you understand what causes delivery to occur.
Labor requires three key processes in order to progress:
— Dilation. Dilation is where the cervix opens to allow the baby’s head to fit through the birth canal. Full dilation occurs when the cervical opening measures 10 centimeters, and dilation begins when the cervix measures 1 cm.
— Cervical effacement. Cervical effacement, or cervical ripening, is where the cervix thins and becomes stretchy to accommodate birth. Effacement is measured on a percentage scale, with 100% being fully effaced.
— Fetal station. Fetal station is how low the baby sits in the pelvis. A higher station means the baby is close to crowning, meaning the baby’s head becomes visible in the birth canal.
Although each of these three processes is related, they may progress at different rates, so dilation is not the only factor to pay attention to with labor inductions. When considering induction techniques, Kristin Mallon, a certified nurse midwife in Hackensack, New Jersey, says that she has found natural induction techniques work most effectively with long-term planning and coordination with a health care provider.
Consider trying some of these natural ways to induce labor.
[READ: What to Know About VBAC.]
Prenatal Exercises: Preparing Your Body for Labor
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends exercise for those with a stable pregnancy under the direction of their health care provider. Exercise is not only healthy during pregnancy, but it may also help to induce labor.
The professional organization recommends:
— 150 minutes of exercise per week.
— Aerobic exercise, which means moving the large muscles of the body in a rhythmic way.
— Exercise of moderate aerobic intensity. This will raise your heart rate and may cause you to sweat. You should be able to talk, but not sing when exercising with moderate intensity.
Exercises to induce labor include:
— Swimming.
Mallon agrees that in her experience, those who get aerobic exercise as much as possible, especially between 20 and 34 weeks, tend to avoid a medical induction, long labor or going past their due date. So, habitual exercise throughout pregnancy may help induce labor naturally. Mallon explains that staying near 70% of your max heart rate for 45 to 60 minutes, about four or five times per week, is most effective to induce labor.
If you want to estimate what 70% of your maximum heart rate is, subtract your age from 220 and then multiply that number by 0.7. For example, if you are 25, subtract 25 from 220 to get 195. Multiply 195 by 0.7, and 70% of your maximum heart rate is around 136 beats per minute. Mallon says exercise has even been shown to decrease the risk of high blood pressure or preeclampsia during pregnancy.
Relaxation Techniques: Calming Your Body and Mind
Have you ever heard of athletes who do visualization and meditation exercises before a big race? Training the mind is just as important as training the body. And labor can be equally or even more stressful than a major athletic event.
There is an inverse relationship between the main hormone for stress, called cortisol, and the primary hormone involved in labor, called oxytocin. More studies are still needed to determine if stress reduction could aid labor induction.
However, Mallon says natural oxytocin increases when pregnant individuals feel relaxed and meditate. In theory, this could help to naturally induce labor and prepare the mind for a positive birthing experience.
Acupuncture and Acupressure: Stimulating Labor Points
Acupuncture and acupressure are ancient Chinese medicine practices that aim to balance the body’s energy.
— Acupressure is where an acupressurist applies manual pressure to pinpoint areas on the body called acupoints.
— Acupuncture is where an acupuncturist inserts thin needles over the acupoints.
There is some anecdotal evidence of acupuncture and acupressure successfully inducing labor. But Gaither says that these methods have not been scientifically proven to have an effect on labor induction.
“Both can affect bodily relaxation and aid in musculoskeletal pain, particularly in the hip and back,” she adds.
So, it’s possible that the reduction in pain and added relaxation from this method help you to induce labor.
You could also consider chiropractic intervention for back pain after a discussion with your OB provider.
Natural Foods and Herbs: Aiding Labor Progression
Certain foods and herbs are rumored to have labor-inducing properties. Mallon suggests if you’re considering using natural foods and herbs to induce labor, talk to your health care provider about it by the 36th or 37th week of pregnancy so the effects have time to kick in.
Common suggestions include:
— Pineapples.
— Dates.
— Evening primrose oil.
— Eggplant.
— Basil.
— Black cohosh.
— Raspberry leaf tea.
— Spicy foods.
Evidence is weak to support that use of any of these foods or herbs will induce labor. While they may not always be effective, they are generally safe to try under medical direction. You may find that one of these methods works for you and decide to try it again with subsequent pregnancies.
Other Induction Methods: Separating Fact From Fiction
A few other methods often discussed for labor induction include:
— Sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse is a safe method to try to help induce labor. However, it’s not always effective. In theory, it could stimulate uterine contractions and help speed the process along, but there isn’t evidence that it will induce labor altogether. Also, be mindful that within 24 hours of intercourse, semen can leak out of the vagina, appearing like amniotic fluid. Your OB provider will test the liquid to confirm it’s amniotic fluid if you think your water broke.
— Nipple stimulation. Gaither says that nipple stimulation to induce labor can release oxytocin and cause uterine contractions. She adds that there is no known research to indicate if this is safe or effective. “I wouldn’t advise this,” she adds.
— Castor oil. Castor oil to induce labor stimulates the bowels and may feel like it’s causing uterine contractions. In reality, it’s more likely to cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, leading to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances — something you don’t want to add to a late-term pregnancy, Gaither says.
If you want to know how to induce labor with medical intervention, membrane sweeping is a relatively safe and effective method to kickstart labor. Typically done around 39 weeks of pregnancy, a membrane sweep is a noninvasive office procedure where your OB will “sweep” the cervix with one or two gloved fingers. The procedure feels like a longer cervical check and only takes about a minute to perform. Within a couple days, you may start to experience light bleeding, cramping and abdominal pain, indicating you could be in early stages of labor.
Benefits of Natural Labor: Allowing Nature to Take Its Course
Avoiding early induction of labor is beneficial to allow your baby sufficient time to grow and develop. Babies born closer to their due dates have less difficulty regulating their temperature, maintaining their blood sugar and learning how to breastfeed.
It’s also important not to allow pregnancies to go too far past their due dates to avoid any deterioration of the placenta or allowing the baby to get too big to fit through the birth canal. Mallon says that studies such as the ARRIVE trial from 2018 demonstrated that inductions around the 39th week, as opposed to inducing only if medically necessary typically after 41 weeks, are associated with a lower chance of a cesarean section.
Mallon says that based on this recent data, “It’s better for women to go into labor naturally on their own, but it is best for a woman to go into labor naturally on or near her due date,” meaning that medical induction near a woman’s due date can be necessary to avoid C-sections.
It’s all about risk reduction, and exploring how to induce labor should be done with a medical provider to determine your individual risks and benefits.
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Natural Ways to Induce Labor: What Experts Recommend originally appeared on usnews.com
