Natural ways to induce labor that work

Inducing Labor

When your pregnancy has reached the term and the labor doesn’t start it may be necessary to artificially induce the childbirth. Your doctor may suggest chemical induction with the use of medications and other techniques to induce contractions. This is usually done when the risk of waiting labor to start naturally includes damages to the baby and the mother. Most chemically induced labors end with Cesarean section or vacuum extraction. Both procedures carry certain risks for both mother and the baby as well. Therefore, to avoid artificially induced labor, you should try some natural ways to bring on contractions. However, you must be 40 weeks pregnant or overdue.

Natural Ways to Induce LaborWith the help of several natural ways you may start your labor. One of it includes nipple stimulation. It is the most often used method to induce childbirth and it involves massaging of nipples. When a woman stimulates her nipples, hormone oxytocin starts to release which causes contractions. The synthetic oxytocin is used for inducing labor chemically.

Walking is also helpful to most women since it can position the baby as it is required for the labor. Gravity can help to move down the baby into the pelvis. Women should do any exercise that can induce contractions. That includes belly dancing, squatting, using swing or hoola hoop. All of this can encourage releasing of oxytocin.

Making love can bring on labor because male semen contains prostaglandins that can stimulate contractions. By the time you reach your due date, sex will be probably last thing on your mind, but you should definitely give it a try.

Women should relax as much as possible because tension can postpone their labor. They could try meditation and visualization of oncoming labor.

There are several herbs that can help in inducing your labor. You could try taking blue or black cohosh but cautiously and under the supervision of some expert. Blue cohosh can make uterine contractions stronger but can be harmful to baby’s heart. Black cohosh can regulate contractions but may result in excess bleeding during childbirth. Other ways to start labor with the help of herbs are drinking cumin tea or red raspberry leaf tea. Evening primrose oil can be applied topically on the cervix as well. However, it is not proven that this will actually help.

Castor oil was used for decades to induce labor in women. It causes spasms in the intestines which in turn leads to the uterine contractions.

Acupressure is another natural way to induce labor. This includes putting pressure on the certain spots on the skin in order to start contractions. This is a safe method and can be helpful in relieving labor pains also. Additionally, acupressure helps to ripen the cervix and descend the baby.