Transcript

Okay. So I get this question all the time. People will ask me what they can do to naturally kickstart their labor. And I want to preface this discussion by saying, has your provider given you the approval and the go ahead to get things started. So our you turn, is it safe in your pregnancy right now to try to get things moving? The second part I want to preface this with is knowing that not any one of these things are necessarily guaranteed to put you into labor if your body's not ready. So I do believe this is my personal belief that if your body is not ready to do these things, probably won't do much for you. But if you're kind of right there on the edge, they can be something to help give your body that little extra boost, right? And that little extra push.

So let's walk through six suggestions I have for how to put your body into labor and naturally induce, right? Number one is sex. Okay? So why? And kind of how does this work? So, not just sex, but sex with kind of, for lack of a better term, this stuff, you know, inside. Why? Because semen has natural prostoglandins in it and prostoglandins are the kind of active ingredient per se in a medical induction drug known as cervidil. And so semen is kind of the natural form of that. So they say that three times of this thing has a comparable effect as the junk serve Adele to help your cervix to ripen. Also, when a woman has an orgasm during sex, it encourages her uterus to contract because that love hormone, especially that oxytocin is being released during sex. And you know that intimacy experience and the hormone oxytocin encourages your uterus to contract.

Speaker 1: (01:43)
So that can also be a reason. Right now I will make a little side note about that suggestion is if your water has broken, do not use sex to try to speed labor up because of the risk of infection. Okay. Um, number two, nipple stimulation. And this is not like what it sounds like. So this is not you sitting there just kind of playing with your nipples. Um, when you are talking about natural induction via nipple stimulation, it's more like recreating what a baby would do if a baby is feeding on your chest, on your breast. Right? Um, because that motion, that sensation is also encouraging your body to release oxytocin because that's what it does when you're breastfeeding. Encouraging your years to contract with the original size. So when you do this during, you know, towards the end of pregnancy, it can create that same reaction with the oxytocin and the uterus.

Speaker 1: (02:36)
So my suggestion sometimes is for moms to try putting on a breast pump and maybe just give it, you know, a few minutes check with your lactation consultant to see, you know, kind of their feedback there. But if you have a breast pump at home, that can be something that you can test out. The third option is acupressure. So there are several acupressure points on your body that can actually, you know, encourage and promote labor induction. The fourth is acupuncture. So I would urge you to seek out an actual acupuncture specialist in your area for Labor induction. A number five is aroma therapy. So we're talking essential oils and there are a handful of essential oils that are known to encourage Labor to get started. And number six, the final one is movement. So again, assuming you have the approval from your doctor to do these things, assuming you're not on pelvic rest and they're able to, you know, have physical activities, what you might try is walking or bouncing on your yoga ball or curve walking, which is kind of staggered where you have one foot on the curb, one foot on the street, and you're kind of staggered walking, um, squatting, you know, stair launching, any type of movement, dancing if dancing is your jam.

Speaker 1: (03:43)
So that movement is really going to encourage things to move along. Um, having said that, I don't want you to exhaust yourself, so if it's evening time and you're tired, rest, right? So tried to kind of line up your activity with the time of day and how you're feeling. If it's morning and you're feeling pretty good and you have energy and you have the approval from your provider, maybe go for a brisk walk, right? Don't overdo it. Please don't text me or message me and say, I just walked three, four miles and now I'm just sore and tired and nothing's happened. Don't do that. Right? So I hope you enjoyed this, and for more birth information, please feel free to check out my online birth course.