Alternative ways to kick start labour

Once you reach your 8-9 months of pregnancy, you have pretty much passed the ‘glowing’ stage of pregnancy and it’s no surprise that you will probably feel ready and want baby to arrive. The excitement of your new arrival, the planning and preparation over the last few months, you just want to meet your little bundle of joy. So when you reach the 40 week mark and there are no signs of baby arriving, you start to think about ways to help kick star labour and you are probably willing to try all the old wives tales. Alice and I consider ourselves lucky as all, except one at 40 weeks, of our children were early (between 36-38 weeks).

We have heard of these alternative ways to bring on labour so if you are at that point in pregnancy when you want your baby to come out, maybe these are worth a try! I always believe your baby will make an appearance when they are ready (whether late or early) but there’s no harm in giving these a try, even if it’s to take your mind off the waiting game.

Marathon walks - well not quite but go for long walks. This makes the baby’s head put pressure onto your cervix, potentially triggering labour. If anything, it’s always good to get exercise and we really believe that being on the move helps during labour.

Eating pineapple - this will stimulate your stomach and help may help your contractions to start. Pineapple also contain enzymes that are meant to soften your cervix therefore triggering labour.

Eat hot and spicy food - the hot spicy-ness in curries are meant to stimulate your stomach and are believed to bring on contractions. It is often recommended to eat hot curries.

Raspberry leaf tea - a type of herbal tea containing high content of vitamins, minerals and tannins. It is thought drinking raspberry leaf tea can help to strengthen the uterus wall and therefore potentially speeding up labour.

Nipple stimulation - massaging your nipples is believed to help trigger labour as it tricks your body into thinking that your baby is suckling, releasing the hormone oxytocin causing your uterus to contract.

Sex! - it is probably the last thing you want to do being 9 months pregnant but the hormone oxytocin is released during sex which potentially triggers labour.

Have these worked for you? What did you do to bring on your labour?