How to induce labour naturally and mechanically – when the wait gets too long

When I was pregnant with my first child, I wanted to have a natural birth without anaesthesia or any other medical help. Unfortunately, I had to be induced with hormones because things don’t always turn out the way we want them to but today, I know there are other ways to help your baby arrive.

So I went overdue which I found rather stressful. Tons of people started to text and message me around my due date – all with the good intention, to know how I am and to encourage me. But in the end, I was so annoyed, that I just switched off my phone. Yes, l really did!

During my second pregnancy, when I was only 2 weeks away from my due date and I had to get up ten times to pee, couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position in bed and a 3-4kg baby was playing soccer in my uterus. So I tried the below-listed ways to induce labour and – it worked!!

Why induce labour?

For whatever reason you would like to finally meet your baby it is important to know that only around 8% of babies are born on their due date and many are born during the 41st week of pregnancy.

Once you’ve hit the 39 weeks mark, you will probably have your doctor or midwife pressure you to fix a date for medical birth induction.

The problem is, that if you have prepared yourself to have a physiological/ natural birth, this might not be possible anymore once you have been induced. The labour pains will be much stronger right from the start than they would be giving birth naturally.

Also, just like any medical procedure, elective medical induction can bring about more complications like labour interventions, a longer maternal hospital stay and higher C-section rates.

There might be things that you can try to help naturally or even mechanically encourage labour and avoid going down the road of medical induction.

Natural ways to induce labour

There are no guaranteed ways to induce labour, but these 100% natural ways are old home remedies that some moms swear by.

• Acupuncture

It’s something I have tried for my first birth and that I did for my second birth, too.
The first time around, I was really into it and even though have tried it several times, I did not work for me. For my second baby, I only went once and I went into labour the next day! Yay!

This natural medicine can help maturate the neck of the uterus, help reduce stress and induce labour. You should talk to a midwife who has been trained in acupuncture.

• Foot massage

This one goes together with acupuncture, both are acupressure methods that stimulate certain points in the body.
Even if it doesn’t help you in the end, it is a great way to relax and take some me-time before giving birth.

• Osteopathy and Etiopathy

These manual techniques can help release some tension in the body and ease the way for the baby to find the right position.

• Make Love

Yeah, I know, I didn’t want to either haha, but I tried and… well nothing.

Even if this might be the worst time for you to think about making love because you feel like an elephant, cuddling and letting your partner touch you will certainly make you feel desired and automatically more beautiful.

Just try it! Making love once makes you want more of it and since you will probably not have any sexual intercourse for some weeks after giving birth, you won’t regret this.

The sperm contains the prostaglandin hormone which can help dilate the neck of the uterus.

• Nipple stimulation

This is exactly as the name suggests.

You can use your hands, your partner or a breast pump to massage your nipple and the areola. Your body will think that a new-born is nursing and releases oxytocin hormone which should start your contractions.

• Raspberry leaf tea

I am not a professional, but I have heard different reasons why this should help.

The last midwife I met told me this will help induce labour, others have told me this is a way of giving more tonicity to the muscle of the uterus and help it contract more effectively.

You can start drinking this infusion 3 weeks before your due date.

• Walking and exercise

First, this is really healthy and secondly, it will keep you in shape for the hardest trial of strength of your life.
It will also reduce your stress level, help your immune system and reduce water retention in your legs. You should at least walk for 30 min every day.

This is what I did during my first pregnancy, I still put on 18kg… and this time around I did sports three times a week (salsa dancing, Pilates and Zumba) until my 8^th month of pregnancy and two weeks before my due date, I started doing Zumba again – I can tell you, I was having quite a few contractions while following some YouTube lessons.

The rocketing and gravity will make the head of your baby put increased pressure on your cervix, help it ripen and thin and maybe start labour.

• Food

Eating a lot of fresh pineapples, Medjool dates or spicy food may have some effect on inducing labour but the how and why is mysterious to me.

Mechanical ways to induce labour

In case you have tried everything from the list above but nothing has worked, you might want to try some more radical solutions.

• A membrane strip

This method is rather invasive and can be quite painful, I still do recommend it!
Your gynaecologist or midwife induces a finger into the neck of the uterus and – as the name says – swipes it around the head of your baby to detach your membranes, also called the bag of waters, from the inferior part of the uterus. This gesture frees prostaglandin hormones which will help dilate the neck of the uterus. If the sweep works well, you should go into labour within 2 days.

The side effect of this gesture can be that the water breaks without actually inducing labour and therefore a stronger labour inducing method might need to be used thereafter.

I have had this done while waiting for my first child. Yes, it was not pleasant but I do not remember it as being especially painful. While it worked for another mom from my birthing class, for me, labour had to be induced the next day as scheduled.

• Castor oil

You can find some methods of preparing a midwife’s brew on the internet, I guess these are basically just ways of making this drink more enjoyable.

The side effect of this oil can be diarrhoea since it is actually a strong laxative. It could also help you getting into labour but with very strong labour pains that might be difficult to handle.

This method should only be tried if the baby is in the right position, the cervix is soft and the appointment to induce labour is scheduled for the next day.

I have read good reviews about using castor oil but I was hesitant to try since I didn’t want to have diarrhoea while driving to the hospital.

As you can see, there are quite a few remedies that can help you start labour. Don’t be disappointed if none of them work for you. I have tried quite a few myself and labour had to be induced anyway the first time around. So you are not alone. Also, please, only try this after having talked to your midwife and if you have reached 39 weeks of “low risk” pregnancy.

Did you try to induce labour at home? It would be great to hear what worked for you, please leave me a comment!