Inducing labor.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Herbs/techniques to *safely* induce labor?
From: Boudicca <sonata.eskimo.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Apr 1995 14:26:41 GMT

On 8 Apr 1995, Bryce Burchett wrote:
> My wife in in her 37th week of pregnancy. The sonogram shows that the baby (girl) is fully grown (in fact she has stopped growing) and can be delivered safely anytime. According to the doctor, her body shows signs that
[major snip]
> It was pretty unpleasant for them.) We heard about nipple-stimulation, and synthetic oxytocin, but we heard that these can cause dangerously strong contractions.
> Does a *SAFE* herb or technique exist???

after 3 kids, here are the things i tried ....

  • lots and lots of walking and squatting to engage baby's head better against cervix...
  • blue cohosh tea (tastes awful!!)
  • castor oil...no fun having the raging trots, but time-honored.....with baby #3 i succeeded with a combination of that and the cohosh tea...she was 37 weeks and 9 lb 10 oz already...i had a 2 ½ hr labor, but was never losing control....i have no idea if the labor-starters contributed to the speedy labor or not...
  • chiropractic adjustments...the chiropractor said if they didn't start labor, they would at least make it fast and easy (and it certainly was)
  • nipple stimulation is also time-honored and i have never heard of it causing too-intense contractions, unlike synthetic oxytocin....

these ideas were all approved by my midwife....

hope these ideas help you out a bit...i'm no doctor...but these are claimed to be safe...

parsley is a diuretic, btw, which might not be all that great an idea in pregnancy....if she is having severe water retention she should be checked for pre-eclampsia....but some water retention is normal and necessary

Boudicca...Queen of the Iceni!
H. Weispfenning sonata.eskimo.com boudicca.cyberspace.com