There are many ways to induce labor you can try at home. However, the main problem in naturally inducing labor at home is that all of the techniques to induce labor at home rely on labor induction methods which do not consistently work across the board.
This means that although these techniques have been successfully used to naturally induce labor for centuries, still their success rates vary and therefore there is no guarantee that a certain method is going to work at all. There is also no standard on how to perform each natural labor induction method in order to bring in a desired effect.
Having said that, in searching the best ways to induce labor fast at home, I find that there are two ways which strike me as the best of all natural labor induction techniques as they are pretty consistent across the board and can induce labor fast.
I am talking about acupressure and castor oil induction here. Of those two, I prefer acupressure because it doesn’t result in inconvenience in labor and can also be used to ease labor pain and maintain labor. But let’s talk about both, shall we ?
Best Ways to Induce Labor I: Acupressure
Acupressure is, in my opinion, the best ways to induce labor and is actually better than the evergreen natural labor induction method, ingesting castor oil.
First, acupressure works for at least 80% of women, so it’s more consistent than most natural labor induction methods. But unlike castor oil, it does not have any side effects and is therefore safe. On top of that, it works fast enough, and can also be used to sustain labor as well as to ease the labor pain.
So I encourage you, if your EDD has come and go, and you have been bugged by your doctor for a medicalized labor induction, to give acupressure a try.
Acupressure works by stimulating certain acupressure points in your body via exerting certain pressure to those points. So, in a sense, acupressure is similar to acupuncture, but you use pressure instead of needle to stimulate certain points. The results of pressing those points with certain strength, frequency and certain length of time, is that they cause various things to happen, depending on the points. For instance, pressing certain points can also release endorphins, your body natural pain killer, hence acupressure can ease pain. Pressing other points can relax the muscles or cause the muscles to contract.
Unfortunately, not many people have a knowledge on how to perform an acupressure in general, much less in relation with labor induction and childbirth. This is why acupressure is underutilized in the Western World as a way to induce labor.
Fortunately, we live in internet era, so we can easily find information on how to perform it ourselves. Once we get the information, acupressure is not hard to apply. One thing is important though. The information on how to use acupressure to induce labor has to be thorough as there are several points which need to be stimulated just so, in order for them to have a desired effects.
So where could you get all the instruction you need to perform an acupressure ?
You can download the most complete and clear instruction on how to perform a maternity acupressure (with pictures and videos) here.
I hope maternity acupressure can prevent you from the grief and cost associated with medicalized labor induction and help you to have an easier labor.
Best Ways to Induce Labor I: Castor Oil
Drinking castor oil is probably one of the most well-known ways to induce labor fast and effectively, and is especially popular with midwives. It is famous for bringing up labor quickly and sustaining the contraction once the labor is underway.
In the other hand, it is also notorious in making women to have a miserable labor because it causes women to throw up, nauseous, and have a diarrhea. However, it is important to know that castor oil works brilliantly because it is a potent laxative. In fact, it is such a great laxative that even the over-the-counter laxative tablets cannot compete with it.
Castor oil works by irritating the gut, hence producing prostaglandin, an inflammatory agent. The irritation of the guts causes women to have a repeated bowel movement and the muscles used to cause a repeated bowel movement is similar to the ones used to contract uterus. Hence, when gut is stimulated, labor ensues.
While effective in causing overdue pregnant women to go into labor within 24 hours, there are several things which you have to bear in mind before using castor oil to naturally induce labor:
1. If your labor turns out to be long, there is a chance that you become very tired and dehydrated, hence increasing the risk of medical intervention to quicken the birthing process.
2. Castor oil can cross placental barrier and causes the baby to have a diarrhea inside the womb. Just for your information, baby is not supposed to pass baby’s poo (meconium) inside the womb because of there is a risk of ingesting it.
2. Castor oil causes women to have intense labor. Many women reported that their contraction are very close and strong. On top of that, they still suffer from the diarrhea and nausea. Fortunately, because the labor is intense, it generally results in shorter labor as well.
If you are interested in using castor oil to induce labor, start drinking it bits by bits. Don’t drink 2 ounces at once. Start with 2 table spoon, and then repeat again in 2 hours, and so forth. This can make the labor and castor oil side effects more manageable.
Some studies have also suggested that you don’t have to drink the oil, but can use it topically, including rubbing it on your stomach or using it to massage your perineum. However, it is not known whether this will be as potent as ingesting the oil.
Castor oil can be bought locally or online and is available in liquid form for 15% OFF here or gel capsules here for 30% OFF.
NOTE:If you’re too nervous to ingest castor oil because of all my warning above, try maternity acupressure. It’s a better and safer alternative to castor oil. It works consistently, fast, but it doesn’t have all side effects of castor oil.