It goes without saying the longer you wait the better but many of us get impatient and if your nurse wants to medically induce labour you might as well try it naturally first. You’ll even find one option in this list that has a 60%-85% success rate and that says a lot!

 I will be listing the most common and effective ways to get labour going as well as remind you of the risks. You should know not to try anything like this before 37 weeks gestation because your baby’s lungs are still developing and being born before this can cause breathing problems. It’s best to wait until full term before you try any of the following. 

Exercise. This includes bouncing on a bouncy ball and circling your hips on it as well as scrubbing your floors, walking stairs and just overall going for a stroll. Being on all fours while scrubbing the floors can be helpful as well as staying in a squatting position. 

Sex and more specifically sperm can cause contractions and has helped some induce their labour! This natural way however can get a bit uncomfortable the later you are in your pregnancy just because of the mere size of your tummy.

Some swear by spicy food. This could be basically anything spicy. For some the spicy food causes stomach upset which then has started contractions. Worked for some but maybe not the most effective option out there.

Just like spicy food can cause upset stomach so can castor oil. You might have heard some mothers tell you how this worked for them and that is because it’s a natural laxative. However having plain castor oil is not the best option cause in some cases it has caused the baby to pass their first stool (meconium) before he’s born and this can cause problems after birth. Other side effects are nausea, diarrhea and irregular contractions that can make you exhausted by the time your baby actually arrives. However there is a better option out there that includes castor oil in the recipe called Midwives Brew. This popular brew is a lot less likely to cause nausea or diarrhea and is said to have at least a 60% success rate! (check study here) After gulping this down you should go into labour in just 24h-48h. There are no actual studies of Midwives Brew except the one about castor oil I linked earlier but it is said to have even up to 85% success rate. So now how do you make Midwives Brew:

• 10 oz Apricot Juice
• 8 oz Lemon Verbena tea
• 2 Tbsp Almond butter
• 2 Tbsp Castor Oil

Blend together in a blender and enjoy immediately with ice. Many mothers have videos online of how this worked for them!

Medjool dates 6 a day for 4 weeks leading up to your due date. This diet has shown to shorten the first stage of labor by ripening the cervix and many believe this really works!

Pineapple! You must have heard of this. It has something called bromelain and it has been said to be able to soften your cervix and prepare it for smoother labor and faster first stage of labor when the cervix opens up. Bromelain can also cause contractions.

After 32 weeks drink raspberry leaf tea once a day gradually working your way up to 3 cups a day. This has said to shorten the second stage of labor and the need for forceps.

Unripe papaya to induce labour. This can act like oxytocin and strengthens your contractions. It’s not recommended to eat unripe papayas during pregnancy for a reason!

Nipple stimulation is something you can do just a little manually but after your water breaks you can even use breast pumps to get things going and trust me when I say they will. This is why you cannot do this until your water breaks. This is why you can’t breastfeed while pregnant. Lactation causes oxytocin that you need in labour. 

Acupressure is one thing many pregnant moms do while trying to induce labour. This is a traditional Chinese medicine for pain and to find relaxation. Moms who do acupressure during labour can dilate quicker most likely because they’re more relaxed. Find videos online and do this with the help of your husband.

I also want to mention another massage tip but even if this next tip is not for inducing labour it will help you tear less. That is perineal massage and this actually has been proven to help! So definitely give it a try as well since you’re already doing the acupressure anyways.