How to Naturally Induce Labor – You Better Have Your Bag Packed!

Getting close to your due date is really exciting. It’s also really scary because usually that means your health care provider will want to medically induce you. Use these tips to induce labor naturally on your own and fast. Don’t underestimate the power of tips #1!

** Before you read any further PLEASE know that I’m not a medical doctor and have no medical experience. Check with your doctor before trying anything to ensure you and your baby are healthy and all of these techniques are safe for you. You also should wait until you are past your due date to try these methods; otherwise, baby may not be ready to come yet!

When you’re nearing the end of your due date, every little tweak feels like it could be labor. The more false alarms you have, the more discouraged it is that you’ll ever actually meet your baby.

It can be especially scary if your health care provider threatens a medical induction. No mama who wants a natural birth wants to be induced. It can lead to more interventions, a longer labor, a more painful labor and more.

“Naturally” inducing labor is kind of an oxymoron. If labor isn’t spontaneous, doing anything to kick your body into gear can be considered an induction method. I’m considering these methods natural because they don’t require medical intervention – no medication, membrane sweeping, cervical ripening or more. These natural induction methods are simply things you can do on your own at home to get baby and your body in labor mode.

If you’re past your due date, these are proven methods that will help you naturally induce labor. They will also get baby into the perfect birthing position. You better have your birth plan ready to go and your hospital bag packed because these natural induction methods work fast!

9 Tips to Induce Labor

Walking

Walking is good for you to begin with but has a world of benefits to natural induce labor. It puts pressure and gravity onto your birth canal, bringing baby down to help dilate and efface your cervix. This allows labor to really get started. It also helps contact the muscles in your belly as you’re walking, which helps to get contractions started too.

This doesn’t mean a casual stroll around the mall. This means a brisk, quickly-paced walk for a long time. Walking any length of time is better than nothing. However, if you’re ready to meet your baby, a fast, 2 mile walk or longer will move baby in the right direction. Think of it more like a power walk than a leisurely stroll.

Curb Walking

Take your walking to the next level by adding in some curb walking. This is exactly like it sounds. Walk alongside the curb with one step being on the curb and the other being on the ground. So let’s say your left leg is closest to the curb. All of your left steps will be up on the curb, while all of your right steps will be on the ground.

The unevenness of the curb helps further bring baby down into the birth canal to engage the cervix. The more the cervix is engaged, the more you’ll dilate and efface and start contractions.

Bouncing on an Exercise Ball

Bouncing on a ball puts the same pressure on your cervix as walking does. It allows gravity to pull baby down into the birth canal. This helps dilation and effacement, which can cause your water to break or contractions to start. Most hospitals and birthing centers even have them for when you’re in labor because they work that well. It’s also a comfortable seat when you’ve got a big belly to balance.

Don’t just sit on the ball. Get to work!

Bounce on the ball up and down
Do hip circles on the ball, rotating between directions
Rock forward and backward.
Sway from side to side

Labor Cookies

These cookies might ruin gingerbread for you for a while, but they do really well to help kick start labor. The ginger flavor makes them yummy, but it’s the cayenne pepper that works with your body to induce labor.

Spicy food helps get your digestive track moving. Because your digestive track is near your uterine muscles, they will contract due to proximity. The more your body gets these muscles working, the more you will dilate and efface. This is all exactly what you need to get labor going.

It’s hard to say just how many cookies you should eat for this to work. (Just like it’s hard to say exactly how many miles you should walk.) The day I went into labor with my son, I ate five before I sprinted to the bathroom. Start with one and see how you feel. You can find the recipe here.

The Midwive’s Brew

Also known as the German Labor Cocktail, the midwive’s brew dates way back to help women go into labor. It’s a drink mixture of castor oil, apricot juice, lemon verbena tea and almond butter. Castor oil used to be on a lot of labor induction lists BUT gets a bad reputation.

Castor oil is a laxative. It quickly moves through the digestive track and causes diarrhea, nausea, and dehydration. The reason it works with the midwive’s brew is because the almond butter sticks to the castor oil. This causes it to move more slowly and work gently on your system.

It still causes you to go to the bathroom and may cause dehydration but both of those mean labor. The rectal muscles are part of the pelvic floor and uterine muscles, which can contract all together to start contractions. Dehydration causes cramping and starts labor.

It’s not that these restaurants have a secret labor-inducing recipe, it’s just that the food is spicy and works those delivery muscles. If you don’t live near any of these places, whip up some of your spicy favorites at home.

Over 80% of women see success with this method! Follow the directions to safely try this method and go into labor 24-48 hours after drinking. Find the full recipe here.

Spicy Food

Just like the labor cookies, other spicy food does the exact same thing to get those labor muscles working. In fact, there are some restaurants that swear by their labor-inducing foods. Eggplant parmesan with oregano, buffalo pizza, spicy chicken flatbread are some of the popular few.

Exercise

Exercise is a great natural induction methods that work. Squatting and curb walking puts pressure on your birth canal, wiggling baby into place. The better positioned baby is and the more pressure on your cervix, the easier it will be for you body to dilate, efface and start contracting.

Warm Bath & Relaxation

In the wild, if an animal is in the middle of birth and senses danger, she will literally stop birthing her baby and wait until she finds a safe place. Baby doesn’t want to be born into a stressful, unsafe environment. It’s why creating an ideal birth environment is so important. If your body senses stress, it will put off labor. Plus, what’s more stressful than the thought of a medical induction or needing to get labor started?

Relax yourself by drawing a warm bath. Light some candles. Maybe get a massage from your spouse, or schedule a prenatal one! Whatever you can do to relax will signal to your body that you’re ready. Contractions can start and do their work and baby will be born into a safe place.

A warm bath is only suggested if your water hasn’t broken. Once your water breaks, the likelihood of infection increase since that protective barrier is gone. If you water breaks and contractions don’t start, contact your health care provider ASAP.

Dates

Eating 3-6 dates a day in the four weeks leading up to your due date is said to soften the cervix. The softness allows you to easily and quickly dilate and efface. Dates also have an oxytocin-like effect on the body. This is the hormone responsible for creating contractions.

Additionally, dates also have lots of fiber which can make you go to the bathroom. This works a lot like spicy food where since the GI muscles and uterine muscles are so close together, using one may spark the other to start contracting.

Eating 3-6 dates can be daunting. Learn more about the best kinds of dates to eat here and easy ways to add them into your diet.

Raspberry Leaf Tea

The science community is still disputing this natural technique. But you won’t meet a midwife or natural mama who doesn’t rave about the benefits of raspberry leaf tea.

Contrary to its name, it doesn’t taste anything like raspberries but it’s properties have been said to help contract and strengthen the uterine muscles. It’s been used for centuries to aid the laboring mom and menstruating woman.

Because it helps strengthen uterine muscles, it helps prepare you for delivery. Each contraction is much more powerful. They work twice as hard to efface and dilate you, which makes for a shorter labor. To get the full benefits of this tea, enjoy 2-3 cups everyday 36+ weeks in your pregnancy.

Conclusion

There are tons of ways to naturally induce labor. Remember that a healthy baby and mama are what’s most important. Don’t try any of these methods unless you get the all clear from your health care prover and/or have passed your due date. All in all, baby will come when she’s ready! Trust the birth process and that your body and baby know what they’re doing.

If you want to read more about how these induction tips helped me and which ones I used to kickstart my labor, read the post HERE.

Hello! I'm Miranda.

How to Naturally Induce Labor – You Better Have Your Bag Packed!