Ask any woman who has ever been overdue during the last stages of her pregnancy and who was anxious to get the birth over and done with, and she might provide you with many ideas on how to bring about labour.
From acupuncture to ingesting castor oil or downing a large pitcher of pineapple juice, there seem to be lots of ways (some with sworn testimonials, mind you!), to get you to the finishing line quicker.
Still, there is one method in question — the one that’s likely to cause a few blushes here and there, and that is — Does sex help hasten labour?
Chances are you might not have to search intensively to find someone who will vouch for the idea that sex will help to kick-start your labour, probably out of her own experience and conclusions. Well, what can we say, for, after all, sex is the primary way to get pregnant in the first place, isn’t it? So, who’s to say that it won’t help finish it at the end?
Researchers have their legitimate purposes to explore this possibility. They have three good reasons:
- Semen contains prostaglandin which promotes uterine contractions and offers cervix-softening properties.
- The female uterine experiences contractions following orgasms.
- Breast stimulation has been shown to hasten labour.
When you combine these facts, it’s easy to conclude that if the cervix is ready and it’s about time for a baby to emerge, sex might just help speed it along.
However, minimal research exists on whether sex induces labour and they are mostly inconclusive. Take one such research study conducted between March 2008 and June 2011 in an attempt to determine if sex helps to induce labour.
The study recruited 1,200 participants all-around 36 weeks pregnant and they were spilt into two groups: Group A was told that sex is a natural method to safely induce labour, while Group B was told there is no conclusive evidence that sex induces labour.
The researchers then collected information about how often the women had sex between recruitment and the onset of labour. They also collected data on how long after recruitment did labour occur and the number of inductions.
The study uncovered the following: The women in Group A had more sex in their final weeks of pregnancy than those in Group B. However the women in Group A got to the baby-birthing finish line no faster than their peers in Group B. There was also a similar rate of induction in both groups. There are problems with this study though in that it did not consider how much sex the women were having and compare that to how quickly they went into labour.
In other words, if sex does induce labour, how much sex will it take to do the trick?
In conclusion, there is no solid conclusion to back up the idea even though there may be logical reasons why it might. Still, if you are at the last stages of your pregnancy and have not been asked by your doctor to refrain from it, there is no reason to not enjoy some loving bedroom deeds…
Just don’t bank on it to help induce labour!
Featured image source: www.webmd.com
