The days that lead up to the time that you actually deliver your baby can be a time of anxiety and frustration. A wide range of emotions, including fear, joy, excitement, and even hesitation all play a part for many women during those last moments before the arrival of their little one. In addition to this, a woman may have a variety of concerns, whether those concerns relate to the health of her baby, or whether those concerns have to do more with apprehension about the childbirth process. Some women will worry when labor hasn’t started on their due date, or even on the few days before or after her due date.
The good news is that a baby will usually come when it is good and ready. Still, the more that a woman goes past her due date, the larger her baby is likely to grow. Once a woman reaches more than a couple of days past due, a health care provider is likely to recommend that labor be induced. When labor is induced in a hospital, medications are used that help a woman’s body to go into labor. Some of these medications, however, aren’t necessarily the safest or the best thing for a woman to have. For this reason, many women who are past their due dates might prefer to try to start labor naturally.
One thing that you can do to start labor naturally is through the use of certain types of herbal creams. There are, for example, all natural herbal creams that are designed with certain essential oils that are thought to help induce labor. While these creams aren’t guaranteed to work, they might be worth trying prior to having a health care provider induce labor in the hospital.
There may be other ways to start labor naturally. There is some evidence to suggest that having sexual intercourse can help to get the labor process going. Some women describe going into labor after eating spicy foods, although there is less scientific research to support this sort of thing in general.
Ultimately, your baby will know when it is time to arrive, and while you may be able to help him or her along by trying to start labor naturally, some babies are just going to hang in there for as long as they can.
