Pumping to induce labor, and any other at-home method of inducing labor, should only be tried if you are having a safe, low-risk pregnancy and are at or beyond your expected due date. Be sure to communicate any questions to your doctor, especially if you are past your expected due date.
Your physician should be aware that you are using your breast pump to induce labor, or if you are trying any other methods of labor induction at home, because he or she may recommend that you wait a little longer or may want you to be induced at the hospital. When oxytocin is released from the brain, it often encourages uterine contractions. In fact, nipple and breast stimulation has even been shown to make these contractions longer and more powerful.
A study encompassing six randomized control trials concluded that nipple stimulation increases the likelihood of labor. One woman had rupture in the night of day 2, thus the experimental intervention on day 3 was not implemented and 6 samples were not collected. Of these, samples We collected 6 contiguous samples from 5 participants on day 1.
Among them, we collected 18 contiguous samples from 3 participants for 3 days. One woman showed non - reassuring fetal heart rate patterns after breast stimulation during the experiment. Severe variable deceleration for more than 2 minutes was observed after 45 minutes of breast stimulation on day 3, prompting the immediate discontinuance of breast stimulation.
After 30 minutes, permission to restart the breast stimulation was obtained from the obstetrician. Thus, stimulation was performed for 15 minutes. The woman delivered without any problems for over a 4-day post-intervention. There were 3 women One had rupture in the night of day 2 with her labor starting after 10 minutes. As the other 2 women had no onset of labor after 24 hours from rupture, labor was induced in accordance with the hospital policy.
Ten days after the breast stimulation intervention, 1 mother was admitted for labor induction. Four days after the start of the labor induction, caesarian section was performed because of fetal distress. The most common reason for dropping out was their already being hospitalized for delivery. There was no participant who voluntarily dropped out after starting the intervention.
The highest level of fatigue from the saliva collection procedure as indicated by the VAS score was observed on day 3. The average time of saliva collection was 4. The degree of pain from breast stimulation remained almost the same, but the level of fatigue from breast stimulation decreased daily. All women responded that the instructions for breast stimulation were easy to understand.
More than half of the total number of women answered that the rhythm and strength of the breast stimulation were appropriate. All the participants hoped to perform this protocol in their next pregnancy, as well as recommend this method to their friends.
This breast stimulation method can be continued at home in the future by the women themselves by watching a video to confirm the stimulation method.
In this study, the median OT level was highest on day 3, particularly 30 minutes after the intervention. There were slight increases in the OT level on days 1 and 2, although the changes were not distinct. This result resembles that of a previous report which investigated OT level 1 day after breast stimulation [ 18 ]. Although several days were needed to perform the procedure to promote the spontaneous onset of labor [ 8 ], previous studies used only a 1-day procedure.
To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to investigate the physiological background of long hours of breast stimulation, which has been reported to be effective in promoting the spontaneous onset of labor. Hence, the changes in salivary OT level induced by breast stimulation may possibly indicate the effect of repeat stimulation. Prevost et al. Thus, the increase in the OT level in the present study may be a physiological phenomenon. Alternatively, this occurred owing to the positive feedback by breast stimulation.
However, to the best of our knowledge, there is as yet no short-term study describing changes in the OT level by breast stimulation with time. Future experiments with a control group are warranted.
Of the 16 women who participated in this study, 6 women had onset of labor within 72 hours after the intervention. The same trends of rates are shown in this report. In terms of the Bishop score, there was no significant difference before and after the intervention. A previous study using the same procedure reported an increase of 3. The average age of the subjects was 23 years and the intervention was performed around the expected date of confinement.
This may account for the difference in the results. In other previous studies that included more than women, long hours of stimulation [ 14 ] and long-term stimulation [ 15 ] resulted in an increase in the Bishop score.
This preliminary study which involved a small sample size showed no effect on the Bishop score. We collected 1. However, this amount may have been insufficient for the assays because of the possible large amount of mucin. Therefore, it is considered that the required minimum amount of saliva to be collected should be 1. A limitation of this study is that missing data were most likely inevitable because of the insufficient amount of saliva collected for OT level measurement.
This situation implies that to be able to collect more saliva, the participants should brush after meals and rinse their mouth before the intervention. As water was taken only once, more saliva could have been collected if water was taken before each collection procedure. The reason for the many high baseline salivary OT levels in the present study is not clear.
Previously, the highest baseline salivary OT level in lactating women was reportedly observed before breastfeeding [ 25 ]. However, a low baseline level was also reported after breast stimulation in pregnant women [ 17 ]. Importantly, the experimental environment is crucial for the rigorous control of external factors that affect baseline OT levels. Thus, adequate rest time should be considered before the collection of baseline samples.
Fetal heart rate deceleration was observed in this study after breast stimulation. However, the subsequent stimulation performed after obtaining permission from the obstetrician resulted in a normal delivery.
Taken together, breast stimulation as a method of promoting the spontaneous onset of labor is safe in low-risk pregnant women. The degree of burden of the experimental method in terms of saliva collection and breast stimulation showed a moderate score, indicating its acceptability among the participants. Most of the women were not uncomfortable with the protocol, thus breast stimulation may be considered acceptable among Japanese pregnant women. The limitations of this preliminary study were the absence of a control group and the limited number of participants.
In future studies, a large sample size and inclusion of a control group are warranted to clarify in more detail the specific effects of the breast stimulation intervention used. This study investigated the physiological background of long hours of breast stimulation in relation to labor induction.
Following a 3-day breast self-stimulation intervention protocol for the induction of spontaneous onset of labor in low-risk pregnant women, the mean OT level showed the highest values on day 3. The breast stimulation intervention approach used showed good feasibility in terms of practicality and acceptability among the pregnant women.
We thank Dr. Yuki Yonekura for his helpful support on the statistical analysis. We also greatly appreciate Dr. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. PLoS One. Published online Feb Kaori Takahata 1 St. Yuriko Tadokoro 1 St. Cornelis B. Lambalk, Editor. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Induction might be suggested if you have high blood pressure , diabetes , or if you have low amniotic fluid surrounding your baby. After 42 weeks , there can be some increased risks, such as having too little amniotic fluid or the baby getting too big. Try using a nipple balm even coconut oil or olive oil will do to help lube things up and make things more comfy. Not into using the whole breast pump shebang.
You can also give nipple stimulation a try. Plus, a lot of these are anecdotal, not entirely scientific. FYI : As anything related to inducing labor, make sure you chat with your doc or midwife before doing any at-home induction methods. Always check in with your doctor or midwife before trying any at-home induction methods. The FDA's newest guidelines list seven types of fish that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding shouldn't eat. The mercury levels, it says, are just….
Estrogen levels rise during pregnancy and usually result in hair growth. But some women experience hair loss. Your midwife can perform a cervical sweep to get labour going if you're overdue. Find out what it involves. More labour and birth videos. References Buckley SJ. Schaffir J. Birth — Herbal therapies in pregnancy: what works? Unexpected consequences: women's experiences of a self-hypnosis intervention to help with pain relief during labour.
BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 15, Complementary and alternative medicine for induction of labour. Women Birth 25 3 : Use of herbal medicines by pregnant women: What physicians need to know. Front Pharmacol. The association of sexual intercourse during pregnancy with labor onset. Iranian Red Crescent medical journal, 17 1 , e Complementary therapies for labour and birth study: a randomised controlled trial of antenatal integrative medicine for pain management in labour.
BMJ Open 6:e The orgasmic history of oxytocin: love, lust, and labor. Methods of induction of labour: a systematic review.
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