Black Cohosh dosing for labor prep?

[NicoleS]

Ok, sneaking out of my due date club for a moment...

Last pregnancy I took black cohosh as a supplement to help prepare for labor. Unfortunately, now at nearly 2 years later I cannot remember what the dosing was. I know you started it at 36 weeks and it was gradually increased from that point until delivery.

I'm thinking of trying it again as a way to avoid another pitocin induction and was hoping someone had a dosage or had used it before? I know the protocol I followed was one given to someone I knew by her midwife, but I'm no longer in contact with that person.

[zonapellucida]

The day before I "planned" to birth Trenton, I took 5 drops under tongue, then 5 drops every 20 for the hour. Upped it to 10 drops every 20 minutes for the next hour. Upped again 5 drops every 20 minutes for the 3rd hour and continued to do so for 6 hours.

[NicoleS]

Oh yuck! I bought the tincture last time and it tasted terrible! I bought capsules this time. But this was only a couple of times a day over a period of weeks - I had originally wanted to try the 5W herb, but couldn't find it locally, so went with this instead. I looked up the ingredients on 5W, and I think it was 900 mg of black cohosh per serving, and the capsules I bought yesterday were 540 mg - so I'm wondering if I could follow a similar dosing to the 5W?

[zonapellucida]

The tincuture does go into the system quicker but I believe cohosh is cohosh (although my MW may not agree) I would open the capsules and pour them in a liquid only becasue you don't want to wait fot the gelatine to dissolve. I wonder if it can be used for a week prior to birth. HMMMMM estorgen is the birth environment, progesterone the pg environment. Pondering what I will do now

[NicoleS]

Originally Posted by zonapellucida

The tincuture does go into the system quicker but I believe cohosh is cohosh (although my MW may not agree) I would open the capsules and pour them in a liquid only becasue you don't want to wait fot the gelatine to dissolve. I wonder if it can be used for a week prior to birth. HMMMMM estorgen is the birth environment, progesterone the pg environment. Pondering what I will do now

I think it depends on the dosing. If you look at 5W, it is meant to be taken starting at 35 weeks, and contains black cohosh along with other herbs. But I think the dosing is a lot lower than someone who is taking it to go into labor TODAY. I may be way off base here, but it was my understanding that in lower dosings it was more of a uterine toner (Like RRL tea) and in the higher doses more of a uterine stimulant/irritant for inducing labor.

I was taking it and EPO starting at 36 weeks last pregnancy. It did not put me into labor, but when I was induced at 38 weeks I had gotten to 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Unfortunately, I don't really know how much of that was the herbals and how much was baby and how much was just my body ready to do its own thing.

Oh, and the bottle I have does say that the capsules can be broken open and used for tea?