Does breastfeeding "induce" labor?

[MuslimMama]

someone please say YES
I am just so anxious to have this baby... I am just so tired of carrying around all this weight LOL!

I am still BF-ing DS a few times a day, which is super annoying since my stomach is so big, I dont have milk (but do have colostrum) and it feels AWFUL. The only thing I tell myself is that *maybe* BF-ing will help bring this baby along sooner so I can get through each nursing session w/o going nuts!!

[aslyn]

Not sure, But I did nip stim with the last one to induce labor..so I would think BF has the same mechanics.

[lmj928]

Me too

I hear you... I'm also bfing my 2.5 yo 1-2x/day (I'm at work all day so it's only nights/weekends/naptime/morning) and I feel your pain...he insists there IS milk in there but I don't think so. I haven't had any contractions or anything b/c of it...yet. I'm 37 weeks today so we'll see...

[Burnindinner]

hasn't caused ctx here that i can tell. ds nurses at least 3x day, but not for very long. not seeing much by way of milk except colostrum.

[broodymama]

It hasn't yet for me. I nursed DS through my pregnancy with DD1, tandem nursed DS and DD1 through my pregnancy with DD2, and am now just nursing DD2 through this pregnancy. Even though I had preterm labor with my 1st pregnancy, breastfeeding has never done anything to help labor along with my other pregnancies.

[mamakaikai]

DDCC

Yes, it can. I'm still breastfeeding my 26 month old dd and feel the same as you. I have colostrum and my belly is big and it's just unpleasant. It also causes my bh ctx to come as close at 2 minutes apart for an hour or so afterwards if I nurse for more than 5-10 minutes.

I've seen breastfeeding an older baby work to induce labor. Like a breastpump, if you are trying to stimulate labor, nurse 20 minutes on 20 minutes off for an hour or two and see where it takes you. Be warned, it might just cause really uncomfortable ctx that don't actually lead to labor and you end up exhausted. But if you are trying to avoid a formal medical induction it might be worth it.

[at_the_hip]

FWIW, when #1 was still nursing strong, I gave birth to #2 at the earliest in my personal history, 6 days past my dd. :P The other babies have ranged 7-13 days not nursing. There's an anecdote for you - cling on and hope!!!!!

[mommysaurus]

Never worked for me. I've nursed through three pg's and all went overdue. still nursing my 19 month old & he nurses a lot! nothing happening at 37w2.

[To-Fu]

DDCC to say that I had my baby 12 days early while nursing my 28mo several times a day. I can't say for sure that's what caused it, but I do know for a fact that nipple stimulation is often used to get labor going so I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[maranapanda]

ddcc

I was nursing my 2.5 yo dd when I had strong contrax the night before, and while I went into labor with ds. I think there may have been a corrolation, but honestly I was nursing her a few times a day... so probably not much of one. I do find myself wishing that my 3yo son still wanted to nurse... I may only be 36 weeks but I want to get things toned up and started!

[fierrbugg]

ddcc (too)

idk if bf does, but I've read on several occassions that dtd does.

Oh and I did find this about Natural Ways to Induce Labor. Idk how accurate any of that is. hth