What exactly IS castor oil?

[MelW]

I guess I could just google it...

Castor is french for beaver, right? So what is castor oil made from? This arises from an interesting conversation with my husband last night- and he didn't know the answer, either.


p.s. Absolutely NOT considering castor oil in any form, but awake and wondering

[3for3hb]

It's oil made from a castor bean. It's nasty :Puke , nasty :Puke , nasty :Puke . And after doing it twice when overdue with willem last time I will say that anyone considering doing it HAS to be extremely desperate. It made me so sick to my stomach I could not MOVE for 5 hours the first time and 7 hours the next.
Last week when we were doing my belly cast, I smeared the unpetroleum jelly on my belly and boobs and almost threw up from the smell... the first ingredient listed is castor oil. Apparently my body doesn't have good memories with that ingredient!

[flapjack]

It's not currently available in the UK- apparently nobody makes it any more. Given the choice between inducing with castor oil, going to 44 weeks or a hospital induction, I'd take the castor oil any day- then again, every time I've gone into labour I've been so constipated that diarrhoea seems more appealing than childbirth (the baby was an incidental bonus.)