breast pump to induce: totally confused

[tofutti]

so i am hearing so many conflicting things about using a breast pump to induce labor. my pump is still in the box but i am tempted.

i have heard it creates contractions that are not effective

i have heard it can bring on labor

i have heard it is useless

i have heard it pumps out all of the colostrum (!)

i have heard it can bring on dangerous (?) strong contractions

i yam confused

anyone know anything? experiences?

[kittn]

i dont think a breast pump will do much if your body isnt ready. I assume using the pump is similar to those who are nursing as far as the contractions it brings on. I cant imagine it bringing on dangerous contractions. My midwife did say that it can sometimes be effective when labor stalls to jump it back intot he right direction.
AFA the colostrum, I dont think that can happen. hormones from delivery/birth trigger the change over to milk , so I would assume that your body would continue to make colostrum until the baby gets here. I could be totally wrong and talking out of my ass though

[koru]

:

[tofutti]

hokay, it will stay in the box.

whew

[darsmama]

helped makeearly labor contrax stronger & "stick" with dd2, did nada with dd3

[aran]

For at least 3-4 of SILs 6 children, she took a warm bath and used nipple stimulation (not a pump) to establish a regular labor pattern successfully.

My DS nursing brings on very strong contractions, but they always stop shortly after he stops, so I am not sure it would help unless you are very close anyway.

[Willzmama]

You make colostrum until the placenta is delivered. Even then it can take a day or so for your milk to come in.

[Munchkimo]

You can store colostrum just the same as you can store breastmilk, can't you??

My first labor started no less than ten minutes after "trying out" the breast pump to see if the freaky contraption would work. I was five days overdue and likely very close to being ready to go into labor on my own. Personally, I think it was a combination of using the breast pump and then afterwards allowing my husband to stimulate my nipples in an intimate way that really got labor started. I hope that isn't too much information. If you've ever breastfed before, chances are you know that milk let-down feeling that you get when you look at your newborn...I think the goal is to achieve that same feeling and that's difficult to do with just a breast pump.

I didn't have dangerously strong contractions. I had ridiculously weak contractions--just enough to keep me from sleeping, not enough to make me dilate. But then we didn't continue the nipple stimulation beyond the initial interaction. Perhaps things would have picked up sooner if we had.

[Synchro246]

Here's a link to the Cochrane collaboration review of Breast stimulation for labor http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab003392.html

The studies that concluded that uterine hyperstimulation can occur used 30 minute durations of breast stimulation using a pump. That's a lot IMO.

I personally think manual stimulation is better. One, you don't have to deal with storing the colostum and possibly wasting it and two I think you are likely to get better levels of oxytocin going. JMO.

I can't remember exactly but certain types of breast stimulation promote different hormones. . .I think pulling on the nipples promotes prolactin. . .I can't remember what's best at gettting oxytocin going. Was it rolling the nipples? Rubbing the breasts is more for oxytocin I think.

[aran]

Originally Posted by Synchro246

Here's a link to the Cochrane collaboration review of Breast stimulation for labor http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab003392.html

The studies that concluded that uterine hyperstimulation can occur used 30 minute durations of breast stimulation using a pump. That's a lot IMO.

I personally think manual stimulation is better. One, you don't have to deal with storing the colostum and possibly wasting it and two I think you are likely to get better levels of oxytocin going. JMO.

I can't remember exactly but certain types of breast stimulation promote different hormones. . .I think pulling on the nipples promotes prolactin. . .I can't remember what's best at gettting oxytocin going. Was it rolling the nipples? Rubbing the breasts is more for oxytocin I think.

Interesting. I don't know anything about this except my own experience, but when DS's latch gets bad and he bites a little, or when he pinches, BAM - that's when I get really strong contractions. So apprarently, for me, it has to get a little brutal with the pinchiness to get the oxytocin going.

[EFPookie]

The nurse suggested manual nip stim (rolling) during labor with my last one because the doctor was starting to talk Pit because I wasn't contracting as much as she wanted me to after breaking my water. I was already a 7-8, but hadn't had any heavy contractions and we thought breaking the water would bring them on like it did in my other labors. The nip stim did bring on contractions enough to keep the monitor happy/Pit away, but only while we were doing it and it didn't do anything for dilation. Every time we'd stop, they would stop so we only did it off and on for an hour (hubby was distracted by the TV - funny now, but I was peeved at the time). Anyway, a position change/potty break brought on actual transition.

I tried it as an induction method with #3 and didn't get anywhere either. Contractions, but do-nothing ones.