Nipple stimulation DOES work!!!

[ccasanova]

Oh my gosh, does it ever work!!! I probably should not have done what I let DH do last night because I am only 39 weeks. Had I been 40+ weeks, then it would have been more warrented, but DH really wants baby to be here already so that he can be off work for 3 weeks. And do meet baby too of course! Anyways, I let him do nipple stimulation (both) and within minutes I was contracting. And not weeny ones either. They were tough, and they were long!!! From even the first ones they were 2 minutes + long. They started coming on about every 10 minutes, which didn't even feel like there was that much time in between them because they were so long. I honestly thought they were never going to end! My back was super achy, my belly super achy, super hard, my thighs were achy, and after a while I was even starting to shake a bit. It was like I went straight to having transition contractions! Not as intense as transition contractions though I'm sure, just the length of them and the shakyness. So after about half an hour to an hour of this, I said "No more." Not only was I getting scared they would stress out baby too much due to length, but I was so tired, I really wouldn't want to go into labor with contractions like those without a full nights rest.

Just wanted to share that I tried the nipple stimulation and that it definitely does work! Chances are he will want to try it again tonight, but I'm probably going to tell him to stay far far away from my nipples!!!

[tanyam926]

I wished that worked for me, but no go. My ds2 is still nursing and nothing happens.

Exciting though!

I don't know if I am allowed to ask, but I am curious as to exactly what your dh was doing as maybe it is totally different than what my ds2 does while nursing or my dh does just playing around KWIM?

[ccasanova]

I will answer your second question in a bit since I have to put the kids to bed and they are waiting but I did read in The Birth Partner that nipple stimulation would probably not work in a mama that is still nursing while pregnant because her body is so used to having her nipples stimulated by the nursing, that it will not have the effect of bringing on contractions. The oxitocin needed for contractions just isn't released anymore with nipple stimulation. There are other areas that can be stimulated though to try to bring about contractions. I'll answer that also later.

[funfunkyfantastic]

Hah, nipple stimulation has done zip for me. And I KNOW it made my uterus contract... i could feel it. But no contractions. It didn't even strengthen my BH contrax. And, i was using an electric breast pump. I used it 10 minutes on each side... and besides the pain at having my poor nipples pulled at... no contractions. None... whatsoever. Zip. Zilch. My body is just not ready for labor I guess. *sigh* Oh, and another note... DTD (on my own) works much better... but doesn't bring on contractions. lol. *shakes head*

[Kellie_MO4]

I don't know if I am allowed to ask, but I am curious as to exactly what your dh was doing

I would love to know, too, since my dh has tried a little, but nada... though I'm not really sure what *kind* of stimulation is called for?

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

It takes quite a bit of time till you can see the results of nipple stim. My ds is still nursing and after about 4-5 min of nursing i feel a major tightening of my uterus and my belly gets super hard as a rock. I'm so glad that it worked for you. I agree that when your body is ready it will respond to outside stimulus.

[ssolberg99]

Last night NS worked for me too. Contractions weren't super painful but I could def. feel them working a bit. BUT, when I went to bed (because I too didn't want to labor as tired as I was) they stopped. So, my question is...if they stopped, does it mean my body isn't quite ready yet? or just that I have to convince it (do NS) for a longer time? I am 40wks +2.

[ccasanova]

ok, I'm back now although it is morning. Got super tired last night super quick I don't know if the fact that I've had super numerous BH's this time around had something to do with the NS working so well. Maybe my body is always super ready to bring on a contraction. I do have to say though that once dh stopped, the contractions stopped too after about 15-20 minutes or so. Which in my mind was a good thing because of the lenght of them. I'm thinking that my body was not ready for true labor, so that is why they stopped. Hopefully because of the strength of them, I got a bit more of dialation from them (would really suck if I dealt with those pains and didn't get anything from them).

So as for what he did, I would say it was kind of like playing. Rolling in between the fingers, sucking on one and me rolling the other in between my fingers, and then this might be TMI, his other hand stimulating my clitoris. It didn't have to be rough, but I majorly respond to someone elses touch other than my own, so this may have had a lot to do with it. Had it just been me, or especially a breast pump, I don't think I would have had the same effect. The same way that a pump can't express the same amount of milk as a baby can, I would expect that it wouldn't stimulate the same way as a husband can.

[youngsoul]

Just did a little research on this out of curiosity...

Here is a good explanation of how to do it:
http://www.birthingnaturally.net/cn/...ue/nipple.html or
http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/...uce-labor.html

Interestingly, several sites caution women about nipple stimulation due to the intensity of contractions that can occur, which as a result may cause fetal heart rate slowing. See:
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,5329,00.html or
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/inducing-labor/PR00117

[ccasanova]

Originally Posted by youngsoul

Interestingly, several sites caution women about nipple stimulation due to the intensity of contractions that can occur, which as a result may cause fetal heart rate slowing. See:
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,5329,00.html or
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/inducing-labor/PR00117

I read about this in The Birth Partner. The book stated that some OB's will want to monitor the baby's heart rate for a bit, while the mother does nipple stimulation in the hospital. If the baby's heartrate does ok, then she will get the go ahead to try it at home.

Interestingly, in Ina May's book, she states that nipple stimulation is quite safe, and she has never seen in her many years of experience, someone have too hard of contractions occurring with NS. Seems to be the same with all medical advice. Some say, "do it, it's safe", while others say, "don't do it, it's not safe"

[PassionateWriter]

my son has been engaged in some marathon nursing sessions lately and i can definitely feel contractions begin as soon as he starts nursing and they last as long as he is nursing. tehy are continuous. i have to get him to stop nursing lately b/c its just too much for me to deal w/.