If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how annoying it gets toward the end. Your ankles are swollen, you have to use the bathroom all the time, and you just want the baby out.
Believe it or not, if you or someone you know is going through this right now, there’s a way to speed up the process and induce labor– and it involves what you eat.
These 5 foods have been proven to induce labor, so if you want that baby to come out already, give one of these a try.
Pineapple
Pineapple contains bromelaine, an enzyme that softens the cervix. It’s not 100% proven that pineapple speeds up labor, but a ton of women swear by it.
Dates
A study done in 2017 by the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women who ate a certain number of dates every day before their due date were more dilated at the hospital.
They also think dates have an oxytocin-like effect, which speeds up contractions!
Spicy Food
Spices help the body release a hormone called prostaglandin, which speeds up contractions. No one really knows why, but it works!
Black Licorice
Yup, the most disgusting Halloween candy in the world actually has a benefit. It has a very hard to pronounce chemical called glycyrrhizin that messes with your hormones.
The Finnish people that conducted the study proving this to be beneficial aren’t sure which hormone it interacts with– either prostaglandin or cortisol– but regardless, it works!
Raspberry Leaf Tea
This stuff does everything. For hundreds of years, raspberry leaf tea has been used for its healing properties and to speed up labor.
It doesn’t make a big dent– it only speeds it up by about 10 minutes, but that’s 10 minutes you aren’t in pain!
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Do you know any labor inducing tricks?