Successful castor oil stories?

KMJames15 · April 2016

Anyone try it and feel they were successful?
I tried it at 4:30 Sunday evening. Contractions started at 10:30 pm and continued until i got to L&D at 4 am til about 6 pm. They started out 5-10 minutes apartment and then made it to 3-5 minutes apart. I couldn't sleep or shower through them so that what made me go. They had me walk an hour because they figured it was active labor and wanted to see if i would make any further progress. I didnt so I ended up getting sent home.
Going to try intercourse this afternoon and more walking. I have a OB appointment tomorrow and if i have progressed they will admin me!

I will say it got contractions going, i dilated from 2 cm to 3 cm and went form 50% effaced to 100%. They said they could feel the baby's head and the amniotic sack. Just wish my water would break...

The castor oil did not taste bad at all. I got a tasteless/odorless one from Walmart. Took 3 tablespoons mixed it with a shot or orange juice so it didnt feel all slimy going down and chased it with a 12 oz glass of orange juice and didnt taste or smell a thing!

(Negative comments? Please do not comment. Im not the one and would hate to get ugly on here!)

kimey1 · April 2016

P.216, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

"Indigenous oeoples all over the globe have used castor oil to induce labor for centuries. Taken orally, castor oil acts as a laxative, and the stimulation of the digestive tract often starts labor at term. (...) Nevertheless, castor oil seems to be quite safe. Nearly nine percent of eleven thousand pregnant women in a large birth center study used it to start labor, with no adverse outcomes.* At The Farm Midwifery Center, we recommend beginning a castor-oil induction at breakfast after a full night of sleep. One tablespoon is added to scrambled eggs or is mixed with fruit juice to make it more palatable for the woman. If necessary, she takes one more tablespoon one hour after ingesting the first."

* Rooks, J.P., Weatherby, N. L., and Ernst, E. K. M. The national birth center study. II: Intrapartum and immediate postpartum and neonatal care. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 1992; 7:301-30.

Hope it works for you! The other two natural ways mentioned were sex and breast stimulation (manual or oral for stimulting oxytocin release). Looking forward to hearing whether it worked!

pinottoparenthood · April 2016

Knottie2891384 said:

I hope you understand the dangers of castor oil. I personally would not take that risk. You can try other safer ways to try to induce but you body won't go into labor until it's ready.

Flame away, and I haven't read up on it, but I always hear people referring to the dangers of castor oil... what are those dangers, exactly? The only thing I have heard about is dehydration, which of course isn't good but can be avoided by drinking lots of water beforehand/maybe having some gatorade or pedialyte if you're really having lots of diarrhea.

I am just genuinely curious about why it's so dangerous. Isn't it a type of vegetable oil?
@knottie2891384 or anyone else who wants to answer!

kimey1 · April 2016

Then again, epidurals and cytotec also come with their own risks. Whether natural or artificial help, I think we just have to pick and choose for ourselves.

CourtJack · April 2016

Lurking from June 16

This is my third pregnancy. I've taken castor oil twice before. My first, I was 4 days over due. My second, I was 10 days over due. Both times my water broke later that day. I didn't experience any intense side effects. This, like all natural labour induction methods, is not a guarantee, but according to a few studies, it is more successful than other methods.

There are no studies that confirm a causal link between castor oil and baby passing meconium. Passing meconium is something that can occur when women go past their due dates - although it's not common.

Do not take it before 40 weeks. There is no point. And even after 40 weeks - it should be a last resort. With my first, I was simply an impatient FTM and I could've waited longer - in retrospect. With my second I wanted a vbac and was scheduled to be induced in a few days (I was approaching 42 weeks) and so it was a last ditch effort to get my vbac. It worked.

The side effects are a real risk that you have to be willing to tolerate. Contractions can be more intense, combined with the (possible) diarrhea and nausea, taking castor oil does have the potential to make your birthing experience less enjoyable.

Taking it before your due date is virtually pointless. Your body has to be ready to go into labour or it won't work.

I won't take it this time unless it's another last resort situation.

rebelone · April 2016

KMJames15 said:

Anyone try it and feel they were successful?
I tried it at 4:30 Sunday evening. Contractions started at 10:30 pm and continued until i got to L&D at 4 am til about 6 pm. They started out 5-10 minutes apartment and then made it to 3-5 minutes apart. I couldn't sleep or shower through them so that what made me go. They had me walk an hour because they figured it was active labor and wanted to see if i would make any further progress. I didnt so I ended up getting sent home.
Going to try intercourse this afternoon and more walking. I have a OB appointment tomorrow and if i have progressed they will admin me!

I will say it got contractions going, i dilated from 2 cm to 3 cm and went form 50% effaced to 100%. They said they could feel the baby's head and the amniotic sack. Just wish my water would break...

The castor oil did not taste bad at all. I got a tasteless/odorless one from Walmart. Took 3 tablespoons mixed it with a shot or orange juice so it didnt feel all slimy going down and chased it with a 12 oz glass of orange juice and didnt taste or smell a thing!

(Negative comments? Please do not comment. Im not the one and would hate to get ugly on here!)

....no, just no. And a person can comment however they want.

wildtot · April 2016

I hope you understand the dangers of castor oil. I personally would not take that risk. You can try other safer ways to try to induce but you body won't go into labor until it's ready.

rebelone · April 2016

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/5g/8bhypk7qwm6b.gif

wildtot · April 2016

The risks are dehydration, nausea, diarrhea for the mom as you know but the risk to the baby is that passes through the placenta and can cause them to pass their own stool (meconim) before they are born which can cause complications.

wildtot · April 2016

Yes to each their own. But...

OP, if you are considering trying this again I would like to encourage the following:

1. Do your own research on this. Understand the risks to you and your baby. Look at both good AND bad outcomes. Don't keep it one sided.

2. This topic has been constantly been discussed (and flamed) in the third tri board. Might want to check that out too.

3. Check with your OB on this first.

4. Why not try other safer natural ways of inducing first like sex, bouncing on a ball, walking, swimming, dancing, acupuncture, acupressure, spicy food (if you can tolerate), etc. IMO all of these sound more pleasant than nausea, diarrhea, and dehydration.

5. Lastly your body will do its thing when it's ready. None of these are guaranteed. Trust me I'm at the "get out of me" point too but I would rather last a few more days uncomfortable than risk anything going wrong with my baby because of this.

knitknit · April 2016

Have heard this recommended by doulas, but I have always been told that this is not something that should ever be attempted without supervision by a midwife or a doctor. Yes, it's in Ina May, but your birthing team absolutely needs to know what you're getting up to and why you might be dehydrated, nauseous, etc.

KMJames15 · April 2016

**Removed for TOU violation**

cmjenkies · April 2016

Any article cited from 1992 should not necessarily be considered a reliable source, as it is incredibly outdated, if that was the aim of that.

Also, you should know better than to try and dictate a specific response on an open Internet forum anyway, and telling people to get out of here because you don't like their responses (which were in the interest of your/LO safety) is rude, and so are you. Besides, the idea of possibly voluntarily giving yourself diarrhea in the hopes of jump starting labor is seriously gross.

Double also @NOLA520, I love you.

knitknit · April 2016

**Removed for TOU violation**

KMJames15 · April 2016

LMAO i cant help but laugh. Yall are funny. Like forreal...

Anything else you want to say?

Maybe it will make you feel better!

RoseShadow873 · April 2016

What is this? First tri again?

AGK2015 · April 2016

Kind of wondering what you hoped to get from posting this thread the way you did. I know you're a relatively regular poster, so it probably didn't come as a huge shock that people weren't strongly in favor of the idea of using castor oil to induce labor. I'm 100% sure you knew that, if you posted that you were planning to do something that sounded like it could hurt either your baby or yourself, that those same people would speak up (because, snarky as we all may be, I think the folks here pretty universally want the best possible outcomes for each other and our respective babies). And I'd be really surprised if you weren't aware that threatening drama if people posted things you didn't want to hear would, itself, cause some drama.

So... what exactly were you going for?

BumpAdmin · April 2016

This thread has been closed to new posts as a result of the shift in topic. To find threads regarding (this topic), we encourage you to use the search function to post to an active thread or start a new discussion.

Please note that we remove posts that do not follow our guidelines and will issue warnings to users who violate the Terms of Use.

To review our Community guidelines, please visit The Bump Guidelines pinned at the top of this board. Thank you.

Want a personalized experience?

Successful castor oil stories?

Best Answers

Re: Successful castor oil stories?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards