Nipple Stimulation to Induce Labor: What Dads Should Know

Week 40 comes and goes. The bag has been by the door for a month. Every phone call from her mom starts with “Anything yet?” Somewhere around now, one of you googles how to get things moving. Nipple stimulation comes up first, and unlike most of the list, it has actual research behind it.

Here’s what it does, when it’s safe and what your part is.

Does nipple stimulation work to induce labor?

It can help, if she’s full term and her body is nearly ready. Stimulating the nipples releases oxytocin, the same hormone that drives contractions. Pitocin, the drug hospitals use to start or speed up labor, is a synthetic version of it.

A Cochrane review of six trials with 719 women found that after three days, fewer women who used breast stimulation were still waiting for labor: about 63 in 100, against 94 in 100 who did nothing. It didn’t work when the cervix wasn’t ready yet, and it didn’t change the C-section rate.

So: a real effect, not a magic button. If her body isn’t ready, nothing at home will change that.

Is nipple stimulation safe to induce labor?

Only with her care provider’s OK, and only in a low-risk pregnancy. The same Cochrane review says it shouldn’t be used in high-risk pregnancies until its safety has been properly studied. ACOG lists it as an induction method and says it should always happen under medical supervision.

The risk is contractions that come too strong or too close together, which can stress the baby. That’s why her provider needs to say yes first, and why some only allow it in the hospital.

Your job: bring it up at the next appointment. Questions worth asking:

• Is nipple stimulation okay for her pregnancy?
• At home, or only with you?
• How long, how often, and when should we stop?
• When do you want us to call or come in?

When can you try nipple stimulation: 37, 39 or 40 weeks?

Not before full term, and only when her provider agrees. A pregnancy counts as full term from 39 weeks. Babies born even a little earlier can have more problems than those born from 39 weeks on, so trying to speed things up at 37 or 38 weeks is a conversation for her doctor or midwife, not the internet.

It usually comes up around the due date, often in the same conversation as what happens if she’s induced.

How to do nipple stimulation to induce labor

Follow her provider’s instructions first. In general:

• Hands or a breast pump. ACOG says hospitals usually use a breast pump. Gently rolling or massaging the nipple and the darker skin around it, the way a baby would feed, works too.
• One side at a time, in short sessions with breaks in between.
• Gentle beats hard. Too much pressure makes her nipples sore and can even cause blisters. A warm, damp washcloth or letting warm shower water run over them is gentler and still does the job. If she’s getting sore, ease off. Labor is a marathon, and she’ll want those nipples later.
• Stop during a contraction, and pick up again after it passes.
• Stop completely once contractions get regular. From then on, labor is doing the work. Start timing.

Stop and call her provider if contractions come very close together, more than about five in ten minutes, if one lasts unusually long, if she bleeds, if her water breaks or if the baby moves less than usual.

How long does nipple stimulation take to induce labor?

There’s no set time. Some women feel contractions within an hour, others try for days and nothing happens. In the Cochrane trials, the difference showed up within three days. In a Japanese study, first-time moms did an hour a day for three days.

If nothing happens, it doesn’t mean she did it wrong. It usually means her body isn’t ready yet.

How can my husband help induce labor?

Mostly by making it easy for her. You won’t start labor single-handedly, but you can:

• Set the scene. Oxytocin likes calm. Dim lights, phone on silent, something on the TV she actually wants to watch.
• Help, if she wants you to. Some couples make it a team effort. Her call.
• Time the contractions. Our free contraction timer does the math for you.
• Keep the rest of the to-do list off her plate. Bag packed, car fueled, the route to the hospital driven once.

Other ways to induce labor at home: what actually works

Not much, honestly. Nipple stimulation has the strongest evidence of the home methods. The rest:

• Sex: a Cochrane review found too little evidence to say whether it works. Check with her provider that it’s fine for her pregnancy, especially once her water has broken.
• Walking: no strong evidence it starts labor, but it’s good for her and passes the time.
• Spicy food: no evidence. Plenty of heartburn.
• Castor oil: skip it. In the Cochrane review, every woman who took it felt nauseous, and there’s no proof it works.

Check anything with her provider first, including teas and supplements.

When to go to the hospital

When her contractions follow her provider’s rule, often the 5-1-1 rule: every 5 minutes, lasting 1 minute, for 1 hour. Go straight in, without waiting for 5-1-1, if her water breaks, she’s bleeding, the baby moves less or something feels wrong.

Our guide on how to know if you’re in labor covers the signs, and our free labor cheat sheet puts them on one page. Then grab the bag. You’ve been staring at it for weeks.

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General information, not medical advice. Don’t try any induction method without her care provider’s OK, especially in a high-risk pregnancy.

Sources: Cochrane: Breast stimulation for cervical ripening and induction of labour, ACOG: 8 Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before Labor Induction, Takahata et al., BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2019, March of Dimes: What is full term?, Cochrane: Sexual intercourse for induction, Cochrane: Castor oil for induction, Southern Health Manitoba: Nipple stimulation procedure.