Bad news dads! Sex during late pregnancy does not induce labour
Research refutes belief that having sex helps bring on birth
It has long been a favoured method of naturally inducing labour (especially amongst dads!), but according to new research having sex in the later stages of pregnancy has no bearing on the timing of a baby’s birth.
The Malaysian study looked at 1,100 heavily pregnant participants, recording how frequently they had intercourse, the duration of their pregnancy and whether they needed any medical intervention to bring on labour.
The women, who were between 35-38 weeks pregnant were split into two groups and given differing advice on whether sex during pregnancy can help jump start birth without the need for an induction.
Although the women who were advised to have sex frequently did so more than those who weren’t, there was only a nominal difference in the rates of induced labour between the groups.
In fact, those who had frequent intercourse recommended to them actually had a marginally higher percentage of induced labour at 22% compared to 20.8% for those who had sex less often, a difference doctors have agreed is likely to be down to chance.
Dr. Tan Peng Chiong, obstetrics and gynaecology professor at the University of Malaya, said of the findings, "We are a little disappointed that we did not find an association.
"It would have been nice for couples to have something safe, effective and perhaps even fun that they could use themselves to help go into labour a little earlier if (they) wanted."
We do hate to be the bearers of bad news, but never mind, even if there is no basis to this old wives’ tale at least the study has proven there is no harm in trying!
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