Does castor oil start labour?
A. I really do not recommend taking castor oil to bring on labour. First, the side-effects are unpredictable and can be nasty, and second, it is unlikely to bring on labour. Castor oil is a laxative – a drug used to treat constipation (hard, irregular bowel motions). Castor oil is an old-fashioned remedy, now largely replaced by safer and more effective drugs. It is a medicine, taken by mouth. In theory, castor oil stimulates a bowel motion by irritating the lining of the small bowel. But its effect is very unpredictable. One person may find that a standard dose has no effect at all, whilst another may suffer many hours of cramps and diarrhoea. Although it is unlikely to cause direct harm to either you or your baby, diarrhoea may be severe enough to cause dehydration and prolonged dehydration may well disturb your baby. In the past, people thought that stimulating the bowels would also stimulate the cervix – because the two organs have some nerves in common. This misunderstanding arose
