Is it safe to take castor oil to induce labor at 37 weeks?
First, castor oil will do nothing but make you wish you were dead as you sit on the toilet with painful, cramping, explosive diarrhea. It can cause dehydration in both you AND the baby. Don’t do it. It’s not safe. Second… every baby is different. While some may well be ok then, not all are. The lungs are the last things to develop. If they’re not done, your baby WILL end up in the NICU hooked up to a breathing tube. The only way to determine if your baby’s lungs are ready is through amniocentesis. Talk to your doctor about medically inducing early, and if they don’t see that the benefit outweighs the risk, you just have to trust that.
