There is a widespread belief that sex during the later stages of pregnancy can jumpstart labour, but that doesn’t appear to be so – at least according to a study from Malaysia.
The researchers, whose work appeared in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, found that there were no differences in the timing of delivery between women who had sex near term and those who abstained.
“We are a little disappointed,” said Tan Peng Chiong, an obstetrics and gynaecology professor at the University of Malaya and one of the authors of the study.
“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.”
Tan said that many women believed intercourse could induce labour, and scientists had proposed plausible biological explanations for why it might help.
For one, semen contains a hormonelike substance called prostaglandin, which is used in synthetic form to induce labour. Breast stimulation is also thought to hasten labour and orgasm can trigger uterine contractions.
“Labour induction for prolonged pregnancy is common and many women are also tempted for a variety of personal reasons to trigger labour in the very later stages of pregnancy,” Tan said.