Eh, no thanks.
Many women avoid coffee altogether during pregnancy but a new ‘hack’ that’s popped up online is actually encouraging expectant mothers to get back on the java.
Forgo the raspberry leaf tea, spicy curry and sex – women are being told to use coffee to help induce labour.
They’re not supposed to drink it, though. Instead, according to this hack, they should squat over it.
Known as the ‘coffee potty‘ hack, it’s thought that the caffeine wafting up the vagina helps to stimulate contractions and the steam loosens the mucus plug.
Yep. It sounds bonkers enough to be something Gwenyth Paltrow came up with but then mamas-to-be do get desperate trying to move baby along once they hit the 40 week mark.
For the record, we don’t recommend that anyone tries it themselves but just in case you were curious, here’s how it’s done.
You simply make coffee using one to two cups of ground beans, place it in a mixing bowl and squat over it.
It’s also recommended that anyone doing this puts a towel over their knees to trap the steam and keep it flowing toward their hoo-ha.
Anyone who can squat in any real way at 40 weeks pregnant deserves a medal but that’s probably all you’ll get – there’s no proof that the coffee potty method induces labour and it could actually be hazardous.
“Using boiling water, especially with coffee grounds, next to your body – and for that matter, an especially sensitive part of your body – can lead to serious burns,” obstetrician Dr Amos Grunebaum told CafeMom.
“I can only tell women to be very careful when getting close to boiling and heated water.”
So there you go. Probably best not to try this at home.
Have any handy (and safe) labour-inducing tricks that worked for you? Let us know in the Facebook comments or on Twitter.
