Induction by Peanut Butter Cups

I’ve created a bit of a sensation over at the Sonlight Forums. It all started innocently enough. Sarah was reaching the end of her pregnancy and she was just done. If you’ve ever given birth, you know exactly how she felt. Tired, big, achy, uncomfortable and big. She wanted that baby out. I casually mentioned that she could try an induction technique that worked for me: Reese Peanut Butter Cups.

What?!

When I was pregnant with Rebecca and due December 28, I was worried that I would have her before Christmas and she and I wouldn’t make it home to celebrate with the rest of the family. On the other hand, I was anxious for her to arrive. Someone on another online forum recommended eating peanut butter cups to bring on labor. I thought it was a bit odd, but I stored it in the back of my mind. I not-so-patiently waited for labor to begin and finally started eating mini peanut butter cups.

I ate a few handfuls at a time, over the course of a couple of days, with the last round being in the evening before going to bed. The next morning my water broke and Rebecca arrived on December 22, with just enough time for us both to come home on Christmas Eve.

A coincidence? Perhaps.

At the end of my pregnancy with Bip, I was feeling much like Sarah. It was August in Virginia, need I say more? This time I wasn’t dragging things out. I ate half a bag of miniature peanut butter cups in one sitting after the older children went to bed. I finished the bag sometime after lunch the next day, then took a nap.

Philip arrived home around 5:45. He asked me what I’d been doing and I told him that I finished up the peanut butter cups. He said, “uh-oh!” While we were talking, my water broke and Bip arrived an hour later.

Another coincidence?

I told all of this to Sarah, whose interest was peaked at my suggestion. She didn’t believe it any more than I did at first. But she tried the peanut butter cups and her baby arrived within 24 hours. Since then, she and I have been encouraging other end of pregnancy moms on the SL Forums to give it a try. I think we are up to 3 success stories now. As it turns out, at least two other moms have piped in with their positive experiences with peanut butter cup induced labor. We’ve got several others who say they’ll give it a try when they approach their due date.

Some skeptics on the board claim that all that chocolate clears out your digestive tract, thus triggering labor. Personally, I didn’t have any ill effects, bowel or otherwise, from eating all those peanut butter cups. Either way, castor oil is often recommended to jump start labor, with the warning not to stray too far from the potty. All things considered, I’ll take the peanut butter cups, thank you.

From the anecdotal evidence on the SL Forums, it does seem like the peanut butter cup minis work best. You should try to eat as many as you can in one sitting. Like all “natural” induction methods this works best if you are close to full term anyway and are looking for a jump start.

So have you ever heard of the magic of peanut butter cups?

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