We wait until the crop is ready before harvesting, we wait until the toddler is ready before toilet training, we wait until the cake is baked before removing it from the oven so why can we not wait until the baby is ready before giving birth to him! Think about how terrible you feel if your alarm goes off in the morning before you’ve had a good night sleep (ok so maybe that’s my sleep deprivation sneaking its way into this article but you get the picture!).

There are genuine medical reasons to induce labour but unfortunately sometimes it is not totally justified and creates more unnecessary stress for a mother and baby. An induced labour is often far more intense due to the absence of pre-labour or a “warm-up” and usually leads to more intervention and medicalisation throughout the whole birthing experience.

Reasons labour is induced

• The baby is overdue – the term of a pregnancy is 37 to 42 weeks so left to its own devices a baby will normally arrive anywhere during this time. Once a baby has been in utero for close to 42 weeks the placenta begins to break down and loses its ability to nourish the baby. Most doctors or obstetricians won’t let their patients go more than 10 days over their EDD

• The mother has a condition such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes where the baby is deemed to be in danger if left to go to the EDD

• Your waters have broken without the onset of labour within 24 hours, this could be harmful because there's a possible risk of your baby developing an infection

• The baby could be in danger due to meconium in the amniotic fluid. Meconium is the black sticky poo the baby excretes within the first few days after birth

• Complications with a previous labour that are likely to be repeated

• The obstetrician is not available on the EDD – yes that’s right, induction can either be recommended by the Obstetrician themselves to the pregnant woman as an option, or in some cases the woman becomes very comfortable with or even attached to the obstetrician in such a way that the thought of having another person at their birth creates a reasonable level of anxiety. There is no medical reason for this and physical and emotional preparation for labour throughout pregnancy can help avoid this situation