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Pregnancy Podcast

Can Eating Dates Naturally Induce Labor and Shorten Duration?

Pregnancy Podcast

Vanessa Merten

Newborn, Parent, Homebirth, Vbac, Kids & Family, Doula, Firsttimemom, Midwife, Pregnancy, Doctor, Parenting, Pregnant, Vanessamerten, Physician, Csection, Prenatalcare, Breastfeeding, Naturalbirth, Nursing, Birthcenter, Family, Baby, Hospitalbirth, Health, Obgyn, Research, Trimester, Expecting, Labor, Mom, Diet, Dad, Birth

4.5948 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dates are the fruit of the date palm tree. While dates are high in sugar, they also contain nutrients like fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron, and vitamin B6. There are many claims about the health benefits of eating dates. Among the many claims is that dates can naturally induce labor and make labor shorter. Sounds pretty great, right? Thankfully, several studies are available to examine these claims. Learn about the research on eating dates and labor, the proposed mechanism of action, and the recommendations for including these in your pregnancy diet.


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Read the full article and resources that accompany this episode.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Merton.

0:10.0

Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast. In today's episode

0:16.0

we're going to discuss whether eating dates towards the end of your pregnancy

0:20.0

can actually shorten or make your labor easier.

0:24.0

You can find the full article and all of the links and resources that accompany this episode at

0:29.6

pregnancy podcast. one of those, which is whether or not eating dates can help naturally induce labor or

0:44.4

make your labor shorter or easier. As you're navigating all of the questions that are

0:49.6

going to come up during your pregnancy and as you're preparing for your baby, keep in mind there are pregnancy

0:55.1

podcast episodes that answer just about every question you could come up with.

1:00.1

A lot of those answers are going to be found in the back catalog that's only available to premium members.

1:06.7

Pregnancy Podcast premium members get access to the private feed,

1:10.9

which includes hundreds of episodes, which are not available on the free feed

1:15.0

that you're currently listening to.

1:17.0

You can try out pregnancy podcast premium for free for seven days at pregnancy podcast.com slash trial.

1:27.0

Dates are the fruit of the date palm tree.

1:29.6

These are a small fruit that have a pit in the middle of them. Dates are high in sugar, but they also have some other

1:36.1

nutritional content, like fiber, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, b6, and folate. Dates are sweet and delicious and you can eat them plain.

1:47.3

Sometimes you'll also see them stuffed with different things or wrapped in bacon.

1:52.3

So when I was doing the research for this episode I found all kinds

1:56.6

of claims about the amazing benefits of eating dates, claims from dates acting as an

2:01.7

aphrodisiac to preventing cancer. Now of course

2:05.8

I'm not going to be digging into every single one of these claims today I want to

...

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