Ok, so that’s a bit of a sensationalist headline isn’t it?! But when you’re pregnant you are constantly bombarded with these messages of ‘you MUST do this’ or ‘whatever you do, DON’T do that!’ which can feel somewhat overwhelming and scary - who do you listen to?
This is why our course is carefully created from accurate, evidence based information, accredited by the Royal College of Midwives. But enough of that - what about the pineapple?
So there are many old wives tales about what you should and shouldn’t eat in pregnancy, and pineapple is often one that comes up.
It’s usually cited as something you should eat to help you go into labour, when I ask my clients which methods they have heard of for naturally inducing labour, pineapple, curry and sex are always top of the list.
Pineapple is thought to contain an enzyme called bromelain, which is known to stimulate the prostaglandins in the body which in turn soften the cervix. It is difficult to find any hard evidence on this, but it is widely believed that the bromelain is contained in the core of the pineapple, which needs to be fresh as the bromelain is lost in the canning process.
It is also widely believed that the levels of bromelain are low, meaning that you would need to eat approximately 7 fresh pineapple cores in order for it to work its magic!
So, it’s not looking great for pineapple to be a natural induction tool. However, what we ALSO know, is that in the last trimester of pregnancy, the bowel slows down a lot due to those pesky hormones - this can often lead to constipation and the awful haemorrhoids (piles) and so in fact eating lots of fresh fruit is really helpful for that.
In conclusion, if you really feel like eating 7 fresh pineapple cores there may just be a chance that it might soften your cervix a little, but it’s not going to do enough to warrant the awful indigestion and diarrhoea that will be involved in the process!
There are lots of other natural methods that we can use to safely help bring on labour, they are discussed in the Calm Births book here, or discussed on a course with any of our teachers.