If you have reached the post dates of your pregnancy, and have been visiting your doctor who confirmed that your baby could be born "any day now" but that, unfortunately, you are not currently in labor, you are probably interested in natural ways to get your labor started.

However, you should not blindly follow advice from anyone and everyone who is willing to give it.

One of the common methods to induce labor at home is taking herbal tablets or tinctures, such as Blue or Black Cohosh. People, who have heard, somewhere, that these medicinal herbs can be used for inducing labor naturally, quite commonly recommend these herbs. Unfortunately, many of these well wishing persons are not familiar with the cautions of medicinal herbs. We easily tend to think that taking natural herbs and plants could not possibly hurt us. However, think again, where do many of our medicines come from? Plants! Although many of these medicines are now produced synthetically, the chemical formulas are from the medicinal herbs.

Before considering using Black Cohosh for inducing your labor, be aware that it is listed as an herb that promotes bleeding. Midwives and doctors have seen several women bleed severely after the pregnant mother had induced her labor with this herb. Also, if a cesarean section is required, the need for blood transfusion from excessive blood loss becomes more likely. Note, also, that if you are anemic, you should not take Cohosh as it can worsen your condition. As a bottom line, if you are going to use any herbs to induce your labor naturally, use them cautiously and under supervision of an experienced herbalist.

Safer at-home methods to induce labor include nipple stimulation, which helps aid the body in releasing its own natural oxytocin. Another is walking, which keeps you upright and exerts downward pressure on the cervix, helping you toward cervical effacement and dilation. In addition, do not forget about simple relaxation! Anxiety increases the level of stress hormones that may delay your labor.

The above-mentioned methods to induce labor are among the most well-known, regardless - or maybe because – of their "old wives' tales" reputation. Acupressure, on the other hand, has been scientifically proven to be extremely helpful in inducing labor naturally when induction of labor is necessary. Due to an excellent success rate, safety and convenience of using maternity acupressure, it is quickly spreading among the labor care professionals. Maternity acupressure involves the application of pressure onto specific, sensitive points along the human body. Acupressure uses fingers and thumbs, as opposed to needles in acupuncture, to stimulate specific acupressure points.

Maternity Acupressure method is as simple as locating sensitive spots on your skin and stimulating them by merely pressing the points with your thumb. Thus you can safely use this method at home. Indeed, many pregnancy and labor care professionals recommend pregnant mothers to use Maternity Acupressure in order to prepare their body for labor, help their cervix to dilate, and finally to encourage their labor to start naturally. It is recommended that pregnant mothers treat acupressure points that help to start labor naturally, in order to avoid medical labor induction and ensuring childbirth with minimum amount of medical interventions.