Two years ago, in an entry that commented on various actions that can be carried out to advance labor, I commented that one of them is to make love, because semen contains prostaglandins, which are the hormones used to induce labor.
However, a recent study in Malaysia seems to show that this is not the case, that sexual intercourse does not advance childbirth, since no differences were found between the time of delivery of women who had sex near the end of pregnancy and those who did not. The study authors, by the way, said they were very disappointed with the results.
How did they do the study
The hypothesis said that it was likely to be demonstrated in the study that making love helped to accelerate the time of delivery, since the content of prostaglandins in the semen was explained, it was said that the stimulation of the breasts could also be effective and that Orgasm could cause uterine contractions. What happens is that at the time of doing the study I had to confirm the belief the results were different.
For the study they used a sample of 1,100 pregnant women aged 35 to 38 weeks who had not had sex in the previous six weeks. A group formed by about half of the women was urged to have frequent sexual intercourse as a means to securely deliver a child, while the other half was told that sex was safe during pregnancy but that the effect that could occur during childbirth was unknown.
The researchers followed the last days of pregnancy of women and observed that the numbers of induced deliveries in hospitals were very similar: 22% of those who had sex had induced births, while the percentage of induced deliveries in women who did not have sex was 20.8%, being a non-significant difference.
The authors conclusions
As I mentioned above, the authors were a bit disappointed with the results. In the words of Tan Peng Chiong, obstetrician and professor of gynecology at the University of Malaysia:
We are a bit disappointed. It would have been good for couples who had something safe, effective and maybe even fun that they could use to help get into labor a little earlier if they wanted to.
Despite this, they were glad to show that having sex during pregnancy is safe if the couple wants to do it. Many couples were deprived of it, precisely because they were told that they could have a premature birth if they did, but it seems that the birth is resistant to sex in the same way that pregnancy is also resistant to him. In other words: it is safe to have relationships during pregnancy and it is safe to have them also in the final phase, because just as keeping them at any time does not cause an abortion, keeping them at the end does not cause childbirth.
My conclusion
I know the study says there is no difference, but I resist a little because the prostaglandins used to induce labor come from the semen of pigs. I cannot believe that the semen of pigs cause a childbirth pregnancy in a woman and that human semen, which also contains prostaglandins, does not.
Perhaps this is one of those cases in which new studies show otherwise. I don't know, what do you think of it?
