Maternity units around the country are seeing more patients being induced when compared to even just 10-years ago – but how exactly does the process work?

On this week’s Making Babies segment, Master of the National Maternity Hospital Professor Shane Higgins explained why the number of women being induced during labour has increased, and what it means for an expecting mother.

“There was a guideline published by the Institute of Obstetricians in 2023, which recommended that all women who get to a week past their due date are offered induction of labour,” he told Lunchtime Live.

“That doesn’t mean to say they have to take it, but they should be offered it as part of the care package.

“We’re seeing older women, we’re seeing women who’ve come through IVF programmes, we're seeing women with more comorbidities.

"So, that’s lent itself to more and more patients being induced.”

Acupressure pain relief during labour. Montgomery Martin / Alamy. 21 August 2013

Prof Higgins explained that there are three stages to inducing labour, beginning with the ripening of the cervix.

“You ripen the cervix, you break the waters and then you start the patient on oxytocin, which builds the contractions over a period of hours,” he said.

“That whole process can take two, three, four days to get you to the point of being in labour, so it is a difficult process for patients to go through.”

Inducing labour

According to Prof Higgins, the reason patients are induced is because of “a generally held belief” that the placenta has a “finite lifespan”.

“It’ll start to malfunction at a certain point in time,” he said.

“And you’re trying to make sure that the patient is induced and the baby is born whilst the placenta is still fully functional.

“The National Maternity Hospital would probably still allow patients to go two weeks past their due date - with careful monitoring - to ensure the placenta is working well.

“We do that by way of measuring the fluid around the baby, looking at the heart rate trace.”

Doctor checking baby heart rate of pregnant woman. Image: Ievgen Chabanov / Alamy. 12 September 2019

However, Prof Higgins said that “if the baby’s well and happy”, you can “go beyond that term plus seven”.

He also said that there is another “generally well-held belief” that patients who are induced have a higher chance of intervention in their labour, such as a caesarean section.

“I would be cautious in saying that you’re not comparing apples with apples,” he said.

“Because within that group who are being induced, you have women with high blood pressure problems, women with big babies, women with small babies, and then you’ve got the diabetic patients, for example.

“So, it’s not quite comparing like with like.”

Prof Higgins said patients should also look into getting a sweep, which is where the cervix is stretched to try and encourage labour while avoiding "pharmacological intervention by way of induction".

Main image: Woman giving birth in hospital with medical team. Image: Andor Bujdoso / Alamy. 23 October 2019