N
nodito
Guest
In an effort to avoid unnecessary medical interventions during my pregnancy, I’ve been reading a lot about women’s experiences with natural birth. One suggestion that has come up a lot is to use nipple stimulation to induce labor as an alternative to drug induction methods like Pitocin or having a provider strip the membranes, etc. When a woman’s nipples are stimulated, it releases oxytocin which can cause contractions. The books I’ve read have recommended that a pregnant woman can do this by herself, or have a husband or midwife help, or use a breast pump.
My initial reaction to this idea was one of discomfort. But I’m not clear on whether it just makes me squeamish or if I’m reacting the way I am because it’s striking a moral chord. I understand what the Church teaches about the deliberate stimulation of genital organs for sexual pleasure as being gravely disordered, and this is why masturbation is wrong, even when the purpose is to obtain a sperm sample, for example. So on the one hand, I know stimulating breasts can bring sexual pleasure and that this has a place within the context of sexual intercourse. At the same time, breasts aren’t genital organs and they have as their primary purpose the feeding young children. The fact that nipple stimulation can cause contractions seems to be by design, because in the postpartum days, nursing an infant helps shrink the uterus back to it’s pre-pregnant size.
Given this, is it moral to engage in deliberate nipple stimulate outside of the context of intercourse to induce labor?
My initial reaction to this idea was one of discomfort. But I’m not clear on whether it just makes me squeamish or if I’m reacting the way I am because it’s striking a moral chord. I understand what the Church teaches about the deliberate stimulation of genital organs for sexual pleasure as being gravely disordered, and this is why masturbation is wrong, even when the purpose is to obtain a sperm sample, for example. So on the one hand, I know stimulating breasts can bring sexual pleasure and that this has a place within the context of sexual intercourse. At the same time, breasts aren’t genital organs and they have as their primary purpose the feeding young children. The fact that nipple stimulation can cause contractions seems to be by design, because in the postpartum days, nursing an infant helps shrink the uterus back to it’s pre-pregnant size.
Given this, is it moral to engage in deliberate nipple stimulate outside of the context of intercourse to induce labor?
I dont think it has anything to do with sin. In fact, much less than the drug options.
The prostaglandins they give in the hospital to induce labor has derivatives of pig semen. Semen can ripen the cervix; sex and female orgasm can cause contractions. Real raspberry leaf tea (not so much the kind you buy in bags from Yogi Tea or other brands) can cause contractions as well.
