How to Make Your Water Break

Co-authored by Susannah Kerwin, ANP-BC, HNP

Last Updated: October 4, 2024 Fact Checked

Are you near or past your due date and want your water to break? If you are pregnant, there are several reasons you may want to encourage your water to break. Even if you’re nearing the end of your pregnancy and are ready to go into labor, it’s best to take extra precautions when considering lifestyle and medical methods to break your water. Always talk to your obstetrician, midwife, or a trusted medical professional before going through with any methods to encourage your water to break. If you get the okay, consult this article—with expert advice from board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Jennifer Butt and board-certified nurse practitioner Susannah Kerwin—for different lifestyle changes or medical procedures you can ask about to help your water break!^{[1]
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Best Position to Encourage Your Water to Break

Sit on an exercise ball and gently bounce. Keep your legs apart and move your body up and down to help your pelvic floor contract and relax. Alternatively, perform a supported squat by positioning your back against a wall with your legs apart, then bending your knees and lowering your body as far as it is comfortable.

1

See your obstetrician or midwife.

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Ask them if they recommend natural methods for breaking your water. It's important that you only try these approaches with the okay of your medical professional. Some of these methods could cause your labor to start rapidly, which could lead to complications if you haven't consulted your doctor first.^{[2]
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- Ask your doctor if lifestyle methods or medical techniques are best for your pregnancy.
- Avoid trying to break your water or induce labor before 39 weeks of pregnancy.
- Dr. Butt says if this is your second or third pregnancy, and labor for those first two was fast, be sure you're within a reasonable distance to your OB.^{[3]
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  Jennifer Butt, MD
  Board Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist
  
  Expert Interview. 13 March 2020.}

2

Go for a walk.

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Walking encourages your baby to move down to your pelvis. Kerwin says this puts pressure on your pelvis, which can get your cervix ready for labor and help your water break.^{[4]
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Susannah Kerwin, ANP-BC, HNP
Nurse Practitioner

Expert Interview. 28 August 2020.} If you’ve already experienced contractions, walking can also help progress labor.^{[5]
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- Take an easy walk of no more than 30 minutes at a time to stimulate the baby to move. Remember not to strain or stress yourself when walking, even if you are excited to get labor started.
- Wear supportive shoes to cushion your feet and legs from unnecessary strain. Stick to flat surfaces if you can.

3

Do other exercises.

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Try deep breathing, sitting on an exercise ball, or supported squats. For exercises to encourage your water to break, your cervix needs to be soft and ready to be dilated on its own. In other words, your body has to already be preparing for labor for these methods to work. If your cervix and body are ready, low-impact exercises can encourage your water to break and start up contractions.^{[6]
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- Try deep breathing exercises. Hold your breath and exhale slowly through your mouth, imagining the baby being pushed down into your pelvis. Repeat until you feel your pelvic floor muscles relax.
- Sit on an exercise ball and gently bounce. As you sit, keep your legs apart and move your body up and down on the ball. This can help your pelvic floor contract and relax.
- Supported squats stretch the pelvic floor, helping your baby move down towards your pelvis. Position your back against the wall and keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees and lower your body as far as is comfortable. Exhale as you lower your body and inhale as you stand up again.^{[7]
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- Once you start having contractions, Dr. Butt says your doctor will coach you through specific breathing techniques that might involve holding your breath for a few seconds as you push.^{[8]
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  Jennifer Butt, MD
  Board Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist
  
  Expert Interview. 13 March 2020.}

4

Have sex.

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If you’re comfortable, having sex at 39 to 40 weeks can be a great help. Sex stimulates the hormone oxytocin, which also causes contractions. An orgasm can also encourage your uterus to contract if your body is already ready to go into labor on its own. Kerwin says to consider deeply penetrating positions such as cowgirl or from behind.^{[9]
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Susannah Kerwin, ANP-BC, HNP
Nurse Practitioner

Expert Interview. 28 August 2020.} These may better stimulate your cervix and get the prostaglandins from sperm to induce labor.^{[10]
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- Avoid having sex once your water is broken. This can introduce harmful bacteria into the birth canal.^{[11]
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5

Massage your nipples.

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Use nipple stimulation to encourage or further progress your labor. Rub your nipples and areola between your forefinger and thumb, which mimics how a baby nurses. Ask your partner for help if that is more comfortable for you. This can also make your water break because it releases oxytocin, which causes your uterus to contract.^{[12]
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Cleveland Clinic
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Go to source} Stimulate each nipple for 15 minutes increments for a total of 1 hour per day.^{[13]
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- It may require significant nipple stimulation to start labor.

6

Eat foods that promote labor.

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There's little medical evidence, but certain foods may kickstart labor. For instance, spicy foods, like hot peppers and chilis, may irritate your intestines. This can potentially stimulate contractions, but it can also lead to heartburn and diarrhea. If you have a particularly sensitive stomach, you may want to hold off on trying these methods! Some other foods that may make your water break include:^{[14]
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- Eggplant
- Balsamic vinegar
- Licorice
- Basil
- Oregano

7

Try castor oil.

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Castor oil stimulates the intestines, which may irritate the uterus. This helps prompt contractions and can cause your water to break. Talk to your doctor about dosing if you want to try castor oil. Castor oil can potentially cause stomach upset and diarrhea. If you are prone to stomach issues, your doctor may advise against this method.^{[15]
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- To avoid complications, take castor oil in the morning. This helps you monitor your symptoms, drink water throughout the day to stay hydrated, and avoid losing sleep due to frequent trips to the bathroom at night.^{[16]
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- Castor oil can also cause dehydration. When using this method, remember to stay hydrated and drink plenty of H2O!

8

Try red raspberry leaf tea if you have your doctor's permission.

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This herbal tea might stimulate contractions. Those contractions, in turn, may cause your water to break. Just make a tea from the raspberry leaf and sip it near the end of your pregnancy. Aside from encouraging labor, there's some evidence that this tea might help strengthen your uterus and promote milk production. It might even help your labor be less painful.^{[17]
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- Because this tea can cause contractions, you probably shouldn't drink it during the first trimester.

9

Talk to a medical professional about breaking your water.

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Your doctor or midwife can medically break your water using certain procedures. If you've tried to break your water at home and it isn't working, you may need to talk to them about medical methods instead. These approaches can come with risks to you and your baby, though. Professionals may only go forward with the procedures in the following cases:^{[18]
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- You’re almost two weeks beyond your due date
- You have a uterine infection
- Your baby has stopped growing at the expected pace
- There isn’t enough amniotic fluid, also called Oligohydramnios.
- You have placental abruption where the placenta peels away from the inner wall of the uterus
- You have high blood pressure or diabetes

10

Ask your doctor about membrane stripping or sweeping.

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Your doctor may suggest this if you are near or past your due date. This is a simple in-office medical procedure where the doctor separates your amniotic sac from your uterine walls with their finger. This can also massage or stretch your cervix during this procedure to further promote your water breaking.^{[19]
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- Membrane stripping can be uncomfortable and can cause lingering cramps. It's also not as effective as other induction techniques.
- You should never attempt this at home. Only a trained medical doctor should perform membrane stripping using sterile tools and techniques.

11

Undergo an amniotomy.

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To perform this procedure, your doctor uses a special tool to break the amniotic sac. If you’re overdue, your cervix is dilated and thinned, or your labor slows once the baby has moved down your pelvis, your doctor or midwife may perform this method. Undergoing this procedure will break your water and may also induce labor.^{[20]
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- Dr. Butt recommends that you wear comfortable clothes to the hospital that are easy to take off. You'll be given a gown to wear for any procedures.^{[21]
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  Expert Source
  
  Jennifer Butt, MD
  Board Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist
  
  Expert Interview. 13 March 2020.}
- Allow your doctor to check you and your baby after the amniotomy to ensure the stress of the procedure hasn’t affected you.
- This procedure comes with risks, including infection, uterine rupture, and increased risk of cesarean birth.

Expert Q&A

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Question

Do doctors ever make mistakes in checking cervical dilation?

Jennifer Butt, MD
Board Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist
Jennifer Butt, MD, is a board certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist operating her private practice, Upper East Side OB/GYN, in New York City, New York. She is affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital. She earned a BA in Biological Studies from Rutgers University and an MD from Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She then completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Dr. Butt is board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a member of the American Medical Association.

Jennifer Butt, MD

Board Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist

Expert Answer

No, there can't really be a mistake. Checking the cervix for dilation is to really see how dilated your cervix is and to see perhaps where you are in the labor process. Doctors might not check the cervix if patients have certain conditions like a placenta previa where the placenta overlays the cervix, because that can cause bleeding. Other than that, checking dilation is textbook OB101!

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