The Midwives’ Brew: A Natural Way To Induce Labor You’ve Probably Never Heard Of…
This article may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more about affiliate links.
If you're past your due date and Googling ways to get this baby OUT, you've probably come across the Midwives' Brew. It's a homemade drink made from apricot juice, lemon verbena tea, castor oil and almond butter, and people drink it at the end of pregnancy to try to get labor going. You'll also see it called the "German labor cocktail," the "midwife cocktail" or "mother's brew."
Before I give you the recipe, two non-negotiables. Don't try the Midwives' Brew until you're past your due date, and talk to your provider before you try it at all. The active ingredient is castor oil, which is a VERY strong laxative, and your provider is the one who actually knows your pregnancy and can tell you whether this is reasonable for you.
What is the Midwives' Brew?
I first heard about it in a Facebook group of labor and delivery nurses from all over the world (thousands of them, which is a LOT of opinions in one place). Someone posted it for discussion and I was immediately, deeply curious. It's often called the German labor cocktail because versions of it have been used in Europe, especially Germany. At least one German university hospital has even used a castor oil cocktail under medical supervision as a way to start labor.
So it sounds cozy and herbal. It is not. The juice, tea and almond butter are mostly there to help the castor oil go down, and the castor oil is doing the actual work. Keep that in mind when we get to whether it works and whether it's safe.
The Midwives' Brew recipe
Ingredients
10 oz apricot juice
8 oz lemon verbena tea, brewed strong
2 tablespoons castor oil
2 tablespoons almond butter
You'll find versions online that call for more castor oil. More is not better here. A bigger dose mostly just means a more miserable stomach, so stick with the amount your provider is okay with.
How to make it
Brew the lemon verbena tea strong by letting the tea bag steep for at least 10 minutes.
Add the tea, apricot juice, castor oil and almond butter to a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour it into a glass and drink the whole thing on an empty stomach.
A lot of people say it goes down easier at room temperature or slightly warm. If the only way you can get it down is over ice, that's fine too.
Fair warning: it's gross. Like, really gross. When I was reading through birth stories from people who tried it, a LOT of them threw it up shortly after drinking it or couldn't finish it at all.
Substitutions and allergies
If you have a tree nut allergy, skip this one. Almond butter is part of the recipe, and once you start swapping in other nut or seed butters you're making a different drink that nobody has really looked at.
People also ask about making the Midwives' Brew without castor oil. You can absolutely blend juice, tea and almond butter together…but without the castor oil, you've just made a smoothie. If you can't find lemon verbena tea, check with your provider before using a different herbal tea. Lemon verbena hasn't been well studied in pregnancy, and neither have a lot of herbal teas.
How is it supposed to work?
Castor oil is a stimulant laxative, which means it makes your intestines contract and move things along (quickly). Its main component, ricinoleic acid, acts on prostaglandin receptors in the muscle of the intestines, and lab research in mice found it acts on the same receptors in the uterus. Prostaglandins are involved in softening the cervix and getting contractions going, which is the main theory behind why castor oil might nudge labor along. The cramping and bowel activity may also irritate the uterus, which sits right next door to your intestines.
The almond butter is the part that first caught my attention. The usual explanation is that it's thick and sticky, so it helps the castor oil stay in your system longer instead of running straight through you. That's the reasoning you'll see repeated everywhere, but nobody has actually tested it. It might also just make the oil easier to swallow (which, if you've ever tasted castor oil, is not nothing).
Does the Midwives' Brew actually work?
You'll see some pretty impressive success rates floating around online. I'll admit I once shared an "85% success rate" myself, based on the birth stories I'd read. But birth stories aren't data. People whose labor started a few hours later are WAY more likely to post about it, and plenty of them were probably about to go into labor anyway.
There isn't much research on the brew itself. Most of the studies are on castor oil:
A 2013 Cochrane review found there wasn't enough good-quality research to say whether castor oil starts labor. It did find that every single woman in those trials who took castor oil by mouth felt nauseous.
A small 2018 randomized trial gave castor oil to women past their due dates. It helped labor start in women who had given birth before, but didn't make a difference for first-time moms.
A 2024 study from a German hospital looked at women who had given birth before and were given a castor oil cocktail under supervision. About three out of four went into labor without needing another induction method. That study looked back at past records instead of randomly assigning women to groups, and the authors say more research is needed.
So my honest answer is that it might help some people, especially if this isn't your first baby. But the evidence is thin, and a lot of it comes from hospitals where mom and baby were being monitored, not from someone's kitchen. If you want to go deeper on what the research says about natural induction methods in general, I talked through it with Dr. Rebecca Dekker from Evidence Based Birth in this podcast episode.
How long does it take to work?
The studies tracked whether labor started within the first 24 to 48 hours. In the German hospital study, if labor hadn't started within about 12 hours, they moved on to standard induction methods. And in the birth stories I read, the people who did go into labor usually did within about a day. If nothing happens, don't just drink another round on your own. Call your provider and talk about what's next.
Is the Midwives' Brew safe?
It depends on you and your pregnancy, which is exactly why your provider needs to be part of this decision. Castor oil has a bad reputation as a labor induction method, and it kind of earned it. It can cause intense nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, sometimes to the point that you get dehydrated. During my years working in labor and delivery, dehydration was a common culprit behind irritable contractions that weren't actually labor. And showing up to labor dehydrated and wiped out isn't the goal either.
Who shouldn't try it
Anyone who isn't past their due date yet. That includes 37 and 38 weeks. Babies born at 37 and 38 weeks are considered early term (full term is 39 and 40 weeks), and either way, that's not the time to try to force labor at home.
Anyone whose provider hasn't okayed it.
Anyone with a high-risk pregnancy or a medical condition that needs closer monitoring.
Anyone who has had a previous C-section or other uterine surgery, unless you've specifically talked about it with your provider.
Anyone whose baby isn't head down.
Anyone with a tree nut allergy.
Anyone already dealing with vomiting, diarrhea or dehydration.
Side effects to expect
Plan on nausea, and probably vomiting, cramping and diarrhea. Stay close to a bathroom (like, VERY close) and keep sipping water or an electrolyte drink so you don't get dehydrated.
When to call your provider
Call your provider or head to labor and delivery if:
you can't keep fluids down, or you have signs of dehydration like dizziness or barely peeing
your water breaks, especially if the fluid is green or brown
you have vaginal bleeding, or severe pain that doesn't let up
baby is moving less than usual
your contractions match what your provider told you to call about
My honest take
I had my son 4 days past my due date, and before he showed up I tried every natural induction method in the book. I was DESPERATE, and I'm guessing a lot of you reading this are too. Being overdue is a special kind of waiting. There's a 6 to 10 pound human living inside you with zero interest in sharing their plans, and all you can do is wait and wonder.
That's exactly why the Midwives' Brew caught my eye. I was so curious that I had a mom named Sami on my podcast to talk about trying it with her son, and you can hear how it went in her birth story episode. But I'll be straight with you: I don't recommend castor oil as a labor induction method. Too often it just leaves people miserable, vomiting and stuck in the bathroom for days. If you're past your due date, your provider is on board, and you go in knowing it might not work and will probably be unpleasant, it's an option some people choose. It's not a shortcut, though, and it's definitely not something to try on your own without a plan.
If you're past your due date and nothing's happening
Going past your due date is really common, especially with a first baby, but that doesn't make the waiting any less annoying. Talk with your provider about how they'll keep an eye on you and baby from here, and when they'd recommend a medical induction. Many providers start extra monitoring and talk about induction around 41 weeks, and induction is generally recommended once you reach 42 weeks. Having an actual plan can take some of the pressure off trying every trick on the internet.
It's also a good time to make sure you feel ready for labor itself, however it ends up starting. My free mini birth class takes about 45 minutes and covers some of my favorite ways to cope with contractions. If you're still pulling things together for the big day, my Amazon list of labor comfort and essentials is a good place to start. One way or another, this baby IS coming out.
~Liesel
