We’re very excited to share a special guest post with you today! This article was written by a good friend of ours who works as a midwife and has a great deal of experience in the areas of women’s health and birth preparation.
In this post, she explores the question of whether dates can actually help prepare the body for birth. With her professional knowledge and practical experience, she brings a particularly valuable perspective to this topic.
If you would like to read more from her, be sure to check out her own website, where she shares her knowledge about pregnancy and holistic birth preparation and also offers courses 😊 ganzheitlichmama.ch
As a midwife, I take a look at what studies really say, how dates affect cervical ripening and the onset of labor, and whether they are allowed if you have gestational diabetes.
For thousands of years, dates have held a special status in the Arab and African world, especially around birth and pregnancy. What generations of mothers and midwives intuitively knew is now being researched by science and finally provides us with explanations.
Can dates really contribute to a shorter and smoother birth? Do their active compounds specifically prepare your body for birth? And what if you have gestational diabetes, are dates even allowed?
These are the questions I, Ursina, a midwife of 7 years with a specialization in natural birth and birth preparation, have explored.
Eating dates and giving birth faster? What the studies say
It is said that 6 to 7 dates per day starting about 4 weeks before the due date can lead to a shorter duration of labor, less pain, and even fewer interventions such as inductions. But is that really true?
The good news: there are several high-quality studies on dates as preparation for birth, including meta-analyses and systematic reviews. This significantly increases the level of evidence. So the topic is scientifically well studied.
The conclusion of all studies is remarkably consistent: pregnant women who regularly ate dates arrived at the hospital with a clearly better initial condition. The cervix was already shortened, the cervix slightly open, the body was already more mature. This led to an overall shorter duration of labor, and interventions such as inductions, administration of labor drugs, and pain medication were needed less often.
How do dates affect your pregnant body?
Dates have a positive effect with their ingredients on pregnancy hormones, especially those that allow the cervix to ripen and promote the ability of the uterus to contract: prostaglandins and estrogens. Natural cervical ripening, meaning the preparation of the cervix for birth, is mainly triggered by prostaglandins, and dates provide the building blocks for the formation of prostaglandins.
In the last trimester, your body forms thousands of new oxytocin receptors on the uterus and in the nervous system. Oxytocin is the hormone that triggers contractions and makes the uterus contract. But it is not enough if it simply circulates in the blood. It needs docking sites in order to unfold its effect. And for the development of these docking sites, a sufficient estrogen concentration is crucial.
This is exactly where dates come into play: they contain phytoestrogens, i.e. plant-based substances similar to estrogen, which indirectly help to build more oxytocin docking sites.
And this is also where the possible pain-relieving effect lies: oxytocin releases endorphins (the body’s own painkiller), but only when it is bound to a receptor. So the more docking sites, the more bound oxytocin and the stronger the natural pain relief. At least that is the theory.
Eating dates = perfect birth? My honest assessment
So does that mean just eat dates and everything will be fine? Yes and no. That would be too simple and too good to be true.
Everything will be fine either way, and fear is the last thing you need during birth. But birth preparation is much more complex and personal. In my opinion, three pillars form the basis for effective birth preparation:
Knowledge: acquire as much knowledge as possible. Knowledge is liberating and helps to let go of fears. Discover what a miracle your body and your baby are.
Soul: process fears, let go, and come into trust. Pregnancy is a journey that you can consciously use for transformation. Hypnosis, visualizations, journaling and rituals help with this.
Body: birth is an extreme performance. Your body should be reasonably fit. With yoga, not only the openness of the pelvis can be improved, but also the position of the baby can be optimized. And then there is of course nutrition, in which dates definitely have their well-deserved place.
My proven recommendation: 6 to 7 dates per day from the 36th week of pregnancy, and at the same time reduce or completely avoid simple carbohydrates and sugar. You can find more about this in my blog about the Louwen diet.
I also recommend packing dates as a birth snack in your hospital bag. Low blood sugar can quickly lead to weak contractions, and dates keep blood sugar stable over a longer period without the rollercoaster effect that, for example, glucose tablets cause. The varieties Ajwa, Kholas and Sukari are particularly suitable here due to their high fiber content and surpass the famous Medjool dates by far. I always have some with me in my home birth kit. :)
Dates with gestational diabetes, allowed or forbidden?
Not necessarily forbidden. If you have gestational diabetes, you probably already know that not only the sugar content of a food matters, but rather the glycemic index, GI for short. The lower the GI, the more slowly blood sugar rises. And here dates are surprising: despite their high natural sugar content, they have a GI of only 35 to 50, depending on the variety. For comparison: white bread is at 75.
The reason lies in the high fiber content of dates, which slows down sugar absorption in the body.
Still, the following applies:
- Always in consultation with your doctor
- In moderation, not all at once
- Best combined with fat and protein, for example with nut butter or cheese, this further slows down the blood sugar rise
- Measure your blood sugar afterwards and observe how your body reacts
Anyone who follows these points will most likely not have to give up dates in birth preparation, even with gestational diabetes.
Conclusion: Dates for birth preparation, a small superfood with real effect
The data situation is remarkably consistent for a natural food: several randomized studies and meta-analyses consistently show that regular date consumption from late pregnancy improves cervical ripening, makes inductions less necessary and can shorten the phases of labor.
Dates are one of the few sweets that can be well integrated into a conscious, sugar-reduced diet. And they can, with the right consultation and blood sugar control, even be enjoyed with gestational diabetes.
But it is also clear: the date is not a miracle cure that guarantees you the perfect birth. For that, holistic birth preparation is needed, because many factors influence how a birth proceeds. If you would like to prepare individually and holistically for your birth, feel free to visit: ganzheitlichmama.ch
Scientific sources
Al-Kuran et al. (2011): J Obstet Gynaecol, prospective study Jordan
Kordi et al. (2017): PMC, date consumption and birth in first-time mothers
Bagheri et al. (2013): JMRH, RCT cervical ripening, Mashhad/Iran
Nasiri et al. (2019): Complementary Therapies in Medicine, systematic review and meta-analysis
Sagi-Dain and Sagi (2020): Explore Journal, meta-analysis birth course
Zahedifard et al. (2024): Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J, review article
Bahri Khomami et al. (2026): ResearchGate, narrative review
Moses et al. (2009): Diabetes Care, low-GI diet in gestational diabetes (RCT)
Kadić A. et al. (2025): Medical Archives, dates and birth, Sarajevo
