How to tell real contractions from braxton hicks

False alarm: Braxton Hicks contractions vs. true labor | Your Pregnancy Matters

“This is it! I’m going into labor!” That’s what you may think when you feel your abdomen tighten up repeatedly over a short period of time.

So, before you grab your bag and head to the hospital, learn how to know when you’re having Braxton Hicks contractions and when you should call your doctor.

However, there’s a good chance you’re experiencing false labor, more commonly known as Braxton Hicks contractions. In my experience working with pregnant women, almost all of them will feel Braxton Hicks contractions at some time during their pregnancy. They are named for the English doctor who first described them in 1872. After Dr. John Braxton Hicks noted that many of his patients felt contractions but were not actually in labor, he studied the phenomenon to help clear up the confusion.

Braxton Hicks contractions vs. true labor

Braxton Hicks contractions – which usually start during the third trimester – are thought of as the uterus practicing for labor, but they aren’t a sign you’re actually in labor.

The key difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and the real thing is that Braxton Hicks contractions aren’t coordinated. Real contractions start at the top of the uterus and, in a coordinated fashion, move through the middle of the uterus to the lower segment. Braxton Hicks contractions feel like a tightening of the abdomen and tend to be focused in one area. They don’t always travel through the whole uterus.

The other main distinguishing factor is time. Patients tell me, “I was having contractions every five or 10 minutes, but it only happened for 30 or 40 minutes.” These contractions may appear to be happening in some sort of pattern, but if you’re truly in labor, contractions will not stop and the time between them will get shorter.

Signs you may be experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions:

They’re uncomfortable, but not usually painful.
Intervals between contractions are irregular.
Duration between each one doesn’t become shorter.
They don’t get stronger over time.
Contractions taper off and disappear.

Signs your contractions may indicate real labor:

They’re painful.
Intervals between each one become shorter.
Contractions become stronger and last longer over time.
They don’t stop.

What triggers Braxton Hicks contractions and how to stop them

The No. 1 cause of Braxton Hicks contractions is dehydration. Even minor dehydration can cause them. You’re a busy woman: work, family, friends, shopping for baby supplies. It’s easy to become occupied with a task and not realize you haven’t had a glass of water in a few hours. Especially in our Texas heat, you need to be vigilant about getting enough to drink. You also may experience Braxton Hicks if you are sick with a cold or flu and are vomiting or feeling nauseated. This often is related to dehydration.

If you come to the hospital to report contractions but aren’t sure you’re in labor, the first thing we’ll do after assessing your baby and checking your cervix is ask you to drink a few big cups of water in a short amount of time. If it’s Braxton Hicks, the contractions will stop fairly soon after you’re rehydrated. We give the same advice to women who call from home with the same concern.

Fetal movement also can trigger Braxton Hicks. Women often say they felt a sharp kick from the baby or a lot of activity right before contractions started.

Your activity also can trigger contractions. Whether you’re moving into a new house or just getting the nursery ready, extra movement – especially lifting – can bring on Braxton Hicks. This is why we tell pregnant women to rest often if they need to move or lift more than normal. On the other hand, some activity also can relieve Braxton Hicks contractions. If you’re sitting down, stand up and go for a walk. Sometimes just changing your position can help.

The 5-1-1 rule, and when to call your doctor

Patients sometimes confess to me, “I hate to bother you with a false alarm.” Don’t worry about it! If you aren’t sure whether you’re having Braxton Hicks contractions or you’re truly in labor, call us. That’s what we’re here for. We want a healthy mom and baby, and if you don’t tell us when something concerns you, we can’t help.

To ease patients’ minds when it comes to contractions, we talk about the 5-1-1 rule that signals you’re in true labor:

Contractions occur every 5 minutes.
Each contraction lasts at least 1 minute.
Contractions have been ongoing for 1 hour.

When you meet the 5-1-1 rule, call your doctor’s office or come in.

Here are a few other situations in which you should call or visit your doctor right away:

Your water breaks: We don’t want you managing it on your own at home. Once your water breaks, you are at increased risk for a number of complications, so we want to monitor you in the hospital.
Decreased fetal movement: Pay attention to any sudden changes in your baby’s activity – they aren’t moving as much or at all. A glass of orange juice or cold water might get your baby moving, but if that doesn’t work, you should see your doctor right away.
Braxton Hicks contractions that start earlier than the third trimester: While they can occur in the second trimester, it may indicate preterm labor. Women who have had multiple pregnancies sometimes start to feel Braxton Hicks late in the second trimester because they are more sensitive and aware of how it feels. These moms may be inclined to shrug them off. However, if Braxton Hicks contractions start before the third trimester, tell your doctor just to be safe.

As mentioned, don’t hesitate to call your doctor’s office with a question. You will never annoy us! If it’s an emergency, call or go to the hospital immediately. However, if you have a less-pressing question about your pregnancy, my patients have found MyChart to be a convenient option to get answers. If you’re not a UT Southwestern Medical Center patient, ask if your healthcare provider has a similar tool.

MyChart allows you to communicate with your doctor through secure messages. It’s similar to email, but you don’t have to worry about sending your personal medical information through – it’s completely private and safe.

While Braxton Hicks contractions can be uncomfortable and annoying, they are perfectly normal and do not pose a danger to you or your baby. Stay calm and be patient. Even if it’s not labor, it’ll be great practice for motherhood.

If you have further questions about Braxton Hicks contractions or how to know when you’re in labor, request an appointment online or call 214-645-8300.

Braxton-Hicks Contractions vs. Real Contractions

Medically reviewed by Debra Sullivan, Ph.D., MSN, R.N., CNE, COI — By Stephanie Watson on January 11, 2018

Final stages of pregnancy

When you’re in the final stages of pregnancy, contractions are like your body’s alarm clock, alerting you that you’re in labor. Sometimes, though, contractions can sound a false alarm.

These are called Braxton-Hicks contractions, named after the doctor who first described them. You can think of them as practice contractions that get your body ready for your baby’s arrival, but they are not the real thing.

Not sure whether you’re having Braxton-Hicks contractions or real ones? Here’s a guide to help you tell the difference.

What are Braxton-Hicks contractions?

Braxton-Hicks contractions are sometimes called “false labor” because they give you the false sensation that you are having real contractions.

Although they can thin the cervix (the opening of the uterus) as real contractions do, Braxton-Hicks contractions won’t ultimately lead to delivery.

Braxton-Hicks contractions typically start in your third trimester of pregnancy. They’ll arrive from time to time, often in the afternoon or evening and especially after you’ve had an active day. You won’t notice any real pattern, but Braxton-Hicks contractions may come more often the closer you get to your due date.

When a Braxton-Hicks contraction hits, you’ll feel a tightening in your abdomen. It’s not usually painful, but it can be.

Signs you’re having Braxton-Hicks contractions include:

contractions that come and go
contractions that don’t get stronger or closer together
contractions that go away when you change position or empty your bladder

What are real labor contractions?

Real contractions happen when your body releases a hormone called oxytocin, which stimulates your uterus to contract. They’re a signal that your body is in labor:

For many women, real contractions start at around the 40th week of pregnancy.
Real contractions that begin before the 37th week can be classified as premature labor.

Real contractions tighten the top part of your uterus to push your baby downward into the birth canal in preparation for delivery. They also thin your cervix to help your baby get through.

The feeling of a true contraction has been described as a wave. The pain starts low, rises until it peaks, and finally ebbs away. If you touch your abdomen, it feels hard during a contraction.

You can tell that you’re in true labor when the contractions are evenly spaced (for example, five minutes apart), and the time between them gets shorter and shorter (three minutes apart, then two minutes, then one). Real contractions also get more intense and painful over time.

There are other clues that you’re in labor, including these:

You may see a clump of pinkish or bloody mucus when you use the bathroom. This is called a “bloody show.”
You may feel like the baby has “dropped” lower in your belly.
You may experience fluid leaking from your vagina. This is a sign that your “water” (a bag of fluid called the amniotic sac) has broken.

How can you tell the difference?

This chart can help you tell whether you’re in real labor or just “practicing”:

What to do if you’re having contractions

Contractions that only show up from time to time are most likely Braxton-Hicks. But if they start coming regularly, time them for about an hour. If they get stronger or closer together, you are likely experiencing true labor.

When they’re about five or six minutes apart, it’s probably time to grab your bag and head to the hospital.

If you’re not sure whether you’re really in labor, call your doctor or go to your delivery hospital. You’re better off seeking medical help, even if it turns out to be a false alarm.

It’s especially important to get to the hospital if you’re less than 37 weeks into your pregnancy, the contractions are especially painful, or your water has broken.

Last medically reviewed on January 11, 2018

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Braxton Hicks contractions: Causes and treatment. (2017).
americanpregnancy.org/labor-and-birth/braxton-hicks/
Contractions. (2013).
marchofdimes.org/pregnancy/contractions.aspx
Labor contractions. (n.d.).
babies.sutterhealth.org/laboranddelivery/labor/ld_contractns.html
Signs that labour has begun. (2016).
nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/labour-signs-what-happens.aspx#close
True vs. false labor. (2017).
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Jan 11, 2018

Stephanie Watson

Edited By

Frank Crooks

Medically Reviewed By

Debra Sullivan, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, COI

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Medically reviewed by Debra Sullivan, Ph. D., MSN, R.N., CNE, COI — By Stephanie Watson on January 11, 2018

How to distinguish real contractions from training ones?

Shemyakina Natalya Nikolaevna, head of the obstetric department of the Leleka maternity hospital will help you figure it out.

Training contractions, or as they are also called, fake, or Braxton-Hicks contractions, are irregular contractions that do not have increasing intensity. The uterus may tone up, but normally, it should pass quickly.

For example, the tone appeared once in half an hour and the uterus relaxed rather quickly. Then the tone reappeared only after two hours and again passed. These are training contractions, they do not increase in intensity and do not become more frequent.

Training bouts are physiologically provided by our body. So the uterus is preparing to do the hard work in the process of childbirth. Normally, training contractions appear in terms of pregnancy close to childbirth - from the 37th week of pregnancy.

The appearance of training contractions in the early stages of pregnancy is not the norm

The uterus can tone up with an active lifestyle, physical activity, with a change in body position, but this tone should quickly pass. Normally, the uterus should not often come into tone. And even more so, contractions, as such, should not be until the 37th week of pregnancy.
Braxton Hicks contractions in the early stages are a threat of preterm labor. If a woman has contractions periodically during the day: after an hour, after 2, then again after an hour, (even if they are not regular), for periods up to 37 weeks, such a tone should alert the expectant mother.
Because this is not the norm, but the threat of premature birth. This is an occasion to contact a specialist and change your rhythm of life, put on a bandage. The causes of preterm labor are most often internal, caused by hormonal disorders and a violation of the physical health of a woman. But significant physical activity and stress can also cause premature birth.

Labor pains

Unlike training contractions, labor pains are regular. The uterus comes to tone first once every 15 minutes, and after a while - once every 7-10 minutes. Contractions gradually become more frequent, longer and stronger. And already occur every 5 minutes, then 3 and finally every 2 minutes.

True labor pains are contractions every 2 minutes, 40 seconds. If within an hour or two the contractions intensify - pains that begin in the lower abdomen or in the lower back and spread to the stomach - most likely, these are real labor pains.

Training contractions are NOT so much painful as unusual for a woman. When the expectant mother sees how the stomach comes into tone, its shape changes and it becomes dense, like an inflated ball. This might scare you a little. But a woman must understand that in real, labor pains, there must be a clear periodicity, intensification and acceleration over a certain period of time. Real fights never stop, but practice fights do. The uterus then comes to tone, then relaxes.
Often women confuse contractions with tone, which is caused by other physiological processes in the body. For example, increased intestinal peristalsis, intestinal infections, colic, etc.

What else should alert a woman?! If within an hour or two the uterus periodically comes into tone and mucous, bloody (streaked with blood or brown) discharge appears, then most likely there are structural changes in the cervix - it opens. Also an important sign to seek help is the discharge of the mucous plug long before childbirth. Her departure in terms of childbirth, a week or two before childbirth is normal.

Tracking labor pains

There are several methods for determining the types of contractions. A woman can do this herself, writing down the frequency and duration of contractions on paper or tracking them using special programs for a computer and phone. Or you can contact a doctor at antenatal clinic or at the maternity hospital, where a specialist will conduct fetal monitoring (fetal CTG). With the help of 2 sensors, the fetal heartbeat, uterine contractions are monitored and it is determined whether these are training contractions or labor.

When should I go to the maternity hospital?

If within an hour or two there is an increase and intensification of pain, its intensity increases, the frequency of contractions is clear and regular, you can go to the maternity hospital. A woman can make a mistake, but it’s better to come and make sure for sure whether these are labor or training contractions.

If the amniotic fluid breaks, you can slowly pack up and go to the maternity hospital. Since, normally, after this labor activity should begin.

The main thing is that a woman should not panic. The latent phase of labor can last 8-10 hours until the cervix is fully dilated. Labor activity does not proceed in 30 seconds. In the process of labor, the cervix of the uterus in women giving birth for the first time opens about 1 cm in an hour. She needs to open up to 10 cm, that is, a woman has about 10:00 by the time the baby is born.

Happy pregnancy and childbirth!

Braxton Hicks contractions before childbirth | Mamovediya

Some pregnant women, beginning in the middle of their pregnancy, may notice how the muscles of the uterus tighten. Such tension of the muscles of the uterus can be observed approximately 1-2 times per hour. These contractions are virtually painless and should not be confused with real labor pains.

Such contractions are called Braxton Hicks contractions because they were named after the English physician John Braxton Hicks, who first described this phenomenon in pregnant women in 1872. Most often, such contractions occur in pregnant women about three or four weeks before delivery.

Early onset of Braxton Hicks contractions may be due to excessive activity of the pregnant woman, too full bladder, or dehydration of the mother.

Unfortunately, today there is no single point of view as to why Braxton Hicks contractions occur. Most doctors are of the opinion that they arise due to the need to prepare the cervix for the upcoming birth. Such contractions help to ripen the cervix before the birth of the baby, and also shorten and soften it somewhat.

Braxton Hicks contractions can be experienced differently by every woman and feel like intermittent contractions in the abdomen.

Of course, many pregnant women are very worried about the occurrence of such contractions, and they are trying to understand whether such contractions are abnormal and how can they be distinguished from real labor pains? Braxton Hicks contractions, unlike labor pains, are painless and not regular. In addition, they are not as long as real contractions. The interval between them does not decrease, and the duration is the same, as is their intensity.

The occurrence of Braxton Hicks contractions before childbirth cannot be predicted because they occur chaotically and unpredictably.

In some women, these contractions may be accompanied by nausea and even vomiting. Many of the expectant mothers note that Braxton Hicks contractions most often occur during physical exertion in the last months of pregnancy.

Pregnant women notice that over time, Braxton Hicks contractions become more intense, and even somewhat painful. However, they still remain irregular, may weaken or disappear altogether.

Some experts believe that Braxton Hicks contractions train not so much the cervix as the woman herself before childbirth. It is not for nothing that these contractions are called preparatory or training, since they enable the expectant mother to learn how to behave during contractions, breathe correctly or choose a comfortable position.

Many pregnant women notice that their Braxton Hicks contractions get worse and more frequent when they exert themselves or do chores around the house. If the expectant mother feels discomfort during such contractions, then she needs to sit down or lie down, or, conversely, just get up and walk around, while breathing deeply.