"Should I be using a device to stretch my vagina before giving birth?"

As a first-time mum-to-be, I’ve been bombarded by friends, relatives and friends of friends’ neighbours with advice and handy hints.

This advice has ranged from pram brands and words of wisdom (‘no one knows your baby like you do’) to the more icky side of post-pregnancy personal care.

Including one very unexpected tip – train your vagina to stretch pre-birth.

What the, what?

Yes, a couple of people have recommended using a device that is inserted into the vagina and inflated like a balloon to dilate the perineum up to 10cm (which you work up to in sessions over a series of weeks), the equivalent of being fully dilated when giving birth.

And, due to a completely reasonable fear of their perineum (the skin and muscle between the vagina and anus) tearing or needing to be cut, women are apparently taking the practice up in droves.

But, it got me thinking about whether it was worth investing the time, effort, pain and cost (the Epi-No retails for $179) for something that our bodies are inherently pre-programmed to do – give birth.

Do we really need to train our bodies for something millions of women the world over do without an expensive contraption?

According to the website, the “childbirth and pelvic floor trainer” was developed by a German obstetrician to prevent nasty perineal injuries that are linked to “decreased bladder control, long-term incontinence, and sexual dysfunction”.

The website says the product has fared well in clinical trials and there is plenty of anecdotal support for it out there. Take my friend, who recently used it on the recommendation of her fancy (expensive) obstetrician.

When she went into labour she was 8cm dilated by the time she got to hospital. She didn’t tear or need stitches. But whether she would have been one of the lucky ones who came out relatively unscathed anyway, we’ll never know.

But the controversial device has just as many detractors who claim there isn’t the evidence to support the efficacy of the device.

An experienced midwife at the Royal Melbourne Hospital said she wouldn’t recommend it because of concerns about the continence of women who used the device.

And other studies have failed to find evidence that the vaginal balloon device has a protective effect on pelvic floor structures during vaginal childbirth.

So, armed with a whole bunch of confusing information, whether one should stretch one’s vagina before pushing a watermelon-sized baby out of it remains yet another unanswered question in the unknown world of childbirth and rearing.

In the meantime, it’s back to the many internet forums dedicated to this kind of thing.

Reading those, at least one thing is clear – if you do decide to go down the path of forking out $179 and spending hours lying uncomfortably on the bathroom floor with a silicon balloon up the wazoo, you’d better hope you don’t end up needing a cesarean.