26 March 2009

Hooray! Eat your heart out during delivery

In case you are planning to pop out a little bundle of joy anytime soon, it's your lucky day. New research from London suggests that the age old practice of telling women not to eat during childbirth is no longer necessary. This dates back to the 1940s, when a US doctor documented cases of women breathing food into their lungs (called pulmonary aspiration) when having general anaesthesia for emergency caesarean deliveries. As long as you are not receiving pain relief meds, it looks as though eating small amounts of food or light meals does not adversely affect childbirth outcomes.

Were you allowed to eat during birth?

Read more: No need for ban on eating during labour

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always thought it was so cruel not letting women in L&D eat. I was so hungry during my first labor. Luckily it was short. I can't imagine women who labor for over 12 hours and don't get to eat. That is hard work that deserves some fuel. And then they become "failure to progress" right?

Craving Cinnabon said...

Food was the last thing in my mind, I force myselft to eat a toast with cream cheese at home but then I had a fast labor.

Cherryskin said...

It was never an issue...? I didn't feel like eating, but I did drink milk drinks, which really hit the spot at the time.

Busy Mama said...

What a great blog - I sure would have enjoyed this when I was having our kids! Great idea.

Krista said...

My midwife made the best smoothies. I slurped them up in a great big tub. Yum.

 
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