Last week, new research came out concluding that there is no reason why pregnant women at low risk for complications during delivery should be denied fluids and food during labor. Um, no kidding...

For those of us that have experienced the miracle of child birth, eating during delivery may seem completely absurd but in truth- it can sometimes be necessary. (After all, sucking on ice chips couldn't get you through a marathon could it???)

So just how "okay" is eating during delivery? We asked Parents Ask expert Dr. Jason Rothbart to weigh in:

This is another one of those topics where the standard of care sometimes can be a little more conservative than it has to be. While most labor and delivery units have a very strict policy on liquids and eating during labor, its very true that laboring women could safely have clear liquids and even eat during labor without complications.  And as the Cochrane Review states, most low risk laboring women will never have a poor medical consequence from eating or drinking during labor. There are two points, however that must be made. The first is that, while many women in labor feel they want to drink and even eat, with the contantly contracting uterus and the straining and pushing during the second (pushing) stage of labor, if there is food in the stomach, there will be nausea and most often vomiting. This vomiting can make the pushing stage of labor miserable. So while a laboring woman may think its cruel that she is forbidden from eating or drinking, it's with many years of experience seeing woman profoundly nauseous and severly vomiting that obstetricians advice against it in the later stages of labor. The second point is that any "low risk" laboring woman can turn into an emergency c-section--at any time. And while anesthesia has improved over the years and most c-sections, even emergencies, don't require general anesthesia, there is still a very real risk of aspirating stomach contents into the lungs which can cause serious infections leading to very morbid complications.

 

What this all comes down to is that YES, in early labor and even throughout the entire labor process, liquids are probably okay and won't be of any consequence. But solid food most often causes nausea and vomiting during the labor process and, though rarely, can lead to complications with anesthesia. Therefore it really is best to avoid solid foods in labor altogether.

Do you agree? We want to hear from you!