Ice Chips or a Turkey on Rye?

It is almost always understood that once you put on that hospital gown that is it for food until your baby is born.  It's ice chips, ginger ale, apple juice and Popsicles for you, miss.  I know that is what I'd give someone running a marathon or competing in a triathlon.  That's what birth is, right, a strenuous activity that asks the body to perform unusual and extreme measures?  So, why keep nourishment away from someone who is obviously going to need energy to labor for who knows how long and for how hard? 

You can thank Dr. Curtis Mendelson who in 1946 wrote an article entitled "The aspiration of stomach contents into the lungs during obstetric anaesthesia" in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.  When this article was published, however, it was, again, 1946.  Modern medicine has come a long way, baby!  General anesthesia is not generally used for a caesarean section - an epidural or regional anesthesia is.  Precautionary measures are also taken to make sure that aspiration of stomach contents into the lungs does not happen.  This article does not mention withholding food from a pregnant woman, however it does say "local policies should be followed." 

A recent study published in January 2010 entitled Restricting Oral Fluid and Food Intake During Labor shows that in women with low risk for anesthesia, there was no benefit or harm in restricting fluid or food intake during labor.  "In addition, poor nutritional balance may be associated with longer and more painful labours, and fasting does not guarantee an empty stomach or less acidity."

When speaking to your OB or the staff at the hospital you're birthing at, feel free to mention that Mendelson published his findings in 1946 and that you hope that medicine has advanced since then.  Then think about eating your turkey sandwich. 

Singata M, Tranmer J, Gyte GML. Restricting oral fluid and food intake during labour. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003930. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003930.pub2.