eating in hospital during labor

In article ,
says...
Kim E. wibbled

I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in
does not allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol,
ice is water not food!! Is this common? For those of you who
have BTDT, did you even want to eat anything during labor? I
could not imagine going more than a few hours without eating!!!

It's an outdated policy. Even if you do have to have unplanned
surgery the risk of aspiration is much less feared these days (and
after all, if you're in an accident or something they don't ask you
if you ate anything before they start patching you up, do they).

lol I've only had general anesthesia one time and I don't remember not
eating before it, but that was a while ago.

I didn't actually feel all that hungry - I could have eaten and
didn't really fancy much but that's hospital food for you. I think I
had toast and a yoghurt at lunchtime. I remember drinking several
hot chocolates though. I guess it depends on how you take pain, what
interventions you opt for (during the periods when my epidural was
in full effect I could have eaten a three course meal with no
hassle), and how active you're being. If it's a fast labour you may
not get time to notice being hungry. ;-)

Will they not even let you have boiled sweets? (Hard candy)

I'm not sure. I think they allow juice and popsicles. Now I am just
curious as to what they do to you if you do eat - I am getting a visual
of some big brawny nurse wrestling the saltine cracker out of my hand!!


-kim

NO WAY.....you wont want to eat....BUT after the whole thing is over you
will KILL for those ice chips..lol....and I mean they taste SoooOoO
good!

Good luck. Christine

Chloe Rebbeca,
#1 - may16th, 5 pounds 10oz's...

"Kim E." wrote:

I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

Same policy for the hospital I delivered at, we brought food, which DH
ate. I didn't feel like eating.

Be warned though- my DD was born with borderline low glucose
which may have been due to my not eating during labor. As a
result, the hospital insisted on supplementing her, which led to
nipple confusion and difficulty in establishing breastfeeding (which
we overcame after *much* angst).

Eating during my next labor is something I most certainly will
do, with or without hospital consent.

Mary

In article , "Cherie"
cedgeworthATcopper.net says...

"Kim E." wrote:
I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

I am using the same hospital I gave birth to my son at and unfortunely they
dont allow food either, just ice chips (who calls that food?). I remember
the nurse who gave our prenatal class said to eat something light before you
came to the hospital (if you had time of course). Unfortunately I got to the
hospital around 8am and finally reached 10 cms around 4:30 that afternoon. I
spent the whole day watching tv, and of course every commerical was a
commercial for food. I was starving!!

I can imagine! I do not call ice chips food either, I have never seen
them on a restaurant menu!!

Cherie
mom to Jakob (21 months)
baby (Grace) EDD 8/6/04

I am due the day after you are! We are having a boy, probable name is
Ethan! Yay for the August club!!

-kim

"Kim E." wrote in message
a.net...
I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

-kim

My hospital didn't allow food, so I had packed some snacks to sneak in case
I did need them. When my water broke and contractions started immediately, I
managed to chow down a meal before we left for the hospital. It had turned
out that my labor was very short - barely 5 hours, and I had no appetite
during the whole time.

Marie

In article ,
says...
"Kim E." wrote:

I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

Same policy for the hospital I delivered at, we brought food, which DH
ate. I didn't feel like eating.

Be warned though- my DD was born with borderline low glucose
which may have been due to my not eating during labor. As a
result, the hospital insisted on supplementing her, which led to
nipple confusion and difficulty in establishing breastfeeding (which
we overcame after *much* angst).

Wow, that is something that I had not realized could happen. I think my
hosp allows juice - it seems like that would help the baby's glucose
levels.

Eating during my next labor is something I most certainly will
do, with or without hospital consent.

I don't blame you!

-kim

Kim E. wrote:

I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

Yes, it's common, but I would pitch a fit and get my
midwife or doctor to write orders to the contrary. Refusing
food has not been proven to be beneficial. They might give
you the song and dance about it being dangerous if you need
to have general anesthesia; however, regardless of what you've
eaten when, they will still have to treat you as if you've
eaten recently. After all, if you get hit by a bus after
dinner, they don't refuse to do surgery because you have
a full stomach--they just take appropriate precautions, as
they should even if you're in labor and haven't eaten
recently.
That said, you may not feel like eating. Many
women don't. I think it's best to push yourself and
eat something small and easy to digest at frequent
intervals. You have no idea how long labor will go
on, and there's no sense in being weak from hunger
when it comes time to push! My first labor was very
long (~45 hours). I wasn't much into eating, but
my midwives insisted I drink (sports drink, red raspberry
leaf tea, etc.) every hour and eat occasionally. I
believe it made a huge difference in my labor. Despite
its length, I was fine the whole time and had no problems
remaining mobile and pushing effectively. I didn't eat
during my other labors, but then again, they went by
so quickly there wasn't really time ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

Kim E. writes:
: I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
: allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
: food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
: want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
: a few hours without eating!!!

: -kim

Yet another reason for homebirth!

:-)
Larry

Kim E. wrote:
I just found out that the hospital i am planning to deliver in does not
allow women to eat during labor- except ice chips -lol, ice is water not
food!! Is this common? For those of you who have BTDT, did you even
want to eat anything during labor? I could not imagine going more than
a few hours without eating!!!

-kim


The hospital where I had #1 didn't want you to eat during labor. I
don't know what they could have done about it if I had brought in my own
food and eaten it - it's not like I was tied up. However, I didn't
want any food at that point - I'd been laboring for 24 hours when I went
into the hospital at 10 p.m., and I'd been eating all day. I just
wasn't hungry at that point. With #2, I went into the hospital at about
11 a.m., and I did eat during that labor - the midwife sent my husband
down to the hospital cafeteria to get me some food.

Clisby

Kim E. wrote:
The reason they told me is that in case you have to have an
emergency c- section with a general anesthetic they are worried
about vomiting or something. But i have never heard of any such
risk with an epidural
which is what they normally give you for a c-section.

In the event of a crash, emergency c-section, they'd use a general unless
you already had an epidural in place, though. And if you have epidural, you
probably won't be terribly thirsty during labor, since you'll be getting IV
fluids. Your mouth may be a bit dry, which is what the ice chips are for.

Still, this is a barbaric and antiquated policy that is not supported by the
evidence. See http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/laborb...inginlabor.htm.
I would tell the hospital that you will bring your own food and drink and if
you feel like consuming it, you will. You may or you may not, but setting
out to starve yourself is a bad plan. I brought a lot of food to my third
birth because I needed snacks not just for myself but for my kids, who came
with us. I think I ate an apple about an hour into my labor (which was
induced by breaking my waters) and drank water throughout. I did fine and
felt great. (Total labor of 3h40m.)
--
Be well, Barbara
Mom to Sin (Vernon, 2), Misery (Aurora, 4), and the Rising Son (Julian, 6)

Aurora (in the bathroom with her dad)--"It looks like an elephant, Daddy."
Me (later)--"You should feel flattered."

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman