Sarena Nguyen

ISM Current Event: Pregnant Women, Rejoice: We Can Finally Eat During Labor, February 15,
2017

Austrew, Ashley. "Pregnant Women, Rejoice: We Can Finally Eat During Labor." CafeMom.
CafeMom, 15 Feb. 2017. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
<http://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/203163/eating_during_labor_benefits>.

In this article, Austrew argues that eating during labor may actually be beneficial to the

mother. The author refers Dr. Vincenzo Berghella of Thomas Jefferson University in

Philadelphia, who recently reviewed 10 different labor studies to analyze the effects of food

restrictions on laboring moms. Dr. Berghella and his team reviewed data for 3,982 women, some

of whom were allowed to eat during labor, while others were given either honey and date syrup

to drink, or were restricted to just plain ice chips. Standard medical practice has been to withhold

food from moms in labor, due to the risk of aspirating food into our lungs when placed under

general anesthesia if necessary. However, recent findings proved that there's no correlation

between unrestricted eating during labor and an increased risk of complications. Another

shocking statistic discovered that women who were allowed to eat during labor actually had

labors that were on average 16 minutes shorter compared to those who were not allowed to eat.

These studies show that the intake of calories provides the mother with energy to help push the

baby out. There are occasions where a womans labor last over 20 hours, and due to standard

protocol the woman has little energy after during intense pain from contractions. Because the

uterus is a muscle, it requires adequate carbohydrates to function properly, according to Dr.

Berghella. In fact, "research suggests that the energy and caloric demands of laboring women are

similar to those of marathon runners" according to Christopher Harty, BN, coauthor of the study.

Unfortunately, this does not mean mothers can eat whole large meals, but snacks such as clear

soups and juices, light sandwiches, and fruit can provide hunger relief and energy.
Sarena Nguyen

This article is of use to me because it specifically focuses on the mothers need for energy

throughout labor. The author refers to her personal labor experience that lasted a total of 22

hours. Throughout those 22 hours she had little energy to keep gritting [her] teeth through

contractions or trying to walk off the pain. [She] just want to collapse in your hospital bed and

fall asleep until [her] baby [arrived]. It is evident that the author is fully aware of the pains of

the process of childbirth, therefore it allows me to understand how something as simple as being

able to eat can give women an extra boost of energy needed to continue onto the second stage of

labor. The three stages of labor can be very enduring, therefore anything that can ease the pain

for a mother is highly beneficial. I can refer to the study conducted within this article in my

presentation to provide an example of coping tips during labor. This article also corresponds to

my topic in that it shows a solution to hunger pains throughout labor.

As I read this article, I kept wondering about how there might be an increased chance of

defecating when trying to push the baby out. Although this happens frequently, I personally

would prefer not to increases the chance of possibly defecating in front of my partner and below

my infant. I do however feel lots of empathy for mothers who had to endure long labors and

were not allowed to eat. But when I was having contractions myself I could only notice the

intense back pain and did not even notice that I had missed several meals. Also, my anxiety also

prevented me from focusing on anything but see my baby. But of course every womans labor

experience varies, and eating only ice chips when hungry is most likely not very satisfying.

When reading how eating during labor could possibly shorten it by 16 minutes, I was impressed

because 16 minutes can feel like a very long time when experiencing painful contractions.

Overall, this article was very interesting and useful because it provided me with vey recent

medical research.