Can we eat or drink during childbirth?

Posted September 19, 2021

If you have never experienced or witnessed a birth and will soon pass, you are probably asking yourself questions.

We do that too, and that’s why we wanted to talk to the person most able to respond, in the person of Anna Roy, midwife, columnist, author and podcaster (and one of our favorite people in Daronne, we admit).

Can we eat during childbirth?

According to Anna Roy, who kindly agreed to answer our questions, it all depends on the protocol of the maternity ward where you give birth.

She explains that today more and more motherhoods accept that women can drink during labor, in obviously limited quantities, but it is not forbidden.

As for the seafood sauerkraut tasting just before pushing and ejecting the bacon, it’s a bit different:

There is, as far as I know, in France a delivery room where you can eat from the moment when the phase of labor is active (that is, when the birth is really close). But rest assured: the contractions press on the stomach, it is common to vomit or have an interrupted appetite. On the other hand, drinking is a fundamental need, and it is important to ask the maternity ward where you are giving birth what their protocol is on the matter, and to stay hydrated.

Anna Roy, midwife

But suddenly, what are the real risks for the expectant mother if she eats just before giving birth? Apart from the fact that she vomits during the push?

Is eating before childbirth risky?

Anna Roy explains that this is a recommendation from anesthesiologists rather than midwives:

In the case of general anesthesia, although it is extremely rare for a birth, there is a risk that the woman giving birth will vomit, and that she will vomit into her lungs. This is why anesthesiologists recommend not eating when labor is active, just in case.

Anna Roy, midwife

If we summarize, we can drink during the stage of labor, if it is part of the protocol of the maternity ward where we give birth, and we do not eat when we are in the labor room. But then, until when can you swallow something before the big marathon? What is the limit?

As long as the labor is not “active”, the expectant mother is at home, has the first contractions, can eat and drink, but without straining. You don’t even need to have a cassoulet, huh! But a small, easily digestible snack or light breakfast is allowed. Once in the hospital, if she is there where she gives birth, she will have the right to drink, most of the time, but not to eat.

Anna Roy, midwife

So who will have a big plate of pasta worthy of a marathon runner before going to the maternity ward?

Photo credit image of one: Workin ‘Moms series

Sub Image Photo Credit: Friends Series