For a very long time, women have been encouraged not to eat while in labor, and once under hospital car, denied food until after the birth of their child and this became standard practice virtually all over The United States in the Obstetric model of care.
Well in recent days, a new study was released concluding that there is no evidence or benefit for low risk women to fast while they are in labor.
“Singata and colleagues systematically reviewed five studies involving more than 3100 pregnant that looked at the evidence for restricting food and drink in women who were considered unlikely to need anesthesia. One study looked at complete restriction versus giving women the freedom to eat and drink at will; two studies looked at water only versus giving women specific fluids and foods and two studies looked at water only versus giving women carbohydrate drinks.
The evidence showed no benefits or harms of restricting foods and fluids during labor in women at low risk of needing anesthesia.
Singata and colleagues acknowledge that many women may not feel like eating or drinking during labor. However, research has shown that some women find the food and drink restriction unpleasant. Poor nutritional balance may be also associated with longer and more painful labors. Drinking clear liquids in limited quantities has been found to bring comfort to women in labor and does not increase labor complications.
The researchers emphasize that they did not find any studies that assessed the risks of eating and drinking for women with a higher risk of needing anesthesia and so further research is need before specific recommendations can be made for this group.”
Which is something the midwife community, as well as the natural birth community has been saying just as long as the recommendation not to eat during labor has been common practice. And even some midwives who attend births in hospital settings under the Obstetric model of care actually encourage women to eat and drink as they desire while they are in labor.
Of course, I do not blame any woman that doesn’t feel the need to eat, or does not need to eat while they are in labor either. Some of us have worse experiences with food and labor considering the large risk of vomiting while in labor. I can certainly say I was one of those women!
But just the fact that women now will be able to make their own choices and decisions in another aspect of their care is a huge development. Now we can only hope that hospitals will heed this advice and allow women to eat or drink as they please. I mean really, it is their body, labor, and care, they should be able to make their own choices!
I normally don’t get on about how much I hate these medical shows on TV, but last night really set me off. I was watching Private Practice, which comes on at 10pm on the ABC network, and the show was chock full of drama, which is probably in relation to the fact that they were losing a lot of viewers. I used to be a huge fan, but tehir bland and sometimes offensive story lines were really starting to play on me. Last night sent me off the deep end though.
The first thing that really bothered me was the character they had on their show who was attempting what they called “natural childbirth” this woman was basically a huge slap in the face to anyone who has had or wants to have a natural childbirth. She became the butt of the joke for the whole show. The character was grinding on door frames, squatting around the office yelling and moaning like a animal in heat, causing a distraction to other patients, all the while discussing how she has been in labor for over 3 days, yada yada yada. To me, someone who has tried to have a natural childbirth, she was nothing more than a slap in the face, and trying to make a joke out of anyone who has had a natural birth. What bothered me even more was the way they treated this woman’s “birth plan” again like it was all just a big joke.
They continued to offer her drugs, and more drugs, oh, and drugs again.
Then here comes the shining Addison, main character, OB, neonatal surgeon, the whole nine yards. The “natural childbirth” woman asks for help, and she says “Well unless you want a c-section, there is nothing I can do for you” Wha wha what?!?!?!??!? While this pretty much is dead on for some of the OB’s out there, for them to actually put this on TV floored me!
But it doesn’t stop there. This show was just over board on things that would never happen, and things that bothered me.
Mothers trying to force their teen daughters to have abortions.
Mother drags her daughter into the room RIGHT as the “natural birth mother” gives birth to try and scare her.
Mother slaps daughter when she says she doesn’t want an abortion.
All in all, the whole show bothered me last night, but just like ABC wanted, they got the viewers and the ratings.
Moral of the story :
Making fun of women who want to birth naturally is offensive.
The script, actions, and lines of the natural childbirth mother were unrealistic and offensive.
Forcing ANYONE despite their age to have an abortion, or to have a child against their will should be illegal and considered abuse.
Since the amount of women who actively choose a midwife for their care has drastically dropped over the last century, I thought I would show a great, and informative video today on why women should choose a midwife for their birth.
Before I do post the video, one more thing I wanted to include was a quote of information from a recent consumer report survey.
An Obstetrician will deliver better maternity care, overall, than a midwife or family doctor. False. Studies show that the 8 percent to 9 percent of U.S. women who use midwives and the 6 to 7 percent who choose family physicians generally experienced just-as-good results as those who go to obstetricians. Those who used midwives also ended up with fewer technological interventions. For example, women who received midwifery care were less likely to experience induced labor, have their water broken for them, episiotomies, pain medications, intravenous fluids, and electronic fetal monitoring, and were more likely to give birth vaginally with no vacuum extraction or forceps, than similar women receiving medical care. Note that an obstetric specialist is best for the small proportion of women with serious health concerns.
With that statement being said, modern misconceptions about midwifery care should be put to rests.
Something we are seeing more and more is pregnant women blindly choosing health care providers, and in turn complaining about them for the duration of their pregnancy, or having a negative experience with that provider for the birth of their child. My biggest suggestion to newly pregnant women, and pregnant women in general is interview several different providers before picking one to stick with for your pregnancy. This will help to eliminate stress from disagreeing or not getting along with your provider.
I certainly did this with my second pregnancy after having a less than ideal experience my first time around. So when it came time to interview providers, though I was interviewing for a VBAC provider, I put together a sample list of some questions mothers may want to ask before committing to a provider. Also remember, you can change providers any time during pregnancy, even if you are at your due date already!
What Hospital/Hospital’s do you deliver at?
How do you handle post date pregnancies? (Meaning over 40 weeks gestation)
What type of protocol do you have for delivery such as requiring IV’s, constant monitoring, etc.?
What percent of your patients have cesarean sections?
What percent of your patients have inductions?
What percent of your patients have epidurals?
What positions can I give birth in? (Most providers will only allow you to birth on your back in stirrups)
What kind of pre natal testing do you order? (And how do you handle patients that decline testing?)
How many providers are in your practice?
What is the likelihood I will have you attend my birth?
Do you perform episiotomies?
What are after hour policies?
What is the protocol when I go into labor?
When should I call you?
How many babies do you delivery yearly?
Do you have any vacations coming up?
How long have you been practicing?
What made you want to deliver babies?
What is your view on pregnancy & birth?
What percent of your patients are high risk?
How do you handle low risk pregnancies?
All these questions are simple suggestions, you do not need to go into a providers office and ask all of them, or even ask any of them if they do not apply to you. Be sure to ask things that are important to you, just not what is on a sample list.
If you have any questions that you would like ot add, please leave them as a comment!!
Since becoming a parent, I have noticed there is a large population of Connecticut Parents that are not familiar with the laws in the state regarding car seat safety, as well as one pediatrician that told a friend to start her 6 month old forward facing because he was a big boy. I was completely astonished by this, and I really wanted to tackle the laws regarding car seats in the state of Connecticut, as well as proper installation of car seats, and where you can go to have them installed.
After October 1st of 2005, ALL children must ride in a proper car seat, booster seat or restrain system until they are OVER 6 years of age, AND over 60 pounds. This means, if your child has outgrown their car seat, they must ride in an appropriate sized booster seat. This is the LAW there is no exception to it. Another law that people are not familiar with is, a child under the age of 1 year is REQUIRED BY LAW to be rear facing until they are at least 1 year old AND over 20 pounds. Meaning, if your child is over 20 pounds, but still under one, they MUST be rear facing by law, or if your child is OVER one year old, but not yet 20 pounds, they MUST remain rear facing.
These laws are not to make your child uncomfortable in the car, they are for their safety and to help prevent serious injury in the case of an accident.
If you are interested in learning more about Connecticut State Laws regarding car seat safety, and where you can have your car seat properly installed, you can call any of the Connecticut SAFE KIDS chapters.
Connecticut – 860-545-9988
Valley Parish Nurse – 203-732-7584
New London County – 860-442-0733
Fairfield County – 203-853-7115
Greater Waterbury – 203-346-3908
Windham County - 860-456-6978
To find an inspector to inspect and see if your child’s car seat is properly installed, you can visit this link.
To obtain a printable copy of the Connecticut Child Car seat Safety Statutes, visit think link.
If you are interested in becoming certified as a child passenger safety seat technician visit this link.
Thank you to the Connecticut Department of Transportation for all the great information above and helping to keep our children safe!
I decided to do something new for my blog weekly for the next couple weeks.
I am going to do a featured post called “Birth Organization of the Week” and feature a helpful, and amazing birth related organization that not too many people know about. I think it will make a difference in some of my readers, and help to educate local women more about natural birth, or support for birth.
I hope you will enjoy this as much as I am going to enjoy writing about each organization.
To start, I am going to begin with the birth organization that is nearest and dearest to my own heart, and has helped me through the past couple years, through the recovery from my first birth, to the journey of pregnancy and birth for my second child.
ICAN better known as The International Cesarean Awareness Network.
ICAN is is a vibrant and growing network of mother-to-mother volunteers, passionate advocates and women who care deeply about the state of birth today, as expressed on their website, but to me they are a education group, support system, and sisterhood. There are chapters featured all over the world. Yes, WORLD! ICAN is in several different countries. And we currently have one chapter right here in Connecticut!
As a chapter leader for ICAN, I donated my time, and talents to make this video below for ICAN. I was honored to be able to put it together to help women understand further, what ICAN is and how we help women all over the World.
A new study suggests that it very well might!
For years it seems like the popularity of cry it out has been increasing but mainly for one reason. It is easier and clearly more convenient to many parents.
But now a new study is saying that parents should never leave an infant younger than 6 months old to cry on its own, even for just a couple minutes of time. Many parents, especially old school parents will insist that running to a baby every time they cry will only “spoil” the baby, but as a mother who has had to let my child cry sometimes, I do not believe you can spoil a baby at all. Example? My toddler. Every time he cried as an infant, I tended to him whether it was a dry diaper, a feeding, or just some gas. He is 2 now, the shining example of independence, and is far from spoiled.
But going back to the research, Doctors and Scientists have been studying the negative impact of allowing an infant to cry for period of time, and what kind of impact it can have on their development and mental health.
Many things parents do not take into consideration are the things that can happen, such as suffocation, hyperventilation, or choking on their own vomit. Another very scary outcome could also be brain damage. Now as parents we look at these risk factors and should ask ourselves, “Is letting out baby cry really work risking this?”
Take a couple minutes, and read the study linked above. Hopefully it will help you to change your opinion on cry it out.
