Brigitte 0:17
Welcome back to the Holistic Birth Podcast today is episode 13. And we are going to be talking about eating during labor. So foods that are helpful and why it is important to eat.

Allison 1:00
Yes, there are a lot of misconceptions around eating and drinking during labor. There's a lot of old practices that are still very, very much present in certain facilities. Others have caught up and they're, they understand. But first of all, eating and drinking and labor is generally very safe. And evidence based. There are very rare situations in which it's not recommended to eat or drink. Unless you're going to need general anesthesia, complications from eating and drinking are not common. I think instead of diving down into that rabbit hole, I would like to definitely recommend that you go check out Evidence Based Birth. They have a whole podcast episode and articles (I think plural) on eating and drinking and labor in the safety of it in the research.

Brigitte 1:54
We can link it.

Allison 1:55
We will definitely link it. It is important to eat during labor. A lot of people think that when they're in labor, like the first contraction they get, they're like, Well, I can't eat. You need fuel!

Brigitte 2:06
Yes.

Allison 2:07
Obviously, if something was coming down the pike, like general anesthesia, then yeah, like we avoid eating after that point. But you really can eat up until your body's saying I need to slow down or change how I'm eating. There are there are different, I guess, things that we'll kind of talk about for like early labor versus active labor. Like how to prepare and what to bring if you're like not giving birth at home. But yeah, so early labor foods, we tend to go more towards a decent sized meal, but not too heavy. A lot of people are worried about what they should be eating. And honestly, if you just follow your intuition, you're going to be great. Because there's really not much beyond, there's not much beyond you that will tell you what you need to be eating. So most of the time, early labor is the time to you know, it's like larger than later on in labor, but I wouldn't recommend like a chicken parm.

Brigitte 3:08
Yeah, steak and potatoes.

Unless you really like it and you don't mind tasting it again!

I have had clients do that. And they're like, I had a big bowl of pasta.

Allison 3:19
But whatever it's gonna it's, it's gonna be what you need it to be. If ideally, you are eating a bigger meal, imagine that it could be something you might see again. So I would stay away from anything too acidic at that point.

Brigitte 3:37
Yeah, because the digestive system does slow down during labor so you may have still the contents of what's in your stomach earlier.

Allison 3:43
Right. And truthfully, it's better to have something in your stomach. If you are trying to get nauseous or anything like that than then not having anything your stomach. But yes, that's why we're saying like, decent size, but nothing too crazy. This isn't the time to like, do all the comfort food in the world. So snacks are really the way to go. For most of the labor early labor is when you probably would start seeing them a lot. A variety of options is really ideal so try to think about things that are salty versus sweet, chewing required versus chewing not required. Try to think about like variety. early labor could do you could do things like pretzels, granola bars, apple slices you could do like yogurt or trail mix. Bone broth, really anything that's anything that's tickling your fancy and that's why if you are going somewhere else to birth rather than at home where you might have more of your options all available, bring a whole bag of snacks.

Brigitte 4:53
Yes. So for active labor, you're going to be feeling probably not like eating as much during this time, but it's still a good idea to try to at least get something in your body. Because your uterus is working super hard, you are working super hard because your uterus is a muscle so it's contracting you know, a lot and you are expending a lot of energy. So you definitely want to keep yourself going. So having like little things like honey is actually one of the best things to eat because it's really easy to digest. It's loaded with antioxidants and vitamins and minerals and you can get those cool little honey sticks that you just open and you know, suck the honey right out of them. So honey is just excellent for for labor.

Allison 5:36
As a doula, I definitely carry those in my bag.

Brigitte 5:50
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So yeah, honey has all sorts of amazing benefits. But it's, it's amazing for active labor. And then dates is one of my favorites. It's they taste amazing that they're almost have like a caramel taste to them. And they're also loaded with you know, sugar to give you energy and carbohydrates. And also minerals, they have all sorts of stuff in them. I can't remember off top of my head, but they also have a chemical in them. I don't know if you know what it is Allison or not, but I don't remember like there's a chemical that is in them that helps with cervical dilation. So eating dates, like even, you know, few days before you might be going to labor, but especially during labor is awesome. So I always recommend them.

Allison 6:32
Yeah, and even eating dates, which I think we might have talked about already before by eating start eating dates at like, 35 or 36 weeks, like 6 a day, is usually the recommendation. But it might be something you're already accustomed to and already really like as part of your part of your day.

Brigitte 6:49
I eat them. I mean, I'm not pregnant, but I eat them. They're so, they're so good. A great bedtime snack. Yeah, a little protein like peanut butter. Exactly. Peanut butter or butter with like some salt. It's like eating birthday cake. It's so good. It tastes just like birthday cake.

Allison 7:03
Well, how fitting!

Brigitte 7:05
Yeah, right? Exactly! Yeah. And then bone broth is really good. You can actually get instead of like bringing like some you can pre make it of course, or you can buy it like at the store. They have some really good like organic bone broth, like chicken or beef, whatever you prefer. But you can actually get packets, it's like comes in a little powder. And you just add it to water, shake it up and it dissolves and you can do that. And that's really awesome to like take to the hospital with you. So you don't have to worry about like refrigeration or any of that stuff.

Allison 7:34
That's like a gateway into like hydration. I mean, that gives you like some content to hydration but that obviously is huge.

Brigitte 7:42
Yeah, we gotta mention that. Yeah, for sure. So like adding electrolytes is really good. You can make your own electrolyte drinks too with like, even just getting coconut water. You can just bring coconut water with you or there's good ones. I think Kristin actually mentioned a really good brand when we interviewed her. She talked about Goodonya which is actually a coconut water like base, but it has also vitamins, minerals. But definitely you know you can do just water but adding the electrolytes just gives you that extra amount of minerals and gives you the extra boost.

Allison 8:14
Like pink Himalayan salt.

Brigitte 8:16
Yeah could be that type of stuff. And another one is Redmond's Relight is another good one. So yeah.

Allison 8:16
So yeah, different options for hydration will be good, because sometimes you might just want something that's going to feel easy on the stomach and it will feel like you're tasting something as well. So the bone broth is a great option for that. And also staying hydrated and like good electrolyte balancing and getting lots of minerals and stuff like that.

Brigitte 8:41
Yeah, definitely.

Allison 8:42
Really good.

Brigitte 8:42
Yeah. yogurt is also a great option. Yogurt is just a nice, you know, gives you lots of energy. It's got the dairy in it. So it's good. Some people don't like yogurt, but it's does help. So hard boiled eggs, like I'm always on the fence about this one because like, I don't particularly like hard boiled eggs. I'm thinking like, if you do vomit, you vomit up eggs, it's not the best thing. But with that being said, eggs are amazing and they do give you a ton of energy, they have all sorts of minerals in them and everything. So even, you know, we always I always recommend eating eggs during pregnancy, just because it has like everything you need. If you could, you could literally live off of eggs. So and hard boiled eggs are easy, because you can they're travel so you can just like throw them in your bag, that kind of thing. But you know, some people are like, oh, you know, they kind of can repeat on you if you burp and stuff. So you know, it's funny what works for you.

Allison 9:29
I mean that you say that because yeah, many times that like home births or birth center birth if I'm -- I don't sit well still.-- I'm a good space holder but if it seems like there's some good bonding going on and baby's been born and they're just kind of like snuggling and settling in and working on the first latch that they're just kind of like wow, like okay, the lock and the key is working and they're kind of just riding it out, I usually start tidying or doing other things, but I could count on both hands, probably more maybe, how many times I've gone to make someone's scrambled eggs after birth. It's a really good post birth.

Brigitte 10:06
It is, yeah post birth. It's yeah, that's usually a lot of people's go to like that with pancakes or something, you know, just a good one.

Allison 10:14
Yeah, I've made a couple of quesadillas. They're like, I just want a quesadilla You got it. I always am like, don't worry about it. I will find it.

Brigitte 10:24
Yeah, that's awesome. That sounds delicious, making me hungry. Yeah, all the food talk. And then you can also make your own granola bars. I do kind of advise people to stay away from like store-bought granola bars, just because they do have some like preservatives and yucky things in them. But if you're in a pinch, you can obviously find some good brands out there to get. But making your own is super easy. You can make them ahead of time. There's some great recipes out there, I can probably throw a little link in there for those who want to make their own. They don't have to go searching, I can throw one in there. So yeah, we talked about electrolytes. I'm trying to think if there's anything else.

Allison 11:03
I would definitely when you're touring a facility, it's very good to know about like, what are their policies? What are you kind of like walking into? And as far as like, what's their default? There are some hospitals that are so good at oh, yeah, like, let's get you some food or yeah, you can have -

Brigitte 11:20
They'll encourage it.

Allison 11:20
They want to make sure you're staying eating. Same thing with your partner. Sometimes they try to really take care of partner to you, which is also sometimes the job of the doula; we try to make sure that everyone's fed and hydrated and everything. But even when you're asking questions about, like, how they, how that kind of works, you can kind of prepare yourself for, you know, are they going to be really encouraging? Or does it feel like you have to advocate for some food, or obviously you have your own snacks, they're not going to come in and take your honey stick away from you. You have the right to like bring in all the food that you want, snacks and stuff and most places you can do like delivery. So if you have even if someone else is dropping off food for you while you're in labor, or if you place an order for something, and it was delivered to the hospital like they see that all the time. Yeah. And check if there's a refrigerator in each room. Sometimes there's mini fridges in each room so that way you can kind of know if you are bringing hard boiled eggs or whatever it is that you would want to keep refrigerated. You'll pop those in your own fridge. Or if there's like a hospital like a like a, a fridge that's just for the labor and delivery unit. You can kind of see like, what's the storage situation? Should you just bring your own like little cooler or something instead? Usually you can store some things there. You usually have to label them and that type of thing, make sure they're saved as yours. But ideally, there's a fridge in your own room, or you bring like a little cooler or something.

Yeah, yep, definitely. All good ideas. Do we want to talk about like after birth kind of stuff? Um, you can really eat anything you want? If you have your baby so whenever you feel like eating some people want like a burger or some people want pizza.

What is your victory meal? Sometimes you don't know what that is. Right? Until you're in it. I've had people where they like we're trying to prepare things for after and they're like, I don't know what I want to eat yet. Like don't take anything out or don't order anything. I'm not sure. Yeah, and usually within the first hour or two, you'll be ready probably and, want to eat something?

Brigitte 13:16
Yep, definitely.

Allison 13:17
So, some people are really really hungry after birth. I would say most of my clients I don't know about you, but most of my clients, everybody has one. And if both hands are being like utilized for like nursing or just skin to skin or whatever it is, like we I've hand-fed my clients. Even if it's a piece of muffin or fruit on a fork, whatever it is, there's some people around you that it would happily feed you obviously you're very independent and you can do it yourself if you want. So no one's forcing you but it's it's nice to just know that you have people that will wait on you, hand and foot, we have no problem doing that.

Brigitte 13:55
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, really whatever like I said before like eggs and pancakes usually people love.

Allison 14:01
Yeah, a good omelet.

Brigitte 14:02
Yeah. Or like even like a big sub. I've seen people do that like Italian sub seems to be pretty popular.

Allison 14:07
Yes. People are like I'm now in the mood for deli meat or I've had clients who literally bring like prepared sushi to store in the fridge. And they're like, I'm ready now for my sushi.

Brigitte 14:19
Yeah, yeah. And it's like big big sushi. So yeah, like delicious. Good stuff. Yeah.

Allison 14:24
I've had people that are like, we hate to bug you but and like where can I go pick up your favorite? Like Great. Thank you. Here's the address. This is the here's the you know what we're we've ordered. We really like it when you are well fed after. You've worked very hard, you just ran a marathon and then some.

Brigitte 14:44
Yeah, deserve to be fed and fed. Well, so yeah.

Allison 14:48
For sure. Yeah, sometimes after cesarean birth you do have to slowly ease into eating. You kind of want to go easy on your stomach. So usually it starts with jello or broth or something like that and then ease into like crackers or, you know, like a little bit of fruit or a granola bar or something and then get you could go into like the subs or whatever, but it's good to kind of like ease your body into it.

Brigitte 15:18
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And actually back to the active labor, I forgot a couple of more. So sure. Definitely like cheese and crackers is just what triggered me to think of it. So like cheese is really good again, has protein carbs. So cheese is also a great option. Definitely crackers. It's really whatever you kind of feel like might be like, if you want to spend that energy chewing or if you just want something you can just swallow and whatever. So yeah, but yeah, cheese was definitely one.

Allison 15:43
Yeah and chocolate. I've had some clients who have like chocolate cravings, they're like, I need something sweet. I feel like having the, like, the proactive conversation with your partner too like, is there anything that they you know, want to make sure it's thrown in the bag too. But making sure that you have things on hand when you're at home or getting to know what your birth center might have for options, like there's a couple good local ones to us that they just have so many ways to feed you. And it's great to know that you don't have to bring all kinds of stuff. Hospitals, obviously will feed you as well. But usually it's great, like at 3am if you're needing a specific snack, and it's hard to find certain options in the middle of the night, specifically from the hospital or store, then yeah, bringing your own stuff is good. Try to think about like, we've talked about things that are easy to eat. Or maybe you don't mind chewing maybe you want to crunch on something or maybe you don't you think of things that are a little sweeter, a little salty, or a little savory, savory, whatever it is. And there's some ways to like combine things like bone broth, that's great, easy to easy to chew. And it's like this more salty versus, you know, like apple slices that are sweet and crunchy. Like, yeah, it's good to kind of think about what you might be in the mood for and yeah, having a variety is great.

Brigitte 17:06
Yeah, definitely. And then just thinking of things too, that are like, easy to digest, too. Because yeah, like you're, again, your digestion is slowing down and you're everything is going to shift and move once baby's out. So your guts are just going to kind of all go back to where they should be over time. So yeah, having things to that are easily to digest or a good idea too.

Fantastic. Well, pay attention to the show notes for anything we've talked about. We'll definitely link on some of the stuff we referenced in there. But we hope that you enjoy packing for all of us. I think it's fun to pack food.

Allison 17:44
Well yeah, snacks are always great.

Imagine you're going on a road trip. Like that's what I'm we're road tripping like we, we have our little list there is that's essentially the same, besides like worrying about digestion, but the same thing, you need variety.

Brigitte 17:59
So yes, totally. Yep. Yeah, I think of all things that like you interest you in normal day to day, but yeah, like, again, like Allison mentioned, just like sweet and salty, and to chew or not to chew, whatever.

Allison 18:10
Right, that you can hold in one hand or like that type of thing. Especially if you're like, postpartum and nursing baby, and you're really hungry, and you just need a one handed thing. Yeah. But yeah, try to think about what might work best for you, your partner. You also as a side note, you could totally butter up the team that you're working with, and bring them something too. I've seen a lot of nurses who are like, thank you so much for like, whatever nice thing you made for them or brought for them, it is a nice way to really like show your appreciation or kind of help. I've had a client who's like they've picked up a box of doughnuts for like, each shift, or they've, you know, ordered pizzas for like, whatever it is. Sometimes even feeding the people that are caring for you, it makes them feel very appreciated. And they, they kind of are like, oh, like I see the the bell is ringing for room 504, I'm gonna, I'm going to actually go peek in I know, I'm not the nurse, but I'm just going to take care of it because they're so nice. Like, you kind of build the relationship. People like taking care of people that it's like kind of going back and forth. So it's kind of a nice gesture too.

Brigitte 19:18
Yeah, definitely. Yep. Yeah. Cool. All right. Anything else?

Allison 19:22
I think that's it.

Brigitte 19:24
Yeah. So I mean, we didn't talk about home birth. But I mean, that's pretty self explanatory. You have everything you need, usually at home, so. So yeah, we don't have to go to that. I don't think.

Allison 19:34
Like we said, just stock up at home. You don't have to worry about if there's a fridge or anything like that. You've got a whole pantry and fridge to work with. But yeah, just go grocery shopping ahead of time. You can probably have more prepared actually if you're at home because you have more room. And obviously anyone coming to you postpartum or for the birth, anything like that, you can ask them to pick something up as well. If you're in the mood for something.

Brigitte 20:01
Yeah, your local restaurant or whatever. Perfect.

Allison 20:06
Well, that's it for this episode. Thank you very much for tuning in and thinking about food with us

Brigitte 20:12
Yeah no, I'm hungry and I'm going to go eat something.

Allison 20:17
Well, let us know if there's anything that we didn't mention that you found was like a lifesaver during your labor or something that you are planning on packing, we'd love to chat with you about options. And yeah, yeah, we appreciate you. And always talk to you next time. All right, see you next time.

Brigitte 20:33
Thank you. Bye!

Allison 21:14
Bye!

The Holistic Birth Podcast

Foods for Labor

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