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Restricting food and fluid in labour

There was an opportunity to visit the Labour Ward in Yeovil Women’s Hospital after the workshop today. The labour rooms are large and well appointed, but it was a smaller area that was a little separate from the rest of the unit that really caught my attention.

This room, much like the other labour rooms, had its own en-suite bathroom, with the most amazing bath. This was a large, standard bath on a hydraulic lift, that could be raised an lowered (full of water and a labouring woman!) to a useful height for the midwife. Apparently this style of bath is used for the elderly, but it seemed ideal to me for use in labour, even though a slightly larger pool would be even better.

I also spied a wonderful sight - a tea tray set with a kettle, cups and tea bags/coffee sachets. This is intended for the support people in labour, and the mother too, if she wishes. In this unit, there are no restrictions on what the mother can eat and rink during labour and the simple facilities the midwives have provided is a very welcoming and normalising gesture.

Many times I have been told of hospital rules stating “fathers can’t use kettles in labour wards because they might burn themselves”. This is complete nonsense, of course, but makes a convenient excuse for enforcing measures that keep parents dependent and uncomfortable in the hospital setting.

It is the anaesthetists who impose the restrictions about eating and drinking in labour, even though there is no evidence to support their rules. The research clearly states that limiting access to food and fluids increases the likelihood of caesarean birth, and that the few anaesthetic accidents that have occurred (aspiration syndrome) during prepping for caesarean surgery, are due to poor technique. These few emergencies, the result of incompetent practise, have resulted in millions of women worldwide being denied nutrition in labour, to their detriment.

I will be using the Yeovil example in future workshops - if they can provide simple sustenance to labouring woman and their partners without problems, why can’t other hospitals adopt this idea?

Posted by andrea at October 18, 2005 06:30 PM