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Is childbirth incompatible with food? Nutrition for a pregnant woman before childbirth: proper preparation for motherhood.

There are different opinions about what you can eat before giving birth. They are all quite contradictory. What is the right thing to do? The most important thing is to listen to your needs and common sense. And if you want something “forbidden”, then just don’t forget about moderation. Each organism is individual, and even in childbirth, which is regulated by identical natural fluctuations hormonal levels, a woman may have different, individual nutritional needs.

If you want, then eat to your health! In this case, it would be more correct to ask which foods you can eat before giving birth, and which ones you should avoid.

Nutrition before childbirth for several weeks

It is reasonably recommended to switch to a plant-based dairy diet 3-4 weeks before giving birth. Yogurts, fruits, cottage cheese, cereals, salads, soups allow you to get enough without overloading the intestines and pancreas. Starting from week 36, the baby can be born at any time. Therefore, this diet promotes normal flow the entire birth process, whenever it begins, and the preparation of the body for childbirth.

Why can’t it be sweet and rich? Firstly, these are extra calories. Secondly, during the digestion of these products, fermentation processes predominate in the intestines, which contributes to gas formation. Plus, these same foods contribute to or worsen constipation. You also need to take into account the likelihood of the appearance or exacerbation of hemorrhoids.

What should you pay attention to?

A fairly important product before childbirth is vegetable oil. This powerful protection from ruptures during childbirth. Under its influence, elasticity blood vessels and tissues of the birth canal increases. If you have any questions about this gastronomic preferences– then you can use any: olive, sunflower, pumpkin, flaxseed, nut, etc. Use oil for salad dressings, which is more convenient, or drink one spoon in pure form daily.

Should I eat during labor and labor?

The physiology of childbirth is such that in a hungry woman, labor slows down and stops. The reason for this is an increase in adrenaline levels. With the onset of contractions, if the desire arises, it makes sense to eat. If you don’t want to eat, then you shouldn’t.

The female body can independently replenish energy costs from its own reserves. Judging by the feelings of most women in labor, they don’t want to eat during labor, and they don’t have time. This is especially true for quick (quick) births. The food in them is irrelevant and inappropriate. But during prolonged labor they recommend eating... Chocolate.

Why do you need chocolate during childbirth?

Chocolate is used to stimulate labor. But definitely black (bitter). In some maternity hospitals, a bar of dark chocolate is on the list of required things to bring to the maternity hospital. It is believed that the substances contained in dark chocolate have a stimulating effect on the cervix - it opens faster and reduces pain threshold. A decrease in sensitivity to pain occurs due to the content of serotonin, which stimulates the release of endorphins - the “happiness” hormones. But you need to be careful - dilatation of the cervix is often accompanied by nausea and the urge to vomit.

The use of chocolate to stimulate labor has positive and negative reviews. Therefore, it is up to you and your doctor to decide whether to eat chocolate before giving birth. Just get ready to take him to the hospital. And during childbirth, you decide for yourself whether you specifically need it or not. If you decide, then the main thing is not to eat the whole tile at once. Choose the freshest and highest quality chocolate for childbirth, with the maximum content of cocoa butter. White and milky tiles do not have a pronounced stimulating effect on the cervix.

When consuming dark chocolate to stimulate labor, it is worth remembering its sensitizing effect - the ability to cause allergies. An allergen can affect not only maternal organism, but also on the baby being born.

5 rules for eating before childbirth

If you want to eat, do it. The presence of psychological discomfort caused by hunger prolongs labor. If you have no appetite, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat.

Eat cooked food in small portions.

The best foods before childbirth are a boiled egg, dried fruits, crispbread, baked fruit, biscuits.

Most likely, after eating the above foods, you will feel thirsty. Bring water or pre-prepared herbal tea, tea in half-liter bottles with “sport” caps. As practice shows, it is more convenient to drink from them without spilling. It is a generally accepted fact that the best drink during childbirth is pure water. A large volume of liquid in the stomach stretches the walls and slows down digestion. Thereby causing the urge to vomit. You need to drink in small portions.

Bring some dark chocolate with you.

Eating before childbirth does not affect the duration of labor or the frequency of surgical interventions. Surgical delivery – C-section- Possibly after eating. Previously, general anesthesia was used for pain relief. This was the reason for the ban on food before childbirth. Epidural anesthesia is now widely used. Therefore, the food taken is not an obstacle to the operation.

There is an opinion that you should not eat before childbirth in order to prevent involuntary defecation in the pushing period. For the same reason, an enema is recommended before childbirth. Physiologically, the body is designed very wisely and at the beginning labor activity the intestines empty on their own. So this argument is not a reason to torture yourself with hunger during childbirth.

Conclusion

Eating before childbirth should not cause discomfort. Small portions of permitted foods will help you regain strength and lift your spirits. You already know what you can eat before giving birth. For the rest, rely on your body, just listen to it.

Before giving birth, every woman in labor will have to go through a bowel cleansing procedure using an enema. This is especially necessary for women preparing for a caesarean section. During childbirth, during contractions, you should not eat or drink. This is due, firstly, to the fact that against the background of contractions, vomiting reflex. Well, and secondly, until the birth is completed, the possibility cannot be ruled out operative delivery(caesarean section). Therefore, the intestines must be prepared for childbirth in any case.

Where to get strength?

Women in labor are routinely compared to athletes who are encouraged to consume huge quantities carbohydrates and proteins, and drink a lot when they are under maximum exertion. Moreover, the midwives themselves in some maternity hospitals recommend that a pregnant woman preparing for childbirth eat some food and drink sweet tea.

However, specialists who study the physiology of childbirth know how a woman’s body works during childbirth, how much energy is consumed, and are confident that there is no point in overloading the intestines.

If childbirth proceeds as physiologically as possible, without stimulating drugs, all the skeletal muscles of the woman in labor are relaxed. A woman in this phase is more comfortable in a relaxed position, lying on her side or on all fours. The woman in labor strives to take a stationary position and expends little energy, her need for carbohydrates is minimal.

When labor is easy, only two organs are truly working: the uterine muscle and the oldest part of the brain, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Their function is to secrete hormones involved in the process of childbirth and they consume a negligible amount of energy. As for the uterine muscle, it belongs to the so-called smooth (involuntary) muscles. Smooth muscles spend energy 200x400 times more economically than striated muscles, and they can easily be used as “fuel” fatty acid(and prefer them to glucose). Since the human body has a lot of fat reserves, there is a danger of being left without an energy source smooth muscles practically no threat.

Why can't I have sweets?

Comparing a woman in labor to a marathon runner is not only confusing, it can even be dangerous. Side effects The use of sugar during childbirth has been repeatedly documented. Obstetricians should be aware that sugars in their pure form tend to lower the pain threshold and the level of maximum pain tolerated. Moreover, there is evidence that when mothers were given intravenous glucose during labor, the intensity of neonatal jaundice was greater.

Not to drink?

The need for fluid in a woman in labor is often overestimated. It is often written that during childbirth it is necessary to replenish enormous water losses in order to avoid dehydration and its consequences. In fact, fluid loss during childbirth is not so significant due to the increased secretion of the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin (which retains water) by the pituitary gland, as well as due to the relaxation of voluntary muscles. When labor begins, the mother's body has a more than sufficient supply of water; water intoxication and low sodium levels in the blood should be more of a concern. A full bladder also causes discomfort.

How does a woman behave during childbirth?

By studying the behavior of women during childbirth, several simple patterns can be derived. First: labor rarely begins if a pregnant woman is hungry. This is understandable, since hunger usually increases the level of adrenaline hormones in the blood. The second pattern: when labor has entered the active phase, women, as a rule, do not eat. If a woman eats, then serious doubts arise that she is really giving birth. Childbirth is a difficult diagnosis. When a woman has contractions every 5 minutes and is told that her cervix is 1 x 2 cm dilated, she becomes confident that she is undoubtedly in labor. Such a diagnosis often leads to protracted labor, which also increases the likelihood surgical intervention, before which anesthesia will be needed. If a woman is really hungry, then she needs to be fed so that the adrenaline level decreases and labor can actually begin. Often, expectant mothers are sent to the hospital during the prenatal period, but labor does not begin, since they are not allowed to satisfy their hunger. The third pattern: women who really feel relaxed and who have not been told that they “need strength” prefer to drink only a little water, but not sweet drinks. Often they have a strong desire to take a sip of water right before the irresistible last attempts, which are caused by the so-called fetal ejection reflex (this is a sign of a sharp release of adrenaline).

Preparing for childbirth

It should be recalled that in many hospitals for a long time There was a strict ban on eating and drinking during childbirth. The purpose of the ban was to prevent serious complications during general anesthesia, when, with a full stomach, the reverse reflux of solid food can lead to blockage respiratory tract, and the reflux of acidic stomach contents into the lungs (aspiration) can cause severe pneumonia. Now that most C-sections are performed under epidural or spinal anesthesia, the benefits of more liberal rules outweigh the risk of complications. As a result, the number of operations is reduced.

Preparing the intestines for childbirth, according to experts who support the theory of a light stomach, is carried out as follows. 3-4 weeks before giving birth, it is necessary to exclude meat and heavy side dishes from the diet, and significantly limit sweets and starchy foods. It is advisable to leave only vegetables, fruits in any form (boiled, stewed, fresh) and fermented milk products.

In addition to the diet, you should prepare the intestines for childbirth by taking Forlax: dilute 1 sachet in one glass boiled water and drink the prepared solution for 10 x 14 days daily during breakfast. In cases of constipation, dilute two Forlax sachets in two glasses of water. Accept as well.

To overcome thirst during childbirth, you need to either suck on an ice cube or rinse your mouth with cool water. There is no need to fortify yourself with chocolate or apples. Because, sweet chocolate can strengthen the gag reflex, and apples can cause gas formation. Therefore, it is better to leave a chocolate bar for the early postpartum period.

Even if there is a renewed interest in the physiology of childbirth in the near future, we will still need to recognize that the nutritional needs of a laboring woman are too complex to be controlled by a birth attendant. Generally speaking, labor cannot be controlled. Women should rely on their feelings, and not on what they read in books or heard from someone. Advising a woman giving birth to eat pasta or add honey to her tea is as unreasonable as introducing prohibitions. The only recommendation we can give is to avoid giving recommendations!

Last month pregnancy is the most exciting and long-awaited moment for a woman: the baby is formed, and it is worth preparing for its imminent appearance. The ninth month is important not so much for the growth and health of the baby in the womb, but for preparation female body to delivery. To make childbirth easier and more safely, gynecologists recommend that pregnant women in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy perform various exercises for the pelvic floor muscles, train to breathe correctly during childbirth and adhere to special diet. A woman must strictly monitor her diet; it must be balanced, healthy, and not contain alcohol. But before childbirth, the composition of food changes dramatically.

By the 37th week, the baby is already fully formed, viable and ready to be born. Over the previous 8 months, he received everything he needed to develop. The last month should be aimed at preparing the pelvic muscles for the passage of the child. The essence of the diet is to relieve the woman’s body, not to overfeed the baby, and to choose a set of products that will strengthen the pelvic muscles and make them more elastic.

Which foods to exclude and which to add?

Animal. The consumption of fish and eggs should be reduced or minimized. This will allow the muscles of the birth canal to be more elastic, plastic, facilitate the advancement of the child, which will serve as the prevention of ruptures during childbirth and birth injuries of the newborn.
Products rich in . Milk, cottage cheese, cheeses, fermented milk products, and fish are rich in it. Calcium is not needed before childbirth - it helps to harden the bones of the baby’s skull, and this makes it difficult for him to pass through birth canal. It would be a mistake to completely give up fermented milk drinks, they best products for normal intestinal function, maintaining healthy microflora. But if the birth is scheduled for a certain date, it will be a caesarean section, then the restriction is lifted.
. You can opt for olive and linseed oils, if you like something else, please. 1-2 tablespoons per day will be enough. Vegetable oil You can add it to soups and season vegetable salads. The oils will serve as a preventive measure for hemorrhoids, increase muscle elasticity, and prevent drying out of the mucous membrane during childbirth. But you need to give up animal fats: they reduce the elasticity of tissues, which leads to muscle tears during childbirth.
Carrot. Must be present in the diet expectant mother. It is rich in vitamins, which maintains tissue tone and promotes their speedy recovery after childbirth. Carrots are low in calories and are a source of essential vitamins and minerals.

In addition to the listed product recommendations, do not forget about eating five meals a day and small snacks. You should not eat before bed, especially foods that cause heartburn and belching. Observe drinking regime: if the fluid in the body does not stagnate, drink 2 liters per day; if the gynecologist recommended limiting fluid and salt intake, then follow these rules.

Menu before childbirth

Raw, boiled or baked vegetables must be present in the diet of a woman preparing for childbirth.

A woman’s menu before childbirth should consist of dairy-free porridges, stewed, fried, boiled and baked vegetables, dried fruits, and raw. You can eat one fermented milk product per day: sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese or kefir.

10 days before the expected date of birth, it is advisable to exclude even porridge from the diet, leaving only vegetables and fruits.

Examples of dishes that can be prepared before childbirth

Many people do not know the full range of possible vegetable dishes. Let's give some examples, and you can cook, based on these ideas, whatever suits your taste best.

Soups without meat broth, cold soup, or cold borscht, okroshka.
Vegetable casserole, potatoes baked with vegetables and sour cream in the oven. Baked apples.
Vegetable stew.
Vegetables in batter.
Stuffed cabbage rolls without meat, peppers stuffed with rice.
Potato pancakes, pancakes from or zucchini.
Rice and zucchini casserole.
Salads.
Beans or green beans, cooked with onions, tomatoes and carrots.
with white sauce, stewed cabbage, solyanka.
Vegetable cutlets.
Stewed carrots with sour cream.
Stewed eggplant, squash caviar.
Pumpkin porridge.
Compotes. Kiseli.

Day of birth

The day of birth will be indicated by the gynecologist at the last consultation. Harbingers of the onset of labor will be minor contractions and leakage of water. If childbirth occurs, then it is better not to eat anything - this can cause vomiting, belching, and will take up some of the energy to digest food, and this should be saved for childbirth.

On the day of birth, it is better not to eat, but to drink more. It is healthier for muscles to drink non-carbonated or drinking water, teas from mint, lemon balm, currants, raspberries. But if you really want to eat, you can satisfy your hunger with a small portion of light food that does not cause nausea or disgust. The main thing is not to overeat, and not to choose foods that make you thirsty.

It is best to refrain from eating, because after childbirth the intestines do not work, and food may remain in it long time, which enhances the processes of rotting and fermentation.

Remember: a diet should not exhaust a woman.

If she is constantly hungry, because of the refusal of certain foods she has become nervous, capricious, and sleeps poorly, then the diet can be adjusted and sometimes you can allow yourself to eat what you want.

Many pregnant women are interested in the question: is it possible to eat during childbirth? Before giving birth, every woman in labor will have to go through a bowel cleansing procedure using an enema. This is especially necessary for women preparing for a caesarean section. During childbirth, during contractions, you should not eat or drink. This is due, firstly, to the fact that a gag reflex may occur against the background of contractions. Well, and secondly, until labor is completed, the possibility of surgical delivery cannot be ruled out. Therefore, the intestines must be prepared for childbirth in any case.

Where to get strength during childbirth?

Women in labor are commonly compared to athletes, who are encouraged to consume large amounts of carbohydrates and proteins, and drink a lot when they are facing maximum exertion. Moreover, the midwives themselves in some maternity hospitals recommend that a pregnant woman preparing for childbirth eat some food and drink sweet tea.

When childbirth is easy, only two organs really work: the muscle of the uterus and the oldest part of the brain - the hypothalamus and pituitary gland.

Their function is to secrete hormones involved in the process of childbirth and they consume a negligible amount of energy. As for the uterine muscle, it belongs to the so-called smooth (involuntary) muscles. Smooth muscles spend energy 200-400 times more economically than striated muscles, and they can easily use fatty acids as fuel (and prefer them to glucose). Since the human body has a lot of fat reserves, there is practically no danger of being left without a source of energy for smooth muscles.

Why can't you eat sweets?

Comparing a woman in labor to a marathon runner is not only confusing, it can even be dangerous. The side effects of using sugar during childbirth have been repeatedly documented. Obstetricians should be aware that sugars in their pure form tend to lower the pain threshold and the level of maximum pain tolerated. Moreover, there is evidence that when mothers were given intravenous glucose during labor, the intensity of neonatal jaundice was greater.

Not to drink?

The need for fluid in a woman in labor is often overestimated. It is often written that during childbirth it is necessary to replenish enormous water losses in order to avoid dehydration and its consequences. In fact, fluid loss during childbirth is not so significant due to the increased secretion of the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin (which retains water) by the pituitary gland, as well as due to the relaxation of voluntary muscles. When labor begins, the mother's body has a more than sufficient supply of water - water intoxication and low sodium levels in the blood should rather be feared. A full bladder also causes discomfort.

How a woman behaves during childbirth

By studying the behavior of women during childbirth, several simple patterns can be derived. First: labor rarely begins if a pregnant woman is hungry. This is understandable, since hunger usually increases the level of adrenaline hormones in the blood. The second pattern: when labor has entered the active phase, women, as a rule, do not eat. If a woman eats, then serious doubts arise that she is really giving birth. Childbirth is a difficult diagnosis. When a woman has contractions every 5 minutes and is told that her cervix is 1-2 cm dilated, she becomes confident that she is undoubtedly in labor. Such a diagnosis often leads to a protracted labor, which also increases the likelihood of surgical intervention, which will require anesthesia. If a woman is really hungry, then she needs to be fed so that the adrenaline level decreases and labor can actually begin. Often, expectant mothers are sent to the hospital during the prenatal period, but labor does not begin, since they are not allowed to satisfy their hunger. The third pattern: women who really feel relaxed and who have not been told that they “need strength” prefer to drink only a little water, but not sweet drinks. Often they have a strong desire to take a sip of water right before the irresistible last attempts, which are caused by the so-called fetal ejection reflex (this is a sign of a sharp release of adrenaline).

Preparing a woman in labor

It should be recalled that in many hospitals for a long time there was a strict ban on eating and drinking during childbirth. The purpose of the ban was to prevent serious complications during general anesthesia, when, with a full stomach, the backflow of solid food can lead to blockage of the respiratory tract, and the backflow of acidic stomach contents into the lungs (aspiration) can cause severe pneumonia. Now that most C-sections are performed under epidural or spinal anesthesia, the benefits of more liberal rules outweigh the risk of complications. As a result, the number of operations is reduced.

In addition to the diet, you should prepare the intestines for childbirth by taking Forlax: dilute 1 sachet in one glass of boiled water and drink the prepared solution every day for 10-14 days during breakfast. In cases of constipation, dilute two Forlax sachets in two glasses of water. Accept as well.

To overcome thirst during childbirth, you need to either suck on an ice cube or rinse your mouth with cool water. There is no need to fortify yourself with chocolate or apples. Since sweet chocolate can strengthen the gag reflex, and apples can cause gas formation. Therefore, it is better to leave a chocolate bar for the early postpartum period.

Good day, my beautiful readers! If you opened this article, you may already be going into labor. Congratulations! I keep my fingers crossed for you. Let everythnig will be alright! Or maybe you want to find out in advance about all the nuances of nutrition during this period. In any case, you need to know them.

So, regular contractions have appeared, but you are still at home. And before leaving for the maternity hospital, you want to eat. But the question remains: is it possible to eat before giving birth? More precisely, during childbirth - after all, it has already begun.

Now I will tell you everything I know about it.

I will say right away that doctors do not have a consensus. Only person, who can accurately answer your question is the doctor who will deliver the baby.

Therefore, it is better to discuss this with your doctor in advance if you already know with whom you will give birth. If you don’t know, then the article will be useful to you.

The snack is spoken by your stomach and common sense. An extra dose of energy will not hurt both you and your baby. After all, childbirth lasts from 6 to 18 hours.

Supporters also speak out in favor of eating natural birth. For example, in the book “Art breastfeeding La Leche League allows a woman in labor to eat “as much as her heart desires.”

Cochrane, an organization that has been collecting reliable medical data for 20 years, summarized the results of 6 major studies. It turned out that the well-being of children and the course of labor in women do not depend on whether they ate or not.

Obstetricians and gynecologists are against eating during childbirth. And that's why:

The woman in labor may need general anesthesia. And then the contents of the stomach will enter the trachea and bronchi. This can cause pneumonia. This is a serious complication.
When contractions become active, a full stomach will trigger vomiting.

Let's discuss the first argument.

Only in 5% of cases is caesarean section performed under general anesthesia. These are emergency operations that were impossible to foresee at the beginning of labor. But even then, anesthesiologists have techniques to prevent gastric contents from refluxing into the lungs.

In 95% of cases, spinal or epidural anesthesia is used. With these methods, only the lower half of the body loses sensitivity.
The woman does not lose consciousness, and the contents of the stomach cannot enter the lungs.

Inactive, low-painful contractions in the first stage of labor last 5-6 hours. During this time, food will have time to travel from the stomach to the intestines.

So is it or is it not

Let's summarize. You may be able to eat a snack if:

You normal pregnancy without any deviations.
You are pregnant with one child.
You cephalic presentation, that is, the child is positioned head down.
Childbirth began at term: from 37 to 41 weeks.
The water hasn't broken yet.
You are not bleeding.

Just don't confuse a light snack with lunch. A tightly packed stomach will prevent you from giving birth!

You were prepared for a planned cesarean section, but labor began earlier.
The birth did not start on time.
You have more than one baby in your belly.
You have any abnormalities during pregnancy. For example, low position placenta, breech presentation, large fruit, narrow pelvis, high pressure, swelling.
The waters have broken.
You are bleeding (red blood).

In all these cases there is no time for drinking tea. Call an ambulance immediately! You may need surgery.