For years women laboring in a hospital setting have been told that it is dangerous to eat and drink during labor. There have been fears that a woman could aspirate the food into her lungs after receiving general anesthesia during childbirth. Unfortunately, the lack of food makes women become tired during long labors. This can lead to an increase in interventions and c-sections.

However, women rarely receive general anesthesia during their labors anymore. The advances in anesthesia practices have made vomiting a rare occurrence, reducing the risk that food once was. Many doctors are beginning to relax their stances on food and drink for laboring women. A new review of laboring women has found no evidence of risks for laboring women who eat. High-risk obstetrician Jeffrey Ecker, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital told WebMD:

We are, as we speak, in the process of re-evaluating our practice, as I believe other hospitals are.

Women who have chosen out of hospital births have known for years how important it is to stay energized while laboring. Many midwives encourage a woman to eat and drink as she needs to during labor. This new research is another step towards changing what many saw as outdated and harmful hospital practices.

photo credit: roens

photo credit: WTL photos

Common medical thought has long been that babies in the breech position, feet or butt first, should be delivered by cesarean section. Few doctors today are even trained in how to deliver a breech baby vaginally. In Canada however, that will soon change.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada has issued new guidelines for doctors to allow women the ability to choose whether they want a vaginal birth or a cesarean section. According to the Vancouver Sun these new guidelines reflect the growing trend of women choosing to give birth at home in order to avoid medical interventions such as unnecessary cesarean sections.

The society says that women in Canada want the choice, and that some women with breech babies are delivering at home “because they knew if they went to hospital A, B or C it would not be offered,” says Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice-president of the obstetricians’ group and an adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynecology at McGill University and the University of Ottawa.Lalonde says the group is working aggressively to ensure future specialists are trained in breech vaginal deliveries and is organizing courses across Canada for practising doctors to refresh their training.

These new guidelines may mean more freedom for women who want a vaginal delivery but are wary of or not able to have a home birth. Once considered too risky for vaginal birth, new studies are now showing the potential risks are not nearly as great as once expected. Though c-sections are still recommended for footling breech births, as well as babies who are determined too large or too small, these new guidelines should decrease the number of c-sections being performed in Canada.