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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

What did you feel like eating and drinking in labour?

37 replies

Naomi1smile · 30/05/2011 10:51

36 weeks and all starting to feel real. Planning my bag but hoping for a home birth and wondering what we should stock up on to eat/drink during labour. I am a grazer at the best of times but have no idea what I will feel like on the day. Any tips??

OP posts:

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bambinoblue3 · 30/05/2011 10:55

I had 2 hospital births and wasn't allowed to eat in case i needed a c section which in the end i did but i know different hospitals are different so ive never ate in labour but the one thing i couldn't live without is ice cold juice. Keep big bottles of water/juice in freezer so it slowly melts and stays ice cold.

Checkmate · 30/05/2011 11:00

Didn't feel like eating anything.

Sipped water and sucked ice chips, but that's about it.

Most hospitals do let you eat in labour if you want to, these days.

YankNCock · 30/05/2011 11:02

I remember reading that it was recommended to eat lightly during labour. After getting sent home from the hospital for the second time (not dilated enough), I demanded a full english breakfast with extra black pudding, then schlepped upstairs and took to my bed for the rest of the day.

In the evening I had a pepperoni pizza in between contractions. Went to hospital about 2am, EMCS at 11am.

Agree about freezing the water, you won't get anything cold in the hospital!

Wigeon · 30/05/2011 11:23

Didn't want to eat or drink anything during either of my two labours. But packed a cereal bar and bananas just in case. Would highly recommend packing snacks for your birth partner though because they are very likely to get hungry at some point, and you probably won't want them to leave you to make themselves a sandwich!

Good idea to pack a hospital bag for a homebirth - glad I did for DD2, born 2 weeks ago, who was also a planned homebirth but ended up as a hospital birth due to staff shortages meaning I was told I had to go into hospital...And even if you do have a homebirth, it's useful to have all the things you need in one bag.

RobynLou · 30/05/2011 11:25

I sipped water, didn't eat a thing.
once they were born however I chowed down like I hadn't eaten for weeks!

tummytickler · 30/05/2011 11:29

I did not want to eat anything during my labours.
First 3 dc's were very quick, so no time, ds4, just did not fancy eating,
However, I was absolutely starving afterwards and the tea and toast didn't even begin to satiate my immense hunger. I ate all my meals I was given in hospital, but was still starving. I was so pleased I packed loads of snacks. Breastfeeding really takes it out of you, especially in the first few weeks, if you are anything like me you will be ravenous. Especially overnight!

PaperView · 30/05/2011 11:35

I didn't want to eat during my labours. Had water with my first but nothing else. After each of them i was instantly ravenous though.

Original poster

Naomi1smile · 30/05/2011 11:38

Great tips, thank you. Need to make space in the freezer for those bottles.

OP posts:

Dilligaf81 · 30/05/2011 11:42

Oh god I ate and ate and ate. With DS1 I was induced and ordered food whilst waiting for it all to kick off. 3 hours late in full labour bouncing on a birth ball a head pops around the door "oh I dont think you'll be wanting the dinner you ordered then ?" I made DH chase her actually chase her like a mad man to get my thai curry. It was delicious.
This may have been after DD1 I didnt take anything with me and they offered me a cold dry bit of brown toast (it was 2am, I was ravenous).
Flapjacks were good too.

Good luck

Fraochsmum · 30/05/2011 11:51

Good idea about packing some snacks btw, if you end up in hospital you will prob have to wait a while between meals and could be pretty close to visiting times.
I drank water between G&A. I had sag aloo for tea before I went into labour, but came back a few hours later... I had to be airlifted to a city hospital after having DD so it was 24 hours before I got something else to eat :( which is when I sent one of my visitors to get me a pizza!
Hope all goes well for you x

MrsChemist · 30/05/2011 11:59

I didn't feel like eating and just drank water. G&A made me really thirsty so I didn't care what I had.

Curiously wasn't hungry after either. My long awaited tea and toast arrived and I didn't touch it.

notasausage · 30/05/2011 12:21

Water and softmints - the entinox makes your mouth really dry. Was sick twice in early labour thanks to the codine the MW gave me so didn't risk eating much after that.

GreenTeapot · 30/05/2011 12:23

I had a flapjack before things got going.

Afterwards, while waiting for the tea and toast, DP found one of those Ginster's chicken and mushroom slice things in his bag, which he'd got from a vending machine while I was in the throes. It tasted wonderful it must have been the hormones!

ScrotalPantomime · 30/05/2011 12:31

During labour with my first I had both my mum and my DH with me. DH was amazing of course but frankly I preferred my mum as she provided me with lucozade sport and digestive biscuits - that made her a goddess to me! :o

For some reason I was really craving pizza hut though.

Didn't eat during second labour except glucose tablets and polos (mint is good if you feel sick)

coldcomfortHeart · 30/05/2011 12:55

Lucozade, water and peanut M&Ms first time, planning on the same again this time!

Cyclebump · 30/05/2011 14:13

I ate a couple of cereal bars and sipped loads of cold water administered by an on-hand DP.

I was sick three times in labour but I don't think it was related to me eating as the first time was before I ate anything.

ellie21 · 30/05/2011 14:32

Nothing! I'd packed a bag with nuts, biscuits, Ritz crackers etc and then ate none of them. I was also sick twice and I don't think it occurred to me to be hungry during the birth. They all came in useful later on though, when you realise you are actually starving and can't be bothered to move anywhere.

chrisonabike · 30/05/2011 14:33

I ate glucose tablets. I wanted a morphine martini.

lipslave · 30/05/2011 14:48

I didn't feel like eating at all during labour. I took loads of snacks: cereal bars, brownies etc, which did come in handy during my subsequent stay in hospital.

I am pregnant again now and will definitely take in glucose tablets this time. Labour is exhausting and you may miss a nights sleep too, so you'll need all the energy you can get.

TabithaTwitchet · 30/05/2011 14:51

Nothing. But felt really hungry and faint afterwards, the tea and toast seemed totally inadequate!

HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 30/05/2011 15:00

I had my first cup of tea in about 6 months at the start of labour and it tasted bloody gorgeous. I stopped feeling sick as soon as I went into labour, so just wanted to eat everything initially. However, once it got going properly I think I managed a sandwich. Probably could have done with having more though as I ended up on a drip .

OP I'd have snacks and sugary drinks on hand to boost energy levels.

Agree tea and toast after was indequate. I could have wolfed down a three course meal and a side order of chips!

everyspring · 30/05/2011 15:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PipPipPip · 30/05/2011 16:41

During the birth I needed sugary things. My lovely partner was fetching me sugary tea and hot chocolate from the machine.

After the birth, I was SUPER hungry. We had taken leftover pizza to hospital with us, wrapped in tinfoil. I wolfed down about six slices of pizza as soon as my daughter was born.

I was intensely hungry for the next week - I literally couldn't eat enough. I ate all the hospital food plus everything anyone put in front of me!

I distinctly remember eating all the hospital meals PLUS fruit salad, a baguette, brazil nuts, prunes, dates, pizza, custard cream biscuits...

ShushBaby · 30/05/2011 21:47

Didn't feel like eating, in fact was sick throughout. But lucozade and glucose tablets (mum dashed off to supermarket for some part way through) were essential for keeping energy up during 16 hours of labour.

everyspring · 30/05/2011 21:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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