Food for birth partner during COVID labour

[BeccaM01]

Hi, I wondered if anyone out there that gave birth during COVID can let me know what you did about food for your birth partner and how strict the hospital was about your birth partner being allowed to come and go get things from the car etc ?

Our trust says the following: "The birth partner should arrive prepared for their time with you, as they will be asked to stay in the Delivery Suite or Birth Centre for the duration. They should wear comfortable clothing and bring things that they may need or want, such as food, nicotine replacement products, etc."

My DH thinks it's funny I'm worrying about food for him but if it's a long labour I don't want him to be starving ☺️. Equally I don't want to be bringing a load of food for him if he'll be able to go out and pick some up.

Check with the hospital or your midwife

I think you won’t give a crap what he has/hasn’t eaten when you are in Labour

as they will be asked to stay in the Delivery Suite or Birth Centre for the duration. They should wear comfortable clothing and bring things that they may need or want, such as food, nicotine replacement products, etc."

Surely that's pretty self explanatory?

Maybe delegate that one to the birth partner themselves to take responsibility for! You’ll have loads of other stuff to think about.

My Trust has the same message as yours. The birth partner can’t leave - they have to stay in the hospital for the duration, or they can’t return.

That said, my midwife said that the café might be okay if it was open; as it didn’t involve leaving the hospital. The car isn’t allowed.

We’re just going to take loads of snacks. I imagine we’ll both have other things on our mind, so it’ll be more about keeping up energy and warding off hunger than meal planning.

Surely he can sort out his own food.

If there was anything I didn't give the single tiniest shit about during labour, it was whether DH was hungry or not. And you don't want him whining "baaaaaabe, I'm hungry, where's the food you packed?" while you're in the middle of a contraction, or you will have to have the midwives murder him (you'll be too busy). He packs his own, then he knows where it is and can't complain about what it is.

(It’d probably depend if your birth centre has a café though - my hospital café connects the birth centre to the main hospital, so it’s still “in it”, really)

You won't give any thought to whether he eats or not.
Surely he can sort it out himself.
You have enough to think about.

Another saying let him sort it out himself, although I'd recommend stuff that doesn't need refrigerating unless you can be arsed fucking about with a cool bag.

Crisps
Flapjacks
Chocolate
Bananas
Bottle of squash to add to water

He'll survive while you labour, and can get a decent meal when he leaves if he wants one.

Thanks everyone, I know I won't care at all during labour and he can pack some stuff for himself but it seems the list of stuff we're recommended to pack is enormous! This was another thing I hadn't thought about. He'll probably pack a separate bag for his stuff with some snacks etc. as recommended as well as one for mine and the babies stuff. I just hope they're not limiting how much we can take with us 😁