For the last half century it has been a common rule in hospitals that you could not eat or drink during labor. The main reason women were originally discouraged from eating during labor isn’t as relevant now and a lot of research does not support policies limiting food during labor. In the past few years, this rule has improved to allow drinking clear liquids, but not every doctor is on board with eating during labor. In contrast, women who give birth at a birth center or at home are encouraged to eat during labor. By looking at the energy requirements of your body during labor, and the evidence to support why you should or should not eat, you can decide what is going to be the best course of action for you as you plan your birth. Get evidence based information on eating during labor and tips to fuel your body so you do not run out of energy during your birth.

Show notes: http://pregnancypodcast.com/episode91/

Thank you to Aeroflow for sponsoring this episode. Aeroflow is a company that helps you get a breast pump through your health insurance. There can be some hoops to jump through to get a breast pump through your insurance but Aeroflow does all of this for you and makes it so easy. All you need to do is fill out a form that takes just a minute and they will contact your health insurance company and work out all the details, then they will get in touch with you to help you choose the right breast pump. To get started on ordering your pump go to http://pregnancypodcast.com/breastpump/

Thank you to Zahler for their support of this episode. Zahler makes a high quality prenatal vitamin that has the active form of folate, that I refer after all of the research I have read on folic acid, plus it has omega 3s and DHA. This is the prenatal vitamin I take and the one I recommend. Zahler was very generous and gave me a promo code I can share with you so you can save 25% off when you buy a month supply on Amazon. To order them today go to http://amzn.to/2nOuFVB and enter the promo code PREPOD25 when you checkout.