Eating and Drinking in Labor: A Step toward Reclaiming Autonomy in Birth

Traditionally, women in labor have been able to eat and drink as they desired. Most birthing women still eat and drink in parts of the world where Western medicine hasn’t yet transformed traditional birthing practices. In colonial times, as Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America informs us, “female attendants provided food and drink for the laboring woman to keep up her strength, offering such things as toast, buckwheat gruel, mutton, broth, and eggs”
This post is only available to members. To purchase an online membership, go here.
If you are already an online member login here.

About Author: Mary Ann Lieser

Mary Ann Lieser is a freelance writer and doula, and sells used books in Wooster, Ohio. She is the mother of eight homebirthed children.

View all posts by

Skip to content