Doctors are easing up and letting women in labor have a sip or two.

The standard protocol for years in maternity wards has been no food or water for women in labor. The best thing you can get after hours of panting and sweating trying to get your baby out would be a few ice chips or sucking on wet wash cloths. Well, doctors say the practice may be outdated. Read on and make sure you know what this is all about before you write down your birth plan.

Drinks and food have long been banned during labor to prevent Mendelson’s syndrome. The conditions occur when stomach contents are drawn into the lungs while someone is under general anesthesia. This is a rare occurrence, but when it does happen it can be fatal.

These days, however, general anesthesia is rarely used during birth. Even c-sections are typically done using regional anesthesia. So the practice of fasting during labor has been called into question. A new medical review published last week by the Cochrane Collaboration says the practice is outdated and unnecessary.

Using 11 studies and covering 3,130 women — medical researchers found no benefit to restricting foods and fluids during labor. Their report says, “given these findings, women should be free to eat and drink in labor, or not, as they wish.

The New York Times reports that some hospitals have already eased up on the no eating or drinking rule during labor. They have lifted the ban on drinking fluids while giving birth late last year, since The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued new guidelines.

Still, some doctors are concerned despite the study’s assertion. The Times quotes obstetrician Dr. William Henry Barth, Jr. who says, “the problem is going to be for emergency c-sections, which are rare but not unheard of… there’s just not time in that setting to stop and do regional anesthesia and it can be unpredictable.”

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