Attitudes to oral feeding following caesarean section

In order to evaluate postoperative nutrition in women who have undergone Caesarean section, we conducted a national survey. Questionnaires were sent to 100 randomly selected obstetric units in the UK, and were completed and returned by senior midwives. We found that that only 21.5% of units had a departmental policy concerning feeding after Caesarean section. Midwives decided when women could eat and drink in the majority of obstetric units (78.5%), often without the help of guidelines. The period of postoperative starvation was found to vary greatly, from < 1 h in some units to > 24 h in others. We suggest that all obstetric units should produce guidelines in order to rationalise postoperative feeding for women following Caesarean section.