title: Attitudes to oral feeding following caesarean section.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, UK.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Worthington
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mulcahy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Flynn
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002585:Cesarean Section; D004435:Eating; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom