Attitudes to oral feeding following Caesarean section

In order to evaluate postoperative nutrition in women who have undergone Ca esarean section, we conducted a national sun ev. Questionnaires were sent t o 100 randomly selected obstetric units in the UK, and were completed and r eturned by senior midwives. We found that that only 21.5% of units had a de partmental policy concerning feeding after Caesarean section. Midwives deci ded when women could eat and drink in the majority of obstertric units (78. 5%), often without the help of guidelines. The period of postoperative star vation was found to vary greatly, from < 1 h in some units to > 24 h in oth ers. We suggest that all obstetric units should produce guidelines in order to rationalise postoperative feeding for women following Caesarean section .