A recent research has asserted that there is little, or no, evidence to support the speculation that women must not be allowed to eat and/or drink during labour.

For decades on end now, the ongoing childbirth practices demand that once a woman goes into labour, her intake of food and fluids should be restricted to quite an extent, sometimes limiting it to merely ice chips. The practice was mainly started on the back of concerns that a woman's stomach content could get aspirated into her lungs when she is given general anaesthesia during delivery.

But nowadays, very few women end up receiving general anaesthesia during childbirth, even if they are delivering via a c-section, and these changes in administering of anaesthesia over the years, have reduced the risk of vomiting, leading some experts to say that the general consensus could be done away with.

Doctors have now started to relax the once-strict policies as far as eating and drinking during labour goes.

"We are, as we speak, in the process of re-evaluating our practice, as I believe other hospitals are. We are trying to find a balance between what makes patients happy and comfortable and what makes the anaesthesiologist comfortable", said high-risk obstetrician Jeffrey Ecker, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Experts are now stressing that women should be allowed to take a decision on their own, and they should do whatever they feel is comfortable.