Ayurveda and Maternal Care

            by Sheela Rani Chunkath

I was at a hospital in Cambridge, USA where I learnt how they ensure normal deliveries. I was also very happy to see that the medical professionals there were so respectful of the wishes of the mother to be. Being the complete professionals they ask for a birth plan which includes everything from whether the mother to be would like a water birth, whether she would like pain relief during labour, whether she would like nitrous oxide or an epidural, whether she would like an episiotomy etc. The mother to be has the option to say whether she would like to have a completely natural delivery or otherwise. The doctors and the nurses at the hospital put very little pressure by recommending more invasive methods of delivery. The reason that everybody was comfortable with the process of delivery was because the mother to be and the foetus was being monitored continuously. There was a foetal monitor and a monitor for the mother put on the mother's belly which continuously kept track of contractions, vital signs of mother and the baby. This helped everybody take good informed decisions. In India, the mother to be and their families are often pressurised to have Cesarean sections as the obstetricians find it more convenient and also they would like to play it safe in the absence of good monitoring of mother and foetus.

In my wish list I would like a combo. Antenatal and postnatal care of mother to be done as per ayurvedic prescriptions, where mothers to be are given herbal supplements with milk or ghee for each month of pregnancy. Postnatal care where the mother is given energizing arishtams and lehyams which restore the mother's energy and brings the uterus back to normalcy is something mothers and grandmothers used to do. Every family have their own recipes for galactagogues - my friend's mother uses fenugreek, my mother was a garlic fan and yet others use angayapodi (refer my earlier article in my blog). In modern Western medical practice while the process of delivery is absolutely well monitored it could be more interventionist in some hospitals. The hospital I went for observation was considered a 'hippie hospital' in that the staff there were happy to be as non-interventionist as possible (so long as it did not compromise the safety of the mother or baby) and were willing to go with you own cultural and or religious practices. However, even this hospital had nothing to say about the mother's diet and as to how she could restore her energy levels after the huge trauma of delivery. They monitored iron levels and prescribed iron supplements and stool softeners in case of constipation. And basically that was it.

In ayurveda, the mother is pampered. She is not required to do much work. She is given light foods for the first one week and then meat broths and galactagogues. Dasamula arishtam, jeerakadyarishtam and sowbaghya sunthi are routinely given for postnatal mothers. Mothers are advised not to consume gas-producing foods such as potatoes, beans and lentils in large quantities, cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower etc. Rice and milk are given in plenty as are meats and soups.

So a dream delivery would be one which can take the monitoring of modern Western medicine and combine it with the prescriptions of antenatal and postnatal care of ayurveda.

--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/