Pooing in labour

Poo, Poop, Shit, Faeces, or Plop, whatever you call it everyone produces it, and it may well surprise you how much the average person excretes each day; between 150-400 grams approximately although one person may have several poos a day whereas another may only have two or three a week. So, as you can see everyone’s bowel habits are unique. A quick poll amongst three of the My Expert Midwife Midwives confirms this, for example I go every day once without fail at about 6am, another is the same as me once a day but at 8am, and a third only goes once or twice a week! We are all healthy, but our bodies are different and operate in their own unique way and instead of being ashamed of it it’s time to embrace the dark matter that is poo!

Poo is waste matter; the stuff our bodies don’t want or need and despite its solid dark appearance is mostly made up of water, approximately 75% water in fact. The remaining 25% comprises:

• the remains of food that has been broken down by gut bacteria that your body couldn’t digest (sweetcorn) or absorb
• bacteria (dead and alive)
• metabolic waste (stercobilin) which is a broken-down form of bile and red blood cells
• the occasional penny, hair bobble, button, or even a tiny plastic toy has also been known to pass through a digestive tract, although NOT to be recommended!!

Poo or poop can tell us so much about a person, their diet, their health and even their stress levels. In 2001 a team of researchers working off-coast in Canada studying stress levels in whales measured stress hormones in the whales’ poo. Their measurements started on 9/11, a day that is synonymous with the Twin Towers terrorist attack in New York City and what they discovered over the coming weeks was staggering! Because of the attack sea-faring traffic was reduced which in turn reduced the volume of underwater noise which is linked to stress in whales. As they tested the whales’ poo it became apparent that as the traffic and noise pollution decreased so did the stress hormone metabolites found in it. And this translates to humans, poo samples are a common request by your GP or hospital because they can alert us to health concerns which can then be followed up and treated. Have you heard of Professor Tim Spector? Now there’s a man who understands the benefits of poo heading up a company that sells a poop testing service to give insight to our health – what’s the saying? Where there’s muck there’s brass!

So, what does this all have to do with birth? Simple, you may well poo during the latent phase of labour and in fact you might have loose poos during this time which in itself is your body prepping itself for labour and birth; your body knows it does not want you to be constipated because a bowel full of impacted poo can slow the progress down and can actually prevent baby from descending.

In later stages of labour and birth you are highly likely to poo! There said it, pooping in labour is 100% normal and although not every birthing woman does poo a remarkably high percentage do. Midwives love it – we are a unique breed, but we love it for an incredibly special reason – beneficial bacteria! Remember we have discussed the importance of good healthy bacteria in the development of your baby’s gut and skin microbiome in our blog What is the Microbiome? It all starts when they are birthed from their sterile environment within the amniotic sac inside the uterus (womb), to the non-sterile bacteria-laden outside world. If birthed vaginally they will come into direct contact with 1000s of different beneficial bacteria, fungi and viruses that make up your unique microbiome. Your baby must develop their own microbiome, an invisible living shield, which is built up during their early years.

What is a microbiome?

The microbiome:

• Is a colonisation of trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi living in our gut, on our skin, and in many other parts of the body, including the reproductive tract
• Is very individual to a person in the same way that a fingerprint is
• Different microbes inhabit different parts of the body and have their own specific functions

The microbiome is responsible for the following functions:

• Breaking down food
• Producing and absorbing essential nutrients
• Regulating hormones
• Supporting our immune development
• Protect

This all cements how important the microbiome is to our health and wellbeing. It forms our first line of defence against germs that could make us ill and can offer some protection against more serious diseases, including cancer, diabetes, colitis, and obesity.

How does pooing in labour contribute to a baby’s microbiome?

Midwives genuinely get excited when a birthing woman poos, honestly, we do! We don’t yell it out we simply clean it away discreetly, but inside we are thinking that the head of your baby is likely to be descending through the pelvis putting pressure on your bowel causing you to poo, and that we may be seeing the top of your baby’s head for the first time. It’s a holistic non-science-based method that Midwives have used for centuries to assess a woman's progress in labour. But of course, it is important to say that pooing in labour isn’t a guarantee that your baby’s birth is imminent; you may just need to empty your bowels because like we said earlier, we all do it!

But joking apart, probably the most under-acknowledged and under-valued benefit of pooing in labour is how much it can boost your baby’s microbiome. It might not be something you have considered before and actually may be grossed out about it, but there is a reason your back passage is so close to your vaginal opening, and a reason why your baby is (usually) born with their nose and mouth skimming your genitals and anus, and that is partly to expose them to a diverse population of bacteria which kickstarts their own invisible living shield (microbiome). From numerous research studies we know that it is much more beneficial for those bacteria to be from mum’s vaginal and faecal colonisations than from the surrounding environment where potentially harmful bacteria is lurking.

Using a gentle cleansing wash such as My Expert Midwife’s Mega Mild Cleansing Wash after birth on a soft cloth or cotton wool with lukewarm water will help you to remove the poo from your baby’s skin without disturbing those incredible beneficial bacteria, although we do not advise you to bathe your baby for at least 24 hours.

So, we hope that we have gone some way to convince you not to hold back. If your bowels need emptying, do it and be proud of it because it really is better for you, and even more beneficial for your baby and their long-term health.