Among the difficult things a woman has to do after having a C-section — from tending to her stitches to learning to breast-feed — now there’s a recommendation that’s a little easier: chew gum.
A new meta-analysis suggests that chewing gum three times a day for 30 minutes each time can help bring back women’s normal gut function after a C-section delivery .
Up to one in five women develop a condition called “postoperative ileus” after a C-section, according to the meta-analysis, published online May 14 in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine .
“Postoperative ileus” means that the normal movements of a person’s bowels — which squeeze and relax to move food along — slow down or sometimes even stop entirely, said senior study author Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, an OB-GYN at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.