I was just watching an old episode of Friends where a pregnant woman is told that she is only allowed to drink ice chips (by the way dreating is a neologism I came up with for something that you could drink or eat, sort of like a thick soup or, well, ice chips). Why is this the case? Surely there is no real difference between dreating ice chips and drinking “ice cold” water, once it reaches the stomach the ice will surely have melted anyway, right? Is there something in the act of chewing that is beneficial?
Is this during labor?
Used to be that you were only allowed ice chips during labor (if even that) because the doctors were afraid that should you need an emergency c-section, you might throw up and aspirate on your stomach contents because the anaesthetic makes you nauseated. Ice chips slow you down - they slake your thirst, but you don’t take as many cc’s of water in you to present a danger under anaesthetic.
Nowadays, in most modern hospitals, a low-risk pregnant woman is allowed to eat during labor. Some women want to, some don’t. If you need your labor started artificially, or if you decide on an epidural or narcotic pain meds, you won’t be allowed to eat because those things increase the chances you’ll need that c-section.
Not true - I had a Pitocin-induced labor and an epidural (and eventually a C-section), and I was allowed to eat and drink.
Sweet! Obviously, it varies by hospital. Realistically, it probably also varies by doctor and nurse. My most recent experience was as a labor coach in July: we went in one week, they let her eat. False labor. Three weeks later, she was a pitocin induction, and they wouldn’t let her eat. I snuck her food anyway. 
(Durn Submit button!)
Did you get nauseated during your c-section? I did, for a few seconds. The anasthesiologist saw me looking green, asked if I felt queasy, and then turned a knob and voila! I felt fine! It was pretty cool.
Sometimes they let you eat a popsicle. There’s a film of a birth at the Museum of Science in Boston showing a woman getting a popsicle. She didn’t want it, so her husband ate it.
IIRC, Pepper Mill got ice chips. I think WhyNot? has the right reason.
No eating was allowed for my Pitocin induced, c-section delivered wife.
FWIW.
I wouldn’t be able to stand ice chips though… too damn cold on my teeth. But I’m a wimp, which is why it’s good that men don’t have the babies…
I went to the classes with my wife and found out this is why they tell you not to have make up on when you go to the hospital. Infact if you come in with it on they’ll ask you to take it off. They need to be able to see the color of your face throughout the process.
Pitocin, whether produced by body or received through an IV, slows GI motility. What ever is eaten during labor stays, mostly, in the stomach until after delivery.
Eating isn’t usually a problem unless the mom requires general anesthesia.
So basically the idea is that dreating ice chips will seem to be more refreshing and thirst-quenching than the same quantity of ice cold water? I guess I can see some logic in that I just didn’t realise that consuming water was so “dangerous” under anaesthetic, what if the mother had been drinking lots of water on the way to the hospital?
Sort of, but I don’t think it’s really a logic thing, hence the changes in policy in recent years.
Yeah, having a mouthful of ice melting in your mouth gives you a longer time of “wet” on your tongue. Also, remember that water expands as it freezes - melt an ice cube and it’s even less water than you think. It ain’t an ice cold Pepsi, but it’s what they will compromise with. Could be worse - if they *knew *you were getting general anaesthesia for sure, you wouldn’t even get ice chips - you’d get a little sponge dipped in ice chips to suck. Whoopie!
Same for coming out of surgery. Until they know your GI tract is moving, you’ll be NPO (Nothing by mouth at all). Then you’ll get the sponge-on-a-stick, then ice chips, then water. Once they hear gurgly sounds, you can progress to a light meal, depending on what your surgery was for and how much you’ve pissed off the nursing staff. (Kidding! Sorta.)
I did not. I spent the whole thing trying desperately not to fall asleep. I didn’t even know they had started cutting yet when they held up a baby for me to see.
Or, it could be a referance to pica, which some pregnant women get. One of the symptoms that is often quoted is “craves ice”.
I was told by my doctor that it is due to the risk of aspirating food in the case of anaesthesia.
Oh, da baby! How cute! And bloody and stuff, but cute.
I didn’t know mine was out until they pointed at her across the room getting her breathing tube put in (actually, that picture was a few days later). 
But everything turned out all right eventually.
Thank you! She got cuter, though.
Most anesthesiologists are reluctant to intubate someone who has recently eaten. You’re more likely to vomit, and inhaling food can cause severe lung inflammation and infection. It is possible that a pregnant mother might need to be intubated if things go sour during the delivery. Despite the lack of research, many anesthesiologists would be reluctant to intubate if the patient has had ice chips within 2 hours, fluids within 4 hours or a meal within 6 hours. It’s the same reason you don’t eat the night before an operation.
Ice may be more satisfying, but the real reason is the volume of water is less.
To be fair, the OP only said the woman was pregnant, not that she was in labor. That is why I responded the way I did. 
This is an oldish thread, but I wanted to add my story. When I had my appendix out, the surgeon made a mistake of some kind and left me bleeding into my abdomen for an hour or two until they realized something was wrong thanks to my rigid belly and 40/20 blood pressure (to be fair, there was only one nurse on duty, and he had his hands full with the old woman across the hall who kept pooping herself and complaining about it).
Anyway, I felt like I was dying of thirst before they realized what was going on, and I was told that I could only eat ice chips. But those just weren’t cutting it. Finally, my wife could see how miserable I was (or my complaining won her over), and she went ahead and got me a cup of water. Man, that was good lukewarm tap water, let me tell you. So I had another one. And another.
A few minutes later, when the nurse and doctors realized something was seriously wrong, they rushed me into surgery, and they rolled me onto my side and started wheeling the bed towards the OR … and WHAM, I just started throwing up water, one little stream of water after another just pouring out of me. Ended up with the entire pillow and side of my head being soaked. It scared the hell out of me. (It wasn’t uncomfortable, though – I didn’t feel any nausea, fortunately.)
So apparently, it’s often a good idea to listen to them when they say not to drink water and just eat ice chips.