After undergoing any major abdominal operation, passing gas is one of the earliest signs that your bowels are back to functioning normally, it signals that there are no blockages. Since caesarean section is a major abdominal surgery,passing of gas after surgery is a necessity.
As reported by Daily Mail Uk, one in five women suffer from lack of movement in the intestines after an operation. This lack of bowel movement can cause abdominal pain, nausea, bloating and constipation which in turn can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and longer hospital stays.
Usually women are advised to eat after c-section to ease these symptoms but it has been noticed that most women rarely feel like eating after a c-section. Because of this some researchers are recommending for women to chew sugar free gums after c-section to enable them pass gas.
Philadelphia researchers discovered that chewing gum three times a day for 30 minutes at a time can help restore normal gut function. It is believed that chewing gum tricks the body into thinking that the person is eating.
Dr Berghella told LiveScience that chewing gum gets saliva flowing in the mouth and can send signals to the gut to get it functioning.
During the study it was noted that the gum chewers passed gas about 23 hours after the operation, compared with non-chewers, who didn't pass gas until about 29.5 hours after the operation.
Dr. Gabriele Saccone, an OB-GYN in Italy and author of the study, added that chewing gum after a C-section is a simple and inexpensive way for women to help get the gut moving again. There were no side effects from chewing gum, Berghella said.
The researchers noted that more high-quality studies are needed to increase the evidence that supports giving women gum after a C-section.
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