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So long, saltines and applesauce — modern moms-to-be are turning to performance products to boost energy during pregnancy and labor like athletes.
“It makes total sense,” Lauren Puretz, an OB-GYN and ultrarunner in Colorado Springs, Colo., told The Post. Whether logging miles or carrying a child, the feats take fuel — and sometimes sports nutrition products are all that go down.
Just ask pro runner Emma Bates, who alleges her former sponsor, the energy gel brand UCAN, dropped her after she got pregnant last year. Joke’s on them: Products like UCAN’s were no less handy, Bates found, during her first trimester than her last marathon.
“Once nausea hits, once the dizzy spells hit, you need something stat — and gels are an amazing fuel source for that,” she said on the Ali on the Run Show. “I’ve heard so many women talk about how they’ve taken gels during the birthing process, in the labor and delivery room.”
Runner Paige Foote, a dietitian-turned-entrepreneur in Charlottesville, Va., was one of them. When she learned during a childbirth class that some women appreciate a tart distraction between contractions, she realized her own sour-candy-coded energy brand, Noogs, would be the perfect addition to her go-bag for her son’s May birth.
She was right. After days of prodromal labor — or contractions with pain but not much purpose — Foote was induced. Her son wasn’t born for another day and a half. By her second of four hours of pushing, she reached for a Noog.
“I would just pop a couple every now and then because at that point, I hadn’t eaten all day. I had been on a clear liquid diet, and I knew that I needed energy,” she said. “I needed carbohydrates to help sustain me through this super strenuous activity.”
Beyond adding a pep to Foote’s push, Noogs — which she’d also used while running through pregnancy — delivered a confidence boost, too.
“It was cool to be like: This is the ultimate superwoman mom scenario,” she said. “I made these and they helped me grow a human and exercise through that whole pregnancy — and I’m using them to help me push out the baby.”
Gestating on gels
Energy gels and chews are generally formulated for endurance athletes to consume while in motion. They’re small but mightily packed with easily-digestible carbohydrates, plus electrolytes like sodium. Some offerings include caffeine and various micronutrients, too.
The point is to put some glucose in a tank that can only hold so much fuel. After about 90 minutes, most athletes need a top-off — or risk hitting the wall.
And while studies show whole foods like raisins can often do the same trick, many exercise enthusiasts opt for commercial products for the sake of convenience and less digestive distress.
The gooey goods are tools “to make sure that, as you’re going through this prolonged event, you’re able to give your body the energy it needs,” said Amy Goblirsch, a dietitian and distance runner in Minnesota who calls herself “The Running Dietitian.” She wishes she’d thought to bring gels to her kids’ births two and six years ago.
“Your body is gearing up for labor, and [it would be great] to be able to have that energy when you get to push versus ‘I feel like I’m at Mile 20 where I haven’t fueled properly. I’m bonking, I’m hitting the wall. I don’t have the energy during the part that’s going to require the most,’” she said.
Pregnant and laboring women, then, may be an overlooked market: Childbearing requires added calories, but often comes with aversions to food. Childbirth requires sustained energy, but often comes with restrictions on food.
“In the old days, [guidelines in labor] used to be strictly fasting, but then we found that that obviously led to a lot of fatigue and actually extended labor,” said Puretz, who didn’t use running products in her own kids’ deliveries over a decade ago, but has running friends who did. “And so we’ve been slowly loosening up on those restrictions.”
These days, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports “moderate amounts” of clear fluids during active, uncomplicated labors, but advises against solid food. That’s to avoid aspiration in the case of anesthesia for a C-section.
“The big concern is that you could potentially throw up whatever’s in your stomach,” Puretz said. “And then you essentially inhale that into your lungs, which is high risk for a lot of issues and a lot of complications that can be very, very dangerous.”
But while every woman should get their provider’s blessing before stashing GU in their go-bag, athlete favorites might be a relatively safe middle ground. Just avoid or limit those with caffeine, as well as those spiked with something bold-colored like beetroot, Puretz said. “You don’t want to freak everybody out that you have blood in your urine.”
Don’t believe you need to stop by REI en route to L&D, either. The products can be pricey (GU goes for $2 a pop, while the popular brand Maurten is nearly double that), and may not be all that more effective than the hospital’s sugar water concoction delivered via IV, Puretz said.
Still, they’re a reasonable choice for fitness fiends who already have them on hand. “Just like we always say don’t try anything new on race day,” Puretz said, “you probably don’t want to try something new on labor day.” (You also don’t want to swallow anything you don’t want to see again, she adds: “There’s a high chance of just throwing it up.”)
Breaking water — and tape
The parallels between endurance sports and pregnancy go beyond the snacks in someone’s gym or hospital bag. One 2021 journal article called pregnancy a “9-month stress test” that forces the cardiovascular system to adapt in ways not dissimilar to some training regimens.
Sporting a baby bump also changes the body’s energy demands in ways runners can appreciate: An entire pregnancy calls for about 80,000 extra calories — nearly the caloric cost of running a marathon once a week for 40 weeks straight. And these mountain-climbing mamas haven’t even toed the start line yet.
“Running marathons has really made me see this pregnancy journey in general — from conception to when baby comes out — as a marathon in its own way,” said Nicole Santos, a PE teacher and running coach in Connecticut whose first baby is due this fall.
Both demand stamina. Both require listening to, and taking care of, a changing body. Both benefit from a plan — and benefit more from a flexible mindset.
“In any race, you’re anticipating and preparing for the fact that you don’t know how the day’s going to go. Are you going to have GI troubles? Are you going to have cramping? Are you going to have weather issues, shoe issues?” Puretz said. “That is very similar to labor, but at least you know where the finish line is going to be.”
In that sense, she and others agreed: Pushing out a baby is harder than pushing past a marathon finish line. And yet, completing the latter steels you for the former.
Santos has been there too. That’s largely why she plans to pack her preferred energy gel brand, HUMA, in her birth bag when the labor start whistle blows. She already uses them in training, and keeps a stash in her desk at work. They do the trick when she has no time or taste for solid foods.
“If they’re in my work bag and my purse, they will be coming with me to the hospital,” Santos said. “I can see my husband trying to give me a hospital sandwich, and I’ll be like … ‘Give me a HUMA gel!’”
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