Energy Balls Recipe for Labor

Finding food that you might want to eat in labor is another way to prepare for your birth in a practical way. Even if you don't feel up to eating much while you're laboring, it's good to be helpful to have what you might want to eat on hand for yourself and any support people attending your birth. Click here the find my full list of food for labor.

Energy balls are one of my favorite foods to prepare for a birth. My midwife suggested making them while we waited for my first daughter to be born, and they were even helpful to have around as a postpartum snack! I will make them when I know I'm going to be heading to a birth and have time to cook before I'm called in.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup rolled oats

- 1 cup peanut butter (you can use crunchy or smooth peanut butter, but I like natural smooth peanut butter since it's a happy medium between the two.)

- 1/2 cup ground flax seed

- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

- 1/2 cup chocolate chips

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

You can either use a food processor to make this, or mix it by hand in a bowl. I like it both ways depending on what I'm in the mood for. Using a food processor will make the oats into a gritty oat flour and make a smoother energy ball, and mixing by hand in a bowl will be a more or a hearty, fibrous energy ball.

1.) Combine rolled oats and flax seed into a bowl or food processor, and mix/combine.

2.) Add the wet ingredients in (peanut butter, honey/maple syrup, vanilla extract) and mix/combine.

3.) Mix in chocolate chips, and roll out tiny

balls. When you're making these energy balls for your labor, keep in mind the length of breaks between contractions can be varying in length depending on where you're at in the labor process. Ideally, you want tiny bitesize energy balls that you can chew swallow under a minute so you can also relax into your break.