Afterpains...

[Serenyd]

Oww ... these afterpains hurt. Anyone else ? What are you doing for them? I'm taking tylenol and using a heating pad so far.

[fyrebloom]

Two motrin every 4 hours, rest and hot showers. OMG nursing hurts and not because of latch or anything! The afterpains are intense! I didn't feel them last time because I was so doped up after the c-section, but this time they're kicking my butt!

[firewoman]

I had horrendous afterpains with all my subsequent children and the more babies I had, the worse the pains got. By the time I got to number three, they made me vomit when nursing. The good news is that they are shrinking up your uterus, but damn they hurt! I suggest 800 MG of ibuprofen every 6 hours for the first two days. After that they are bearable and you can take lower dosages of ibuprofen if needed. Sorry you are having those. I sort of liked them because they reminded me how recent my birth was. I sort of miss them now. I'm weird I guess.

[boobs4milk]

they do get worse with each baby! i took 800 mg ibuprofen for the first few days. i think they are worse when you pump because there is no baby there to induce the feel good hormones. i remember them being horrible with my son, too. he was also an nicu baby.

my ob suggested that i do abdominal massage when the pains got bad and it helped my uterus go down more quickly.

s

[Therese's Mommy]

Mine were so bad the next morning it felt like I must be in labor again. They wrapped around to my back. Tylenol didn't help much, but Motrin did the trick. I was taking 4 about 3 times a day.

[DivineMrsM]

yep. i got 'em. i am allergic to anything but tylenol, which really doesn't do anything for them. the first few days were the worst. made me dread nursing. but they are slowly getting better each day.

[susanl1202]

I was dubious, but I swear it works. Tincture of catnip in your water, drink heaps of it. This is baby number 3 and I had terrible afterpains with number two. My midwife suggested the catnip and really not a thing once I started taking it - which was day 2. On the first day I didn't really believe her so struggled by with extra strength tylenol. I have no idea how/why it works - but it was a miracle cure!

[zjande]

I thought my afterpains were going to kill me. Seriously, they were just as bad as labor for 48 hours, then decreased but were still horrible for a few more days. I took the max amount of ibuprofen I could take, plus kept a heating pad on. I couldn't take the pain, still! So I sent my mom out for some cramp bark tincture & OH MY GAWD it was magical how well that stuff worked. I could finally sleep again. I'll never birth without it again!

(I also took the healthy liver tonic to help my body deal with all that ibuprofen )

[Maela]

I took 600mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours the first day and 400 the next and 200 the next. They still hurt but not much. I had them for about 4 days pp.

[BlueEyedLady]

With DS I never had any, or at least they were mild enough I barely noticed them.

This time with DD, though, they were horrible. Worse than labor was for me, actually. I think they may have been compounded because I hemorrhaged and they gave me pitocin all through the night to make my uterus cramp down to help slow the bleeding. In the hospital I used tylenol and a heating pad, but once I was home I just did the tylenol. They were fine until DD would nurse, and then I would literally cry while she was eating from the pain. I couldn't WAIT for her to finish. They lasted probably 4-5 days for me, horrible nightmarish days, every time she nursed it was really worse than labor had been.

[Nature]

I haven't had afterpains with any of my children. Nothing that wasn't mild anyway. However I had a missed miscarriage once, and had to have a D&C.. and afterwards I had the WORST cramping of my entire life. I thought I was going to die.

[fyrebloom]

OH so I started taking EMAB's Monthly comfort tea which is lady's mantle, cinnamon, ginger, RRL etc. SOOO unbelieveably yummy and it does help the cramping too.

[MeadowMom]

I did not have them this bad with ds. But with dd WOW, they were intense. Hot baths, and a lot of Ibuprofin!

[mom-to-jj]

I do not feel like the Afterease or Ibuprofen are helping at all. Sometimes the pain radiates down into my legs and around my back. I am at the end of 3 days pp, and they are still pretty bad sometimes.

[zjande]

You know what, I gobbled up my whole bottle of Afterease in less than 48 hours. And took the max dose of ibuprofen. Nothing made much of a difference for me til I started taking the cramp bark.

Originally Posted by mom-to-jj

I do not feel like the Afterease or Ibuprofen are helping at all. Sometimes the pain radiates down into my legs and around my back. I am at the end of 3 days pp, and they are still pretty bad sometimes.

[Serenyd]

Mine are calming down, finally. No longer feel the need to yell "OWOWOWOW" during them either, lol. Catnip and crampbark, huh? I guess I need to remember that if I ever get the chance to do this again. It does seem like they are getting worse w/ each baby.

[Serenyd]

Originally Posted by fyrebloom

OH so I started taking EMAB's Monthly comfort tea which is lady's mantle, cinnamon, ginger, RRL etc. SOOO unbelieveably yummy and it does help the cramping too.

I think I might drink that just for the taste, lol. I'm back on my mother's milk tea and love the licorice taste of it.

[threadbey]

i had bad ones this time, too, for about 5 days. ibuprofen and a hot pad and sucking it up were my methods, but there was one memorable mid-night period that was just awful, much worse than labor (as i remember it). will try the tea or something if there's a third baby.