Afterpain help

[Tizzy]

A friend of mine is expecting her 7th child in the new year and although she tends to have uncomplicated labors, she suffers from incredibly awful afterpains.
She was out of commission for 2 days with her last child, she is expecting it to be just as bad or worse this time.
Her Dr. wants to "wait and see" whereas she would like to have the prescription already filled ahead of time because even waiting a couple hours last time hindered her bonding time with her new baby.
Any suggestions on what she can do to alleviate the pains or any preventative measures she could take?

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

maybe a tens machine might help with afterpains i was going to get with my last but i forgot, i don't really think there is anything that can be done to prevent them as they get worse the more babies you have because the womb is working harder to get back down to pre pregnancy size. i can't even imagine how bad the after pains would be after #7 cos they do get worse with each one i remember with caitlin and caden joking that i would have have to go to hospital after they were born to get an epidural.

[Beppie]

nak. my mw brews up lots and lots of crampbark tea. but it tastes awful!!!!

[Tizzy]

Afterpains is pretty much the main reason why she wants a hospital birth. Mind you it is a VERY small hospital, but with arrogant doctors nontheless.

Is Oxytocin actually supposed to help with the pains? She thinks it makes them worse. But wouldn't it just assist her uterus in shrinking faster and thus get the ordeal over with quicker?
She also is going with formula for day 2 specifically because any nursing from baby causes excruciating pain. Once again, affecting bonding time.

[melamama]

I think afterpains are also a nutrition issue. I can't remember specifically what you're deficient in that makes them worse--but that is why they often get worse with every birth, since often you are more depleted each pg.

Has your friend every taken anything for them in the past?

I know that Wish Garden makes a tincure that helps. I would also take arnica, and use it topically on the abdomen, and if they were really bad I'd even take ibuprofen. Also keeping up with RRL tea for a week after the birth also helps.

Is she going to not nurse at all?

[flapjack]

Tens helps. Motherwort tisane can help. I'm seeing my midwife tomorrow and I will ask if an actively managed 3rd stage makes any difference to afterpains- I seem to remember them being pretty brutal with my first.
I'm quite seriously planning on having gas and air handy to get me through the first breastfeed. I think she needs to insist on the drugs and having a prescription for something available j.i.c

[smeisnotapirate]

I would definitely insist on a prescription in her case - if Dr. won't do it, then I would have her ask her family Dr. or be prepared to dose herself with ibuprofen if need be.

Afterpains are no fun at all. I've heard you can mix RRL and crampbark to make the crampbark less nasty - can anyone corroborate that. Oh, and lots of honey.

[onelilguysmommy]

I'd do Ibuprofen over giving the baby formula as a newbie if it isn't a can't bf thing.

[guest93952359]

I had them pretty bad after baby # 4. Ohhh, you just reminded me I'm going to have to have them again!

I never remember these until it's too late, but you know what I'm thinking? WARMTH!

Ask her if a hot bath usually soothes her period cramps. If so, maybe she can pack along a hot water bottle or even an electric heating pad if the hospital will let her plug one in. (If she opts for a heating pad, tell her to bring an extension cord too, just in case. You never know where the nearest outlet is going to be. She'll probably think of that herself if this is her seventh baby. In fact if this is her seventh, she probably already knows where all the plugs in those hospital rooms are LOL!)

That's what I'm going to try ... er, if I remember about the afterpains when I pack my hospital bag!

Great question!

[sweetpea_119]

Last time I used Afterease & I'll be doing that again! It's a liquid tincture that you can take straight (if you're tough!) or slip into some tea as you start nursing.

I'm only on #4, but this time I'm definitely going to wrap my belly after giving birth to help with the pains also. I know some people say that they just use a girdle-type thing while others use the postpartum binders made especially for belly binding, but I think I'm just going to use my Moby Wrap or a strip of fabric.

Good luck to her!!!

[desertgirl351]

Wow you just made me remember the afterpain part! Last time was only #3 but oh they hurt! I had bought Afterease and Ibuprofen before the birth. I also took arnica but didn't try the gel. Even with all that I was still in tears a few times. So this time I am just dreading it!! I don't really get period cramps. I also BF so it brings them on more.

sweetpea_119: Do you have any more info on the wrapping? Why it helps and what not?

[crunchy_mama]

my mw suggested a heating pad, which did help dull the pain, but it was still pretty excrutiating the first couple of days.

[lunita1]

I would suggest taking 800 mg ibuprofen (4 otc pills) if they can't/won't give her a scrip right away. Crampbark and motherwort may also help.

Avoiding nursing is just going to prolong her pain and misery and increase the risk that her uterus doesn't contract back as efficiently, leading to hemmorhage (those risks increase after several births). The pain is necessary. The key, I think, is to minimize how much of it you feel.

[prothyraia]

Originally Posted by lunita1

I would suggest taking 800 mg ibuprofen (4 otc pills) if they can't/won't give her a scrip right away. Crampbark and motherwort may also help

:

Hot water bottle also helps. It sounds counterintuitive, but when I was have really bad afterpains (they were worse than labor for me with my second child) I would massage my uterus as hard as I could- sort of like when you have a leg cramp or something.

Originally Posted by lunita1

Avoiding nursing is just going to prolong her pain and misery and increase the risk that her uterus doesn't contract back as efficiently, leading to hemmorhage (those risks increase after several births). The pain is necessary. The key, I think, is to minimize how much of it you feel.

:

[flapjack]

Asked the midwife, an actively managed third stage will NOT make a difference to the intensity of the afterpains, apparently.

[alton]

I can't speak from experience on this but can only pass on the advice I've got from others. Magnesium deficiency is supposed to make pains worse. I'm not sure if you can take supplements if you are breastfeeding (working on the assumption that she might change her mind) but good natural sources are whole grains, nuts, legumes, dark leafy vegetables, shellfish, figs, lemons, grapefruit, yellow corn, almonds, seeds, apples, lentils, split peas, tofu, black-eyed peas, lima beans, peanuts, cashews, wild rice, wheat germ, bean sprouts, spinach, milk, cheddar cheese, American cheese, chicken, beef, and pork. Apparently when we are under stress magnesium gets depleted very quickly.....doesn't get much more stressful than labour!
The other tip I've gleaned is that wrapping your tummy is supposed to help too. I know there are special post-baby recovery shorts, but I've only read about them in magazine articles, never met anyone who actually used them.
The link, for what it's worth is, http://www.recoveryshorts.com.au/src-recovery-shorts

[lunita1]

I just realized that I don't think anyone mentioned keeping her bladder empty. It can really make a difference in the way her uterus shrinks back and how it feels. Forcing herself to empty her bladder regularly can go a long way.

[Shell_Ell]

I wish I could leave a positive reply. I knew to expect them with this last baby (my third) and had afterease, arnica, cal/mag and ibuprofen on hand... nothing worked. I had a huge rice sock, I stood in the shower, I emptied my bladder often... still I just had to get through the first few days of awful.

[Veritaserum]

In my experience, afterpains actually got less painful with subsequent babies. I had mild cramping for about 24 hours after my 4th and 5th babies after wanting to die due to the horrible cramps after baby #3.

Anyway, here's what helped me:

1. Better nutrition throughout my pregnancy.
2. Getting adequate iron (took Floradix and chlorophyll), particularly during the last trimester
3. Getting adequate calcium/magnesium/etc. I took a coral calcium supplement, particularly during the last few weeks before birth.
4. Hypnobabies (post-hypnotic suggestions for an easier postpartum as well as hypno-anesthesia techniques)

I do think it's reasonable for her to have good painkillers available immediately if she finds she needs them. My family doctor was even willing to call some in for me after my home births, if I felt like I needed them.