Very sensitive hearing postpartum

[47chromosomes]

Hmm..  I don't know exactly where to post this.  Has anyone else experienced or heard of women developing very sensitive hearing in the immediate postpartum phase?  What could this be related too?

I am SO sensitive to any sound every since I gave birth to my son a month ago.  It is making life with my two toddlers, plus a fussy baby almost unbearable at times.  I don't know what to do.  I am going to have to start wearing ear plugs to deaden the sound in my house. 

Could it be related to drugs used during or after labor?  Our homebirth turned hospital transfer was a crazy ordeal and by the end of it all I had been given antibiotics (during birth and for several days afterward), pitocin during the very end of the pushing stage, fentanyl (2 doses in all), and cytotec after the birth to help get bleeding under control.  Or maybe it is just a hormonal thing?  Will this subside?  Any ideas?

Thanks.

[lunarlady]

Super sensitive hearing is something I get in early pregnancy. I can hear everything, from the clicking of a celing fan three stories away to the cycling of the furnace in the basement, even the cat breathing at the foot of the bed. So weird. It subsides around three months, thankfully. So maybe it is hormonal?

[lsmama]

I had it for a bit post-partum.  I literally could not sleep with my baby in the same room as me because I would hear every breath she made.  For me, I think it was hormonal and anxiety-related (or anxiety-causing) depending on how you look at it.  Mine subsided after a while.  You might want to google "post-partum hyperacusis" for more info.  Good Luck!

[miriam]

It is nature's way of letting a mother be aware of her child's sounds. At least that is what I was told when I became a mom.  I was also told some women experience a hearing loss when their babies are little.