Question about pain during sex, and return of your period...

[GoodUserNamesTaken]

Hello,

I  think I heard a baby upstairs, so I must be fast! But I have two questions for the moms who were breastfeeding for awhile...

1) When did you get your period back? And how did it compare to when it returned with your singletons? (For me, my twins are 13 months, no cycle yet... with my singletons, it returned at 15 and 18 months, I think...) I'm wondering if with twins, it may stay away longer...

2) If you had pain during sex, after the birth, how long did it last?! I am STILL having pain during sex. (I had a C-section, btw, with the twins.) I thought maybe it's from breastfeeding? So I wondered if that is why I still have pain... with my first son, I had pain until he was a year old, BUT I had a vaginal birth with a bad episiotomy... with my second son, I only have pain for 6 months. The twins are 13 months, and while the pain is better, it still hurts in the beginning. :(

Thanks to anyone who shares their experience... :)

~ Rachel

[CheriK]

With the twins, AF returned at 20 months.  With my current nursling, 9 months.  Definitely sex was uncomfortable until my hormone levels returned to normal, non-breastfeeding.  I find my tissue is really dry while I'm nursing.  Using a lubricant every time helps.  Also, if it's not TMI, lots of foreplay and trying different positions (being able to control the movement helps me).

[Tigerchild]

My period returned (with ovulation) with my singleton at 8 weeks postpartum.  It returned at (wait for it...) 16 weeks pp for my twins.  I know, I'm soooooooooo lucky.  (btw, I exclusively nursed all my kids to a year, and then did clw after that, so yes, when my cycles returned (again, with ovulation) with the twins, I was nursing 2 four month olds exclusively (never even owned bottles) plus frequently nursing my 21 month old.  Sigh.

Can't help you in the pain department--we did not attempt sex until after getting the 8 weeks okay from my doctor, there was no pain, but like pp we used lube until my cycle returned.

[RoamingWidgeteer]

The painful sex is most likely lack of lubrication. Breastfeeding reduces natural vaginal secreations so why not suppliment with a lubricant until  things get back to normal? Foreplay helps too :)

[GoodUserNamesTaken]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I do use lubricant, a LOT... it doesn't help much. :( 

[RoamingWidgeteer]

Ouch - sorry to hear that. For a couple of months I had the feeling that the uterus was sitting lower (or something) and causing the vagina to angle differently making sex more awkward. It took maybe four months to go back to where things used to be.

Maybe its time to talk to a doctor?

[Tigerchild]

Is the pain actually strongly *in* the vaginal area, or is it more diffuse, just triggered by intercourse?

My sensation around my incision was just *weird* for awhile when first touched/poked.  It never came out in pain-pain for me (though I have friends who did experience pain) more like weird tickling/pins and needles, and I always "felt" it in a different area than I was touching/poking.  If it's being jostled when you first start maybe your nerves are just jangling a bit and then they calm down?

So I dunno, do you think it might be something like that vs. pain from the actual intercourse?  You could test it out by poking at the incision scar and see if it feels weird.  My DH was bemused by me suddenly saying "whoa!" or giggling when we got going sometimes because--well, hopefully you don't have this problem but my deflated belly roll sometimes slapped up against my incision.  Yeah, can't believe I just disclosed, sorry for the TMI.

If you don't think it's something like that, I too think it might be a good idea to see your OB.  Maybe your uterus is now retroverted/flexed or there's something else going on--or you can rule out issues and  just give it some more time.