Can we discuss post partum.... self care? « Back to Group Discussions

[dealic]

I don't know exactly what to call it :) I'll try to explain.

This will be my first baby. I have used cloth pads for about 5 years, and I planned to get some larger ones for postpartum. I haven't actually done it yet because they are pricy and I don't know what exactly I need. My mom (who knows I use cloth) was horrified at the thought I may use them post partum. She actually said "Oh please don't do that!" She feels that its completely unreasonable to use cloth at that time, due to the amount of blood. What does everyone here think? What do you use normally, and is it different from what you use post partum?

If you DO use cloth, what brand do you buy? I use lunapads normally but am hoping for a cheaper solution for this.

Also, I have heard discussions of freezing pads. How do you do that and does it work with cloth?

What else do I need to know? I've heard reference to sitz baths, not really sure what they are. 

In general, lets discuss what I should expect, have prepared, etc for my personal care after birth.

(also, this is post 1000 for me, so I think I am finally a senior member, after 5 years! Yay!) 

[arbybee]

This is also my first time around so I am sooo grateful you made this thread!

[Mom2SammyJoe]

I normally use a Diva cup, so that is out for postpartum. I have some standard sized cloth pads that I have made, and I am making a few more. I bought one pack of overnight-sized disposable pads and one pack of regular disposables. I will use these right after birth (homebirth) until they are gone. When they are gone, I'll go with cloth til my bleeding stops. For me it lasts about 4 weeks, stops, then I have another period like bleed around 6 weeks PP. Then I don't cycle for 10-12 months.

I didn't want to invest time or money in jumbo pads that I really won't use that much. I also don't want paper/plastic against my very sensitive parts for a month, so I am doing a little of each.

It is very easy to make your own cloth pads. There are lots of free patterns online. I use a lot of "upcycled" materials like flannel shirts and receiving blankets to make mine. Even if you don't sew, you can get preemie prefolds to fold up and tuck in your undies. (cottonbabies.com has them for $1 each with free shipping).

I did not freeze any pads last time. I did make some ice packs per my midwife's instructions. Combine 1/2 water and 1/2 rubbing alcohol. Pour into a zip top sandwich bag. Squeeze out the air and seal. Put that bag in another bag, then in a third bag. Freeze. I wrapped them in a scrap of flannel or a washcloth to use. After use, change the outer baggie and freeze again.  Ice is good for the first day or 2. If you are birthing at the hospital, you may not need to worry about having these at home.

[Aletheia]

I use cloth and a diva cup for menstruation.  My kids use cloth diapers as back-up, and we EC from birth.  

But when it comes to post-partum, I'm all about the disposable pads.  And when it comes to meconium, I'm all about the disposable diapers.  :)  The post-partum bleeding for me has been fairly heavy for the first few days, and then tapered off-- then I can use the period stuff again.  And the meconium passes in the first few days, so then I'll move to cloth for babe.  And with the first babe,  I wouldn't have asked myself to do ANYTHING that was a tad bit more strenuous than the easiest way.  :)  Those first few days of O's life I was shell-shocked and star-struck.  It was all I could do to remember what time of day it was.  

[vivica2]

i will be using a disposable pad for the first 3 days or so after birth. i had a lot of blood and clots. i will then switch to cloth for however long it takes to stop. after the first 2-3 days it goes to a normal period flow for me. 

another good thing to do is to get small disposable or reusebale soft fabric squares (like tucks pad size) and dip it in whitch hazel and apply dirrectly to help with healing. 

and just as a side note, start looking up natural stool softeners (not laxitives) because you will want that too. ;)

-viv-

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

i'm about in the same boat as Aletheia. I use the diva cup for my periods and cloth (mostly) for the baby. I didn't bleed too heavily after DD's birth but the amount I did bleed would not have been contained by anything less than Depends. It wasn't the amount so much as how it spread, and I care more about not laying in bloody sheets than I do about cloth on my butt. I think by day 4 I was on standard maxi pads, and then within a week I was on a light pad or pantiliner and/or not needing anything. I didn't (and don't) feel like investing in a cloth system for the postpartum period, especially since I'm very happy with my diva cup.

[flavorfull1]

I will come back and post what I did in a bit, DS is needing some help, but did anyone bleed for a really long time postpartum? I bled pretty heavily for twoish or more weeks and then bled like a medium period day until about week ten.  Is this something I should plan on again or probably just related to life then? I will obviously need to add this to my questions for the mw.

[chiromama01]

so from reading your comments I know this will seem unusual, but I only bled (heavily) for about a day, after that it was no more than what a regular period would be, if that.  so from what you ladies have said, if you bleed heavy, you may appreciate disposable pads to due frequency of changing them, (and you will be VERY sleep deprived), or, if you bleed light, you may wish you hadn't invested in the extra heavy duty cloth pads, because you won't need them.  either way, disposables were great for that purpose.  i'm also going to use disposables for babe till the meconium passes.  after that, we'll see.  i only get a week of from work, so I'll just have to see how i'm doing.  You will need some sort of perineum "spray bottle" for cleansing after using the restroom.  just lots of comfy clothes to be around the house in, and expect lots of laundry.  babe may spit up/throw up/ or poop on, well, anything, and if you're like me, you'll be spraying milk into the next room, and so your clothes/sheets/towels/and babys clothes will need washing OFTEN!!  i enjoyed sleep bras for nursing so i could keep on a nursing pad (then, i did produce enough milk to feed a small village of babies) and some lanolin for nipple pain. i don't recall needing much else...

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

I bled heavily for a few days, period like bleeding until 2 weeks PP, spotting off and on up through 5 weeks, then a "period" at 6 weeks. Heads up, a lot of women seem to have a resurgence of lochia at 6 weeks and think its' their period. I didn't start cycling again until 11 months PP.

[CarlyVHT]

I use a cup (The Keeper - same concept as Diva cup) and cloth for baby but used disposible pads for PP last time and likely will again this time.

[Thursday Girl]

I used disposable pads after baby is born for about a week then I can no longer stand the feeling of them and switch to cloth pads I have made.

I bleed for 4 weeks then have really light for the 5th week and then period like bleeding again at 6 weeks, then i don't have a period until the kid is about 2 at which point I have a cup that I will use.

[Mom2SammyJoe]

I thought my bleed at 6 weeks was strange, but it looks like many others also have this. My first was born via c/section, and there is usually lighter flow after that as everything gets cleaned out in surgery. But I still bled for 4-6 weeks. I was expecting alot more bleeding after my 2nd, and it wasn't nearly as bad as what I was prepared for.

One thing to keep in mind, since we are on the topic, is that lochia flow is a good indicator if you are doing too much too soon. If your bleeding tapers down and is lighter/brown, then gets heavy and bright red again, take it as a warning sign. Your body needs rest. put your feet up and snuggle that baby. The rest will have to wait.

[flavorfull1]

I used disposable pads.  In the beginning I froze pads with some witch hazel mixed with the herbal sitz bath and they felt really good. I used quite a few for the first two or three days because I had so much swelling. I used them inside some depends (um loved these postpartum) so that when they thawed it didn't make everything wet.

After the first two weeks or so I could go to regular instead of the very heavy pads and used those pretty much for the rest of the time.  I love the diva cup and hate pads so I thought that part of postpartum recovery sucked.  The peri bottle was awesome and I would put witch hazel in it with water for each time I used the bathroom. I also used the herbal bath mix for sitz baths which really seemed to help with healing but I did have a hard time enjoying a sitz bath bc I just wanted to be submerged in a deep tub of hot water which I couldn't do for a while, boo.

we also do the disposable diapers for meconium poop then move over to the cloth once breast milk poop comes in, that stuff is like tar and I did not feel like having to figure out cloth diapers for the first time and figure out a new baby!

[thomatuttle]

i used disposable pads for the postpartum period, but don't remember bleeding for too long.  maybe i have just blocked it out!  we cloth diaper, but used disposables for DD at the very beginning and will do the same for DS.  i used the tucks pads that they gave me at the hospital and those were a lifesaver!  also i can not give enough love to the peri bottle i had!  i couldn't have gone to the bathroom without it.  i had a friend who just used her DS's prefolds as her postpartum pads.  i never really did any sitz baths.  where do you ladies get the stuff for them and what do you use?

[NCMtnMama]

I had a 3rd degree tear (eek!), and I found that keeping that whole area numb was the way to go. If I couldn't feel it, it couldn't hurt! So I had ice packs wrapped in cloth that I'd just cycle every so often. 

And I agree with vivica - stool softeners!!! I think the first postpartum poo was worse than any of the pain I had during the actual birth. 

[Rasa]

I felt like I bled a LOT last time and it was very heavy, almost gushing for the first few days (probably just because I would be sitting for a long time nursing and then move and everything that accumulated would come out at once), then it was heavy for a week or so, then normal period for until ?6 weeks--I can't really remember when it finally tapered off...seemed like forever.  I was glad I took a bunch of the postpartum disposable pads (which were humongous!) home with me from the hospital.  I also agree that the peri bottle was a life-saver for me--I had to use it each time I peed to keep it from burning (and I only had a bit of internal tearing, no episiotomy or external tearing).  This is a peri bottle in case you want to buy get one separately from the one the hospital provides or what may come with your home birth kit:

http://www.amazon.com/Lavette-Bottle-Perineal-Irrigation-DYND70125H/dp/B000VSXSX2/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1328666008&sr=1-1

Since then, I've switched to a Diva cup for days and cloth pads for nights.  I got some extra cloth pads off Diaper Swappers (combination of mama made and Skoon Organics) and will use those this time after the first week or so.  I got a bunch of overnight type disposable pads and some disposable postpartum pads with my birth kit (I'll be doing a home birth if all goes well!)  Personally, I think cloth is MORE comfortable than disposable, so if it weren't a matter of having to keep up with the wash, cloth would be my preference, but saving my sanity will definitely win out for the first week or so.  I know some women who have not used disposable pads in years and they find all that paper/plastic to be very irritating--one woman even told me she would wear old underwear between herself and her pad/underwear to protect her sensitive skin, she was so irritated--at that point, I'd probably wish I did have cloth pads on hand!

My midwives' birth kit comes with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Carex-Health-Brands-P70800-Sitz/dp/B0000533E1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328665840&sr=8-1

for a Sitz Bath and I bought a package of herbal Sitz bath to use.  You can find herbal sitz bath mixtures online (I haven't tried them).  I also had a numbing spray (that I don't know if it exists any more) that I really liked last time with some lanacaine in it and I also liked having the Tucks pads on hand.

Stupid question--Does witch hazel sting?

[flavorfull1]

I didn't have any stinging with witch hazel and I was using it directly on an unsutured labial tear and a sutured perineal tear. I mean, I had normal discomfort but the witch hazel didn't seem to be what caused any stinging like you would feel from alcohol. peri bottles are the best!

[Thursday Girl]

oh yes the Peri bottle, I LOVE that thing. I had to gently spray the whole time I was peeing for like the first week, Hubs even mentioned it the other day. LOL.

[justKate]

I think everyone's basically covered it, but I wanted to third or fourth a couple of things!  FWIW I didn't bleed as much as I expected--maybe only a week, with some heavy clots the first 2 days, probably from overdoing it.

Peri bottle--yes yes yes!!  If you have a hospital or birth center birth they'll probably give you one or two.  They're really cheap either way.

Witch hazel--I bought California Baby (I know there are some that don't like the brand, but I'm okay with it) bottom spray (for babies) and ended up using it myself.  Tucks pads would be good too!!

Disposable stuff--At my last birth (a hospital) they had these mesh disposable underwear that were great for the first two days.  I took bunches.  Less bloody underwear to wash, yay!  And it was a good thing because we ended up away from home for 3 weeks with DD in the NICU.  I also took bunches of those disposable waterproof pad things to avoid leaking on the bed.  I don't love disposable in general, but birth is one of those things that I don't want interrupted by bloody laundry.  Disposable pads or Depends.

Stool softeners--definitely. Can't stress it enough.  Wish I had started it sooner.

Clots--be aware that you might pass clots that are bigger than you'd expect.  I passed one bigger than a baseball about 40 hours after DD's birth.  Freaked out DH, called L&D, they had him put a plastic bag on his hand and squeeze it to determine whether it was just a clot or retained birth stuff of some sort.  Apparently it was fine, but geez was it freaky.  Better safe than sorry I guess!

Big pad for nursing--I like to lay on a cotton pad until my milk gets under control.  A towel would work too.  You can get something with an organic cotton surface and PUL underside that will keep your sheets dry, and feel okay to lay on with babe.  Mine is like 2 x 3 feet.

[Rasa]

Ok, picked up a bottle of straight witch hazel last night when I was out...I read the tucks pad ingredients and realized witch hazel is the main one (and I found them really soothing last tIme) but I think I'll avoid all those other ingredients which are probably just to preserve the things and dilute the witch hazel into my peri bottle directly...ahhh...sounds soothing already!

Wow, justKate, I had no idea you could pass clots so big, that would have totally freaked me out too!  But good to know where things can fall on the continuum and still be ok!