i found they were worse with my FIRST labour. i had hardly any bleeding second time round, it wasnt heavy and it went away really quick. you know how they feel your uterus well they all said it was really small straight away which accounted for the small amount of bleeding. so i dont know if that had anything to do with the fact that i found the after pains fine. actually i dont even remember having after pains with second baby but i distinctly remember them with baby number one, especially when breastfeeding.. the pain and the gush of blood. so you just never know. :-)