period post birth

ok so i like to be prepared early, i was wondering how long the period/bleeding after giving birth lasts? also did you need maternity pads for the whole time? was it like a normal period or heavier?

thanks for your info ladies xxoo

I'd have 2 - 3 pack of maternity pads on hand. The heave flow is usually only for a few days. It should ease off by then, but bleeding can usually last between 4 & 8 weeks.
Regular pads, or even liners towards the end will be ok.

BTW - over the first day/night you might even want to use 2 maternity pads.

I used about 4 or 5 packs of maternity pads (10 pads in each pack). While I was in hospital I used 2 pads at a time, as suggested by one of the midwives, as the flow was quite heavy and it just felt like it was going everywhere!... has settled down now and am just using the last of the maternity pads but a liner would probably be sufficient for now.

ok so i will start to grab a pack every couple of weeks at shopping then.
What is the difference between maternity and overnight/heavy flow pads?

Not sure what the difference is as ive never used the overnight pads, but the maternity ones are quite long (a lot longer than normal pads) and are quite thick. They do feel quite bulky, but once used to them they are ok. Just kinda weird having to use pads again after 9 months of not having anything! Lol

i have (well when not pg or on the pill) really heavy periods and for teh first 3 days need the over nighters 24/7 they are very long but you can get some thin ones...
:S im just getting anxious about things. thanks so much ladies for your info!

BTW when you are in hossy, check the drawers. They often have pads there for you to use already that aren't backed. I used them on top of the maternity ones. 2 of them the first night.
I'm not sure about the difference between overnight/maternity, but I'm guessing the maternity ones are thicker.

maternity pads are generally nice and thick and soft - which, if you have a VB - you really want! i had five packs of mat pads and used only three of them - but the hospy supplied pads for the first day and a half as i had a c/s and they were monitoring my bleeding due to bleeding too much during recovery.

from what a couple of friends have said, the thick soft ones are much more comfy on a sore body!

i'd have at least a few packets of mat pads, and then some of your regular overnight ones on hand - if you usually have heavy AF it's not like they're going to go to waste!

Oh great -- more gross stuff to look forward too. I HATE pads!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, though. I have BB instead of a midwife to tell me what's ahead.

i used the poise incontinence pads (pink pack) for the first few days and had no leaks and they were soft and comfy. I also liked the libra mat pads with wings(purple packs) but hated the mat pads in the green pack - they seemed really hard and hurt my very bruised vag/peri area. I am using regular thin pads now.

Maternity pads absorb more liquid at a faster flow than overnight pads I believe so are more suited.
I bled for 5 weeks. Only 1 week of that was heavy. Rest was normal pads/panty liners.
The hospy had these funny looking backless pads in my drawer next to bed - I wore a mat pad, but I also had to have a catheter in for 48 hours afterwards (couldn't feel my bladder or pee after the birth so standard procedure if this happens to put catheter in) so if you have this it's a lot more tricky to control the bleeding as the damn catheter plastic bits -other then being freaking uncomfortable - create 'gapeage' and so lochia kept leaking down one side of my pants legs (sorry if TMI) so had to have at least 3 pads on, one bought maternity on bottom and two of the hospy's on either side of the catheter for 5 days which in hospy and that worked a treat. Only needed 2 packs or specific maternity pads for that reason.
If you want to be super prepared for what to expect - something I didn't read anywhere was that the Lochia smells real different from a normal period - I swear, I kept thinking I could smell that 'birth' smell for months afterwards (total nutter I know).

sas85 you poor thing! The midwives kept threatening to put a catheter in and were just about to do it when I finally was able to pee...it was hard though because I couldn't feel the sensation of needing to go to the toilet (only just starting to get that back now!) so just had to keep trekking down the hallway...

In my hospital drawers there was a stack of the pad things they put underneath you when doing an internal exam so you don't get stuff all over the sheets... I found them really helpful after the birth (again as suggested by the m/w), just folded one so it fit in my underwear and stuck a couple of pads on top, just for a bit of extra absorbency and to help prevent side leakage as I couldn't find any maternity pads that had wings!