TMI: post-birth hygiene down there...

hi there,

sorry for TMI, this is a question for my child nurse but unfortunately i'm not seeing her until wednesday....

for how long after the birth should i be jumping into the shower after a poo to wash? It's been 12 days and although I had no stitches after the birth, I developed a skin flap down there that got infected and needed antibiotics for it :o

is all fine now but i'd rather err on the side of caution and wash for longer than necessary. it's not so much pain relief in my case, it's more to avoid it getting infected again.

any idea when you stopped douching and why post-birth?

/Tanya

I didn't even know you were meant to :redface: I washed "down there" with water only and my butt with soap and only at my normal shower times. I didn't tear either, but got a bit of a split down one side of my labia...

I was sliced open (only told about that when they were stitching me up though) and was never told to shower down there, just pat myself dry. So I was immediately post-birth back to usual, pretty much.

Uhm, i never knew either :redface:

Nope.. Never heard that one either. I've had both an episiotomy and then a 1st degree tear (that was left to heal without stitches) and tearing and just patted dry and only washed at shower times.

another suggestion is drying down there with either a hairdryer or heater on low heat keeping it dry will help stop bacteria multiplying

it was something i was told to do after both kids maybe more cause i had stitches

I was always under the impression the vagina sorted itself out provided you kept poo out of it ^^;
maybe just keep do what you have been told to do until you feel healed...

I've never heard of that one either.
Do what you feel will help you and what your comfortable with xoxox

i wasn't told to wash down there every time but had pretty decent damage so if i would use the moist toilet wipes and if i could have a bath or shower after for about 2 weeks (was lucky enough to have someone around to look after bubs) - but i had lots of tearing so was OVERLY cautious about infection....

I wasnt told anything either. i just cleaned when i showered which was twice a day.

Come to think of it.... I don't know who told me either! Certainly no one specifically this time!

After my first birth it was a great pain relief in general (just cold water) and ditto this time once the skin flap got infected but I think the biggest beneft this time was being clean down there, especially in the early days. I think the infecion was caused by a lapse in hygiene sometime in the early days...

Who would have thougt that cold showers could have brought so much relief!

Ok, that was way TMI... I think I'll continue for a while yet, until I see my nurse in any case

I used a soft-side plastic 'squeezy bottle' with a special lid that gives a gentle stream of water, and filled it with a 'tea' made from my post natal healing bath herbs. I could 'squirt' my peri while sitting on the toilet with the warm herbal liquid. Sometimes i added sea salt or a drop of tea tree oil to the warm water. it was so soothing. I also had the post natal herbal healing bath every day for the first week after birth. The herbs are so soothing, smell amazing and they are antiseptic so they prevent infection. Everything healed so well, including the baby's cord stump. That post natal herbal bath was one of the things I enjoyed the most about the day i gave birth, cuddling my baby and soaking up the blisss!

^ Get Julie's perinatal care kit. It's THE best thing I had!! :D

Has anyone tried active Manuka Honey on the peri? This has brilliant healing qualities. A nice regime is to smear the Manuka Honey on a pad and place that on the peri, wear that for half an hour, then sink into a blissful herbal bath. Some people believe warmth is better for healing than cold compresses. But cold compresses might have their place for a short time if there is significant swelling. And also for haemorrhoids. If you soak small muslin cloths, or even those square cotton wool make-up cleansing thingies, in the herbal liquid, then freeze them in a little ziploc baggie, then thaw them just enough to separate them, and place those on those 'orrible 'rrhoids' while you rest on your side - it shrinks the 'rrhoids right down. (Er .. did i mention a TMI warning?? LOL) Follow that up with some Proctosedyl ointment - you can buy that over the counter from a Pharmacy and that will help a whole lot with post natal 'rrhoids.

Julie, this thread is marked TMI, so you're safe!

Thanks all for your input, I dunno about manuka honey (although I've heard it's one of those things like garlic that is good for everything) but I would have tried anything at the time. Am happy to have healed completely, except for the rrhoids (which have gone down and don't hurt anymore).

Hope you ladies are all doing well!

Glad to here the rrhoids are on their way out!

I just came from a lovely homebirth. The mama did not have a bath, (though she did have a birth pool). So instead of a post natal herbal bath, I made up the herbal mixture and put the concentrate in a jar. Then we would fill her peri-cleanse bottle (any squeezy bottle will do) about a quarter-full with the concentrated herbal liquid, then add hot tap water. The bottle would then be full of just-warm herbal liquid. She used this whenever she went to the toilet and it brought great relief. She had no tears but did have a slight graze and the warm herbal liquid was very soothing, and it does speed the healing.

Thanks for the tips Julie - would you mind coming to Sweden and being my doula for the next birth? :-)

Water birth is straight-out forbidden here, which is so strange as Sweden is so progressive in many other ways. They use some old anti-waterbirth research as justification, which means I would need to have a home birth to birthy baby in water - can you please talk me down from my fears - although I've had two relatively easy fast and straight-forward births, I've been concerned about the risks of not being close enough to medical help in an emergency

...I'm not even pregnant yet (nor do I even have my period back after 10.5 months, I'm pretty sure I'll have to stop BFing for 24 hours like I did for my last child). So it's a long way off....

Just putting myself out there

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Glad to here the rrhoids are on their way out!

I just came from a lovely homebirth. The mama did not have a bath, (though she did have a birth pool). So instead of a post natal herbal bath, I made up the herbal mixture and put the concentrate in a jar. Then we would fill her peri-cleanse bottle (any squeezy bottle will do) about a quarter-full with the concentrated herbal liquid, then add hot tap water. The bottle would then be full of just-warm herbal liquid. She used this whenever she went to the toilet and it brought great relief. She had no tears but did have a slight graze and the warm herbal liquid was very soothing, and it does speed the healing.

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I used to sit in a shallow bath of salt water to wash my bits, then pat dry and then hair dry. That seemed to help. :)

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Thanks for the tips Julie - would you mind coming to Sweden and being my doula for the next birth? :-)

Water birth is straight-out forbidden here, which is so strange as Sweden is so progressive in many other ways. They use some old anti-waterbirth research as justification, which means I would need to have a home birth to birthy baby in water - can you please talk me down from my fears - although I've had two relatively easy fast and straight-forward births, I've been concerned about the risks of not being close enough to medical help in an emergency

...I'm not even pregnant yet (nor do I even have my period back after 10.5 months, I'm pretty sure I'll have to stop BFing for 24 hours like I did for my last child). So it's a long way off....

Just putting myself out there

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WOW! What an amazing offer! If you were able to take care of the airfare, I absolutely would consider it! I am very comfortable with waterbirth, convinced of its safety and appropriateness. About 90% of the homeborn babies I have been present at the birth for, were born in water (including my own 4th baby).

I have actually travelled to Thailand and the USA to so birth support work before, we call it a "doula holiday".

But even if it is not practically or financially feasible, I would be happy to chat more and help you come to peace with thos ol' fears. Fears are not necessarily a bad thing and are very much a normal part of the journey to birth and to trust. We just got to tame them and befriend them.

Wondering about contacting Waterbirth International to see if they might know of some waterbirth-friendly birth workers in Sweden. There must be some!

Hi again Tanyaya, another mama shared this with me recently:

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"I think these fears that crop up are a good thing. I think many women travel into birth without ever dealing with those fears that lurk deeply. And I believe birth is a time where the life/death connection is more prominant than at any other time, regardless of where you birth. I have seen women genuinely think they were dying during birth. And I have seen these un-examined fears cause decisions to be made that were really not necessary, and cloud the issues and prevent decisions that should have been made. It is really hard to "just trust" unless you examine and deal with those fears. To do so you need to examine these things:

1. What are your fears?
2. What would be the cause if those fears came true (eg - if you are fearful of dying - what things can happen which would cause you to die?)
3. What are my chances of these things happening in hospital?
4. What are my chances of these things happening at home?
5. What would be my action plan if one of those things happened or I had signs that one was starting to happen?

I have never known a woman to genuinely go through the above list and not choose homebirth. But you must choose whatever is right for you after you have written all the answers and examined it."

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Hope that might be helpful at some point.

Also Birthing From Within is a great book to help women explore their feelings and fears around birth.

Another good book is 'Birth Space, Safe Space'