TMI: post-birth hygiene down there...

[tanyaya]

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

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

[helle]

I didn't even know you were meant to 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...

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

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.

[Starlite]

Uhm, i never knew either

[~Stoked~]

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.

[MummyOfTerrors]

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

[helle]

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...

[Catastrophic]

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

[MumtoA]

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....

[*LittleMissSummer*]

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

[tanyaya]

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

[BlackRose]

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.