After Pains...

[Tracey]

Ok, I keep forgetting to bring this up, but I have been tol;d from my Mum & numerous friends that the after pains they experienced after their 2nd, 3rd & 4th kids have hurt more than the actual labour?

Can anyone confirm this?

Coz I am not looking forward to any pain that gives me no gift at the end????

[Astrolady]

I can't really remember experiencing any after pain, you might get the odd cramps though as your uterus contracts back down.

Love

[Melinda]

I got after pains with Jacob. I'd been told that it's usually with 2nd and subsequent children, not your first, but low and behold, there I was getting them whilst BF Jacob who is my first. Not very nice.....

I didn't continue with BF, so I didn't get them after that obviously.

[Trish]

I got them after my second birth. They were so bad that they lasted for 3 days. Ouch. Worse than my labour. I had painkillers in hospital for them. They are worse if you breastfeed however know that when you are getting them - they feel like contractions, they are helping your uterus get back to normal size so its a good thing. I didn't feel them as much after my 3rd bub as I'd had a c section and had a pca - pethadine drip so I guess that stopped me feeling any other pains Not looking forward to them this time either.

Take care
Trish

[christy]

I got some cramping contraction like pain after the first two weeks... I was bf and I know that helps your uterus contract back to a reasonable size, and I thought I had them more because of the caesarean... :-k

[Ambah]

I didn't really notice any afterpains (luckily!), but maybe that was due to never fully breastfeeding him from day 2 onwards (mostly formula feeding)...

[BellyBelly]

I didn't think it was worse than labour at all, just uncomfortable, but you can have pain killers for it.

The pain can be stronger the 2nd or 3rd time around as your uterus has to work harder to get back into it's pre-preg state, but if the pain was worse than labour, I would be checking with the Ob or the GP. I'm sure they could be given something for the pain and / or be checked out to make sure all is as should be.

[Jackie]

I can't remember having any severe pains, just cramping which was about as bad as period pains. I breast fed all 3 of mine for quite a while. I guess it's just different for everyone..

[Pietta]

I was the same with the epidural still in me filled with pethadine. I could feel my uterus contracting though when i did manage to breast feed.

[Fi]

I had terrible pains after the birth - particularly when breast feeding. A wheat pack worked wonders for them.

About a week after the birth I had a few really nasty cramps in the middle of the night that had me crying and I needed some panadol for them.

Definitly not worse than labour - but still pretty unpleasant.
Fi

[mooshie]

Hi Barley1

my first two births i didn't experience after pains really at all - but my 3rd wow it was actually worse than labour for me - they lasted around 2wks and yup really bad during breastfeeding, i don't take pain relief very often but i was needing to take a couple of panadol quite often.

[Deejoy17]

I always thought you didn`t experience afte birth pains with your first but I did and ouchy the pain on top of a c/s is not nice and while BF they were so much more painful the Hospital ended up giving me some Ponstan for the pain and that worked wonders.

Take Care

Deeanne

[kirbay831]

lol I take ponstan for period pain.. coz i cant take nurofen etc..

Dee.. where can I see some pics of your new little guy?

K

[Deejoy17]

Kirbay - the photos will be on my www site which you`ll find on all my posts, the photos of Matthew should be on the site later this afternoon. At the time of the after birth pains I was still on pethidene via the drip, which really didn`t do much for either my c/s pain or after birth pain just made me totally out of it.

Take Care

Deeanne

[*Yvette*]

Not more than the labour, but yeah, mine have been worse each time. After Angus they were quite bad, and I had to actually stop & softly vocalize through them like early contractions. For some reason all they had for me was paracetamol. (Or Panadeine, but I can't stand codeine, it makes me feel sick).

This time I came prepared with a big box of ibuprofen in my handbag, but fortunately they gave me it in a suppository, which worked a treat for 6 hours or so, & by then paracetamol & ibuprofen orally were enough.

Heat packs or wheat bags help a bit too.

I still get them now when I'm breastfeeding, but only mildly now.

[Bathsheba]

I only had afterpain whilst BF my 1st child and it only lasted for a few days... it was just like a bad period cramp. With my 2nd child the pain of labour didn't actually stop after he was out. It became quite intense and different to the pain whilst I was pushing, hard to describe. My OB seemed surprised that I didn't want to hold my baby immediately because of the pain and he gave me Pethadine (I'd had a natural labour). After the drugs started working I was able to bond and all was good. Strangely I don't recall BFing cramps as much the second time around. The nurses kept offering drugs but I said I was fine... then all of a sudden one morning on the 3rd day (lucky I was still in hospital) I had this almighty cramp! It was like I was back in the midst of labour... I expected a clot or something (I wasn't feeding at the time) but nothing of unusul size emerged. Weird, the nurses gladly gave me pain relief. Also when they checked me before my discharge from hospital the nurse was very surpised at how small my uterus was.... it was like it had shrunk all at once on the third day... very very weird I think. Anyhow, I am mildly concerned about after pains for my next pregnancy but I'll make sure there's pain relief at hand just in case!