Bleeding after birth, how long?

[TotorosOcarina]

DS is a month old today and am still bleeding.

Just wondering when I can expect it to stop?

[nearlytherenow]

mine took 5 weeks to stop this time and about 7 last time.

[Marne]

8 weeks after dd1 and 3 weeks after dd2.

[NonnoMum]

Congrats on your baby.

I think about 6 weeks on average...

[ThatllDoPig]

Over by six week check more or less.

[MrsTittleMouse]

Just over 6 weeks for me. I have found out since that it was probably because I was doing too much - have you been "being really good" and running around doing stuff? Don't be shy about resting with your feet up and doing only just enough to look after you and the baby. Stuff the housework! :)

[TotorosOcarina]

urgh, 7-8 weeks? :(

it was 2 weeks with DD, I can't remember with my others.

Am fed up of it now

[FetchTheMaid]

Clears up really quickly if breastfeeding - mostly gone within a week for me and when I didn't breastfeed it was about a month

[MrsTittleMouse]

Not always - I breastfed both of mine exclusively and still bled for ages. And my periods came back quickly too - I was most annoyed.

[ng1412]

3 weeks (am bf) but have a lovely UTI that wont' go away - would rather be bleeding still TBH

[runnyeggsareyummy]

7 weeks and EBF... Was mightly hacked off as was really heavy for a long time - was the worst bit about the whole thing (worse than EMCS!)! It does stop eventually though!

[sc2987]

10 days actual blood, 6 weeks the lochia alba. I EBF.

[gourd]

I have read that it is considered normal to bleed for anything from 1 to 6 weeks. I think a lot depends on the original position of the placenta and where exactly it was attached. See your midwife or GP if you are worried. I only bled for 1 week and only the first 2 days were heavy enough to need a maternity towel for absorbency - after that it seemed to be just a very light deposit of brown lochia stuff, so I tried normal towels, but quickly realised that the reason maternity towels are so thick is for the comfortable padding more than anything else!

[sugarsnappea]

I wondered the same thing too, I hadn't discovered mumsnet yet and thought it would all be fine - and then haemorrhaged at 6 weeks (retained products) kept bleeding heavily until about 12 weeks. I am really used to ignoring things and hoping they'll sort themselves out I wish I'd just chatted to my GP or a midwife earlier.

[Hatespinkcantcook]

I breastfed and bled for 6 weeks and had a period 2 weeks after that was very annoying

[ShowOfHands]

6-7 weeks (ebf), then had a month off before my periods returned.

6 weeks is average/normal iirc.