What are the best Pants and Pads after a C-Section?

[spur999]

Hi Ladies,
2 weeks to go and I need to get some big pants and maternity pants. Last time was a natural birth but I remember I had all the wrong stuff. Disposable pants in particular were so rubbish I still have them from 8 years ago... The pads were like bricks and aggravated the stitches...If there is a good website to buy this sort of stuff and if there is anything else essential to buy I would be so grateful - Thanks in advance

[FranHastings]

I had an emergency c section and got some Tena Lady super absorbent pants that did the job nicely. They came up nice and high. Also, my bleeding wasn't as heavy as after my natural birth and it was so lovely to not have stitches there, it really made me appreciate the difference between the two different births.

[TheLongRains]

I've only had c-sections, but found the bleeding to be not too horrific. More like a very heavy period, so after a few maternity pads (yup, like bricks!), I switched to long, nighttime sanitary towels, and they were fine. I bought a couple of packs of black, very high waisted pants from a supermarket, in a size up from normal, and they were great. They reached my bellybutton, so nowhere near the scar.

You'll probably find you won't be anywhere near as sore below (from what others say to me! I certainly didn't feel the pain they described!) but you won't want anything rubbing the wound, so I tended to wear very loose trousers with a high waist, or a dress, so nothing was touching.

Hope all goes well for you! Keep on top of your pain meds!

[Marshpillow]

I used supermarket maternity pads and Peacocks big black pants in a larger size.

[FranHastings]

Ah yes, sorry, should have said. I only used the Tena Big Pants for the first few days, then switched to High Waist Big Knickers I'm a size up and normal maternity pads from Sainsbury's.

[spur999]

Thanks ever so much - that's been very helpful and saved me loads of time. Off to buy big pants tomorrow :)

[BeardMinge]

Multipack of M&S big black pants and just bog standard Boots own pads. My bleeding wasn't particularly heavy or long lasting either.

[LuckySantangelo1]

Tena pants! Great invention. Much more comfy than pads.

[heatherwithapee]

Giant normal cotton pants (old lady style) from Primark are as cheap as disposables and a lot more comfy. The 'full briefs' come up high enough to not rub your scar. Black ones for better than white for obvious reasons.

As for maternity pads, if you've had a c-section, then some long super / night pads (e.g Always) are good and less bulky than maternity towels.

If you've had a vaginal delivery (esp. if it involved stitches) stick to maternity towels as the dri-weave top layer on normal sanitary towels can catch the stitches

Regardless of method of delivery, it's worth using proper maternity towels at least once a day. The reason being that they don't lock the blood / lochia away behind a dry layer which enables you to get a good look at what's coming out of you. Any change in colour or appearance can indicate an infection.