Afterpains!!

[Madhouse41]

I am 37+6 weeks with DC4 and am quite relaxed about giving birth again. My problem is that I am beginning to panic about afterpain which I have had with all 3 previous DSs getting worse with each birth. I have spoken to many people about these and lots of my friends never had them. I am assuming that this time they will be worse and more painful than the last but I have to say the pain I experienced last time was so intense I would cry for hours and I can't imagine they could be worse! They went on for 3 or 4 days and seemed to come about every 20 mins and were particularly bad when I was due to BF.

I would be interested to hear about other mums who had these pains and whether, maybe, hopefully, they wont necessarily be worse this time!!!

I don't envy you, I had natural births with all three of my children, but it was ther after pains that had me crying for an epidural!

Did you bleed a lot? I did, especially after my second and third babies, and this was one of the reasons why the pains were so bad.

I took paracetamol and ibuprofen for the pains - apparently no problem for bfing - I'm not sure what else you can take.

To be honest I wanted morphine.

I didn't have then with DS but had them with DD (4 weeks old so can remember them very clearly!) and I have to say they were another reason added to the "stopping at 2 DCs" list! I was doubled over in pain with them when they hit and gas and air would have been nice at that point! For me they usually hit just after feeds. But my tummy has shrunk down incredibly quickly this time and my bleeding was pretty much over by day 5, so there is some benefit to them.

I had them really bad the worst being with my fourth although funnily enough not too bad with number five.I was given Solpadeine on the post natal ward which helped a lot. I FF though not sure whether it's recommended for BF mothers.

Yes belgo I did bleed a lot!! I was told I couldn't take ibuprofen when BFing though! It's been over 7 years since DS3 so I think I must have forgotten the pain until now!! Otherwise I may have thought twice!!! Still, as you say megonthemoon my tummy went down quickly each time but boy, what a price to pay!!

I got really worried about this before DD3. I didn't need pain relief during labour With DC 1 and 2 but I definitely needed it afterwards!

I took paracetomol and ibuprofen (both fine when bf'inf) religiously for the first few days, to the max dosage. If you work out the timings carefully you can space them out through a 24 hour period to get the maximum benefit. I think I was taking paracetamol 4x and ibuprofen 3x each 24 hours, and wrote down the timings and ticked them off when I'd taken them so I didn't get confused

I've never set much store by over-the-counter painkillers, but I have to say that taken like that they really worked, and helped generally with the various aches and pains in the first few days.

Bf'inG not inf...

Cocodamol, get it from your GP now and have it in your hospital or birth bag, you only need about 3 days for the worst of the pains. Afterpains with DC3 were hell (no co-codamol) and nothing special with DC4 (thank you co-codamol!)

ps: it's compatible with breastfeeding, too.

I'm with ragged, get cocodamol on prescription now, it's fine to take while bf.

Thanks everyone. I will get some asap.

Oh god your post has just reminded me of the afterpains!!! You simply have to think that they are your stomach quickly contracting back to normal. Any solace in that for you? A flatter stomach quicker? Also I do remember taking codeine for mine and was breastfeeding. It did the job. I didn't get them the first time round but definitely the second.

Hi, I had my little girl on Thursday night, she is baby number 3.
the afterpains I had with DS2 were horrendous and I remember it was a nightmare trying to breastfeed him knowing that the minute he latched on I would be in agony.

I can honestly say this time round though that although I did get them, they were nowhere near as bad - possibly two or three nasties (caused by the lady in the bed next to me's baby, funnily enough, and not mine!!)
I haven't needed to take painkillers, just a bit of controlled breathing, and they only lasted a couple of days this time.
so no, it doesn't really follow that you'll have a worse time this time, just take it easy and try and relax.
good luck xx

dd2 is 5 weeks so i remember them clearly too! i just had paracetamol & ibruprofen but if you can get something stronger before hand i would.

quite literally toe curling!