Foul smelling blood - what does it mean?

[WhatDoesItMeanq]

Hi,

I have had a gushing of blood once on day 9 and then on day 10 postpartum. Normal bleeding stopped after about 5 days. I have been asked if it smells fishy or foul. What is foul smelling? Yesterday it melt like period with a very mild smell of 'fart spray' from the 90s. Today that was slightly stronger. There's something different about it compared to period blood but I wouldn't say it's 'foul or fishy'.

Any experience what foul smells like?

It’s could be an indication of infection, speak to your midwife, doctor or health visitor

Slow down if you are moving too much.
I had gushes like that on and off for a month after, and it was worse with exercise, even though I felt ready to exercise.
Foul smelling, I guess would be if you can smell it without needing to sniff up close.

A change in odour or offensive odour can be a sign of infection.

Definitely call your maternity unit to discuss the gushing and change in odour.

TMI, I had a uterine infection and the blood smelled like bad breath and poo :( You know foul smelling when you smell it

In my experience, post partum bleeding never smells like normal period blood. But when I had an infection it smelled like something had crawled up there and died, and I had dreadful uterus pains (but I wasn't running a fever). There was no mistaking the smell 🤢

ANY change of smell should be checked out urgently. I had the same experience and didn’t think much of it, but by the middle of the night I had sepsis and was really unwell. Please don’t leave this. And if you get any fever, shivering, feeling like you have the flu just go straight to the hospital. Puerperal fever used to kill huge numbers of women and plenty still die of infection even in this country.

Ok, this is helpful. It's on the very bad breathe end of smells. Worse than yesterday. But not like something has died there

What is the test to see if there is an infection? Can they tell other than by your symptoms that you describe?

I'm asking because it's been offered for me to go in to get checked. But if I go in, I will have to leave my new born with my partner (no child care for toddler), which means she will be fed by formula in my absence

Just to add, my blood never smelled worse than ‘a bit off’ and I had no pain. You don’t need to smell like you are rotting from the inside.

Can’t your partner look after the toddler while you take the newborn?

I know you don't want to hear it, but if you're thinking "I'd quite like to get checked out if it weren't so inconvenient" then that means you need to get it checked. Fwiw all my babies were combi-fed at various points within the first month, and one bottle won't make any difference to her or to your milk.

Mine was normal but smelt quite a bit, rather sagey

By normal I mean, not infected

You are worried, OP. That means you need to get yourself checked out, just in case you have an infection.

Can’t you take the baby with you?

You can take your baby with you.
Hope all is ok

Take the baby with you. Stinky is infection or potentially retained placenta.

You can take the baby with you OP - definitely go and get checked out

Usually you would be able to take your partner and baby with you.

Generally you would expect a full postnatal checkup plus bloods and a vaginal swab to screen for infection, and a review with a doctor. If suspicion of infection you will usually be given antibiotics.

Postnatal infection can rapidly become serious and I would urge you to go and get checked out ASAP.

I would get checked.

Postpartum blood didn’t smell bad to me, just more bodily like sweat.. but not ‘bad breath’ or fishy, not even mildly. And it didn’t gush at any point, let alone 10 days after.

I had an infection after my 2nd and took the baby with me. There was no issue and it was almost expected! Go and get it checked out.

Did you have a C-section or gynae surgery after delivery? I had the exact smell you are describing about 11/12 days postpartum. Was on the cusp of seeking advice but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

I always found postpartum bleeding to be more mucusy than a normal period, and it does smell quite different.

But yes, I'd call your hospital.

OP you need to be checked out, an intra-uterine infection can get nasty very quickly, is it worth the risk?

You can definitely take the baby in with you. You're less than 28 days so you'll go to the postnatal ward just like after delivery and they'll be expecting baby as well. Absolutely no need to disrupt breastfeeding or leave baby if you don't want to.

I had an uterine infection after my C-section and no change in smell but lots of pain and increase in bleeding. I went into the ward and they did a high vaginal swab (a bit like a smear but just a cotton bud type thing) and also swabbed my wound. Gave me oral antibiotics & painkillers. Swab came back confirming infection but they changed the antibiotic to a different one.

It'll be quick but you should definitely get checked. Take the baby.

Get checked, take the baby, hope you're sorted very soon!

Thanks, this helped me decide. I went in.

I left baby with partner and toddler at home. I needed to take a cab and unfortunately I don't think I'm well enough to carry baby+car seat from car drop off to triage unit at the moment. So was not safe to go in with her. Tough but I hope I can be here fast.

I considered other options like us all going in but my toddler is really struggling with all the change and I couldn't see another way for us to do it.