Help me to poo after my planned c/s!

[RambleOn]

I'm going in for a planned section sometime in the next few weeks. DD was born by em c/s a couple of years ago, and the worst memory I have of it is trying (and failing) to poo for the first couple of days.

The constipation was agony, made worse by the knowledge that my DD was left on her own in the ward for long periods of time. I was also left with piles which I'd avoided through the pregnancy.

So, is there anything I can eat/tablets I can take, that will help? I intend to breastfeed if that makes any difference.

Thanks. (Dontcha love MN where you can unashamedly chitchat about your bodily functions)

After my c-section I ate dried prunes and apricots - didn't do a thing!

Lactulose and Fybogel did the trick, but I had to ask the midwife for them as she was reluctant to give them to me for some reason

I recently had emergency c-section and was able to poo on day 2 but gas was another story. Day 3 was horrible. Any thing that went into my mouth was either hot or warm. That seemed to help my bowels. I did take lactulose on day 3 and a cup of peppermint tea and tablets.

Another thing that Indians swear by is Ajwain seed water. You can get these seeds at any Indian grocery store. Boil 2-3 tsp in 1 litre water until the water content is reduced to half. Sip this through out the day (warm if you can). I am still drinking 500 ml of this (day 12 of recovery). If you can stand the taste then you can add more seeds. My bowels returned to normal (for an eternally costipated me) by day 5ish.

Here is the definition from wikipedia.
Ajwain or Ajowan Caraway (botanical name of Trachyspermum copticum)

prunes and warm water. even if you go on a fiber dieat don't forget to drink lots of water and warm and hot water preferably

I asked for something to help me go after my CS. They gave me one dose of lactulose but it had such a loud, explosive effect that I begged to use the midwives staff toilet as I was too embarrassed to go to the one on the ward ! I would definitely take senna or fybogel next time instead.

Just drink about half a bottle of prune juice!

I'd advise lots of fruit and plenty of water, worked for me

For post-op wind I think the best thing is warm peppermint cordial with solutble paracetamol in it. The MW are usually pretty good at giving you this if you need it- usually in the middle of the night!

soft licorice. Delish and fab for the bowels!

1. Something to ease constipation such as fybogel (or your gp could prescribe something a bit more industrial such as movicol)

1. sainsburies own version haemorrhoid ointment has a local anaesthetic in it which you can apply in advance of trying to go to the loo, if you yuo think it will be be painful to push.

1. Also if you can do a high squat, with slightly bent knees (in a skiing type pose) over the toilet instead of sitting down, this puts less strain on your bum and allows gravity to help the poo drop out without having to push so much.

I had Movicol stool softener. Much better than fibre / lactulose. Movicol shouldn't make you poo more, just make your poo soft. Bloomin' lactulose sent me to the loo 9 times a day .

I just had my second cs and was allowed to take movicol while bf.

I ended up with a awful anal fissure after my first cs so I had to be really careful second time round, it's still not 100% right now .

Don't eat too much after the op either. I took sachets of miso soup and some herb tea to the hospital, I didn't want to overload my stomach immediatley after the op.