Anyone else get awful afterpains?

[Funnybunnyyumyum]

I am due to have my third child any day now and I'm more afraid of the afterpains than the labour and birth. I had bearable afterpains after my first but they were pretty horrendous after number two and lasted at least a week. I'm dreading it this time round, as they supposedly get worse with each child. My doctor has prescribed Diclofenac and says I can supplement that with paracetamol if it's not enough. The leaflet in the Diclofenac packet says don't take if breastfeeding so I'm not sure what to do. Any advice? Or sympathy?!

Wonder if you can get gas and air as a take away

I took co-something, it is (according to GP) more BF friendly & was told it's peak was 1h so you can (try) and judge taking it around estimated feed times.

I had no after pains after DC1, terrible ones after DC2 and extremely mild ones after DC3. I hope that gives you some hope!

mine were bad (am not gonna lie, they really were horrendous).

however

diclofenac is fine to take. tis what they give the caesarian mums and they are likely to be breastfeeding too. it is if you take it without medical advice that you need to be wary of, so don;t fret on that score. altho, I have to say, it didn;t work for me at all.

one thing I found a great help was a hot water bottle and a tens machine. tens machine during labour did sweet F.A, but for the afterpains......worked pretty good

Thanks for your messages. Lovemydog, yes, gas and air at home would be nice! Have to say, i haven't bothered with a tens as never found it any use before. How quickly can you hire them from Boots? Do you know? MamaG, that's nice to know. I am hoping..........

oh dear, i hate to tell you but mine after my third were HORRIFIC !! Deep breathing helped (it helped when i was in labour too) and keeping topped up on pain relief even if not in pain.

The other thing is to remember that they will not last

erm, not sure on hiring usage as I borrowed one from my friend.

surely the maternity unit or MW could tell you tho, or maybe even plan for you to borrow one from them (do they lend them out in your unit tho??)

Me. Awful awful pains after each. I took ibruprofen 600mg (prescribed by GP), that helped. No problems breastfeeding. In fact did not need any pain relief for any of my three births, but could not cope with afterpains without ibruprofen.

x

I had worse afterpains after ds2 than ds1, and I thought they would get worse with each child. But I hardly had any after ds3 so I hope it goes that way for you too and that the diclofenac goes unused

I have known women with severe afterpains be given pethidine - don't suffer in silence, ask for something else if the diclofenac and paracetamol don't help.