Maternity pads/Heavy flow sanitary pads

[STORM01]

Hi everyone,

Sorry if posted in wrong place but as a 1st timer just wondering your opinions on sanitary towels for when DC is born.

Just starting to consider packing my hospital bag & would like to know if I could get away with buying heavy flow sanitary pads or if I really do need "proper" maternity pads?

All opinions most welcome & dont be afraid to share all the gorey details...the more info I have the more scared prepared I am!!!

Oh crikey, I googled Tena pants and they come in about four absorbancies...
Advice please!!!

Was advised not to use a 'slim' style as they are harder to estimate blood loss. Nothing with a plastic topping either, ewww. TBH, I got an infection which the MWs blamed on the pads, so I eneded up with strips of muslin the first time and lovely cotton maternity pads the second time. Never gone back to anything disposable.

You should use maternity pads because of possible infections being masked by sanitary pads. I used mothercare, they do have an adhesive strip, never had any problems with them not sticking. I always used two pads for the first few days, stuck on overlapping side by side. I have needed that because of the quantity of flow. Maternity pads are much more padded, you will need that if you have a v delivery, even if there are no tears, you will feel bruised. I moved to santitary towels after about a week too, but you will need lots of pads probably 10 a day at least for the first few days, so get plenty. If you have some left over you can use them as ordinary sant. towels when your periods start up again, as you mustn't use tampons for the first period anyway.

I used the cheap supermarket own brand santitary towels. It was like sitting on a cloud... pure bliss.

Unfortunately before that i tried always towels and found the topsheet stuck to my stitches.... Makes me feel cold just thinking about it now.

Tena pants definitely...I used them when I had a miscarriage last year and this time around, I'll be using them post-labour! Packed and ready in my hospital bag. They really are a treat as you don't have to worry at all about leaking, and they are very absorbant and very comfortable.

I brought the natracare maternity pads. They were more expensive but they didn't have the plastic covering on them. And after being totally restitched, i was so grateful!

Then when my flow started to get lighter i used tena pads.

But something thick is a Godsend, as its cushioned and relieves any pressure you might have

Definitely maternity pads! I didn't bleed that much but was so grateful for the extra cushioning... Store brands like Boots are fine IMO.

Thank you for this thread...had been wondering the same, was just going to go with Always, and had NO clue about the difference and will now add mat pads to my hospital bag!!!

I didn't much like the natracare ones - they seemed to have a whispy top that kept catching on my stitches. I liked the Boots own brand ones best with a stitched down top sheet.