Episiotomy problems

[Maria101]

Hello - I wonder if anybody has any advice... I gave birth 10 days ago and had an episiotomy. Yesterdy my GP sent me to A&E, where I had to have my stiches removed because the wound was badly stitched, gaping and bleeding. I still have my internal stitches, but the surface ones were taken out and I'm now on antibiotics because they were also infected. Anyway, I keep hearing conflicting advice from my mum/midwife etc. Some suggest salt baths, others say that will shrink the stitches making it worse. Has anybody recently had something similar, and if so, what would you advise to help with the pain & healing?

I had an episiotomy for a forceps delivery in 2007. My wound became infected and I also ended up on antibiotics. Midwife suggested a few drops of tea tree oil in a warm shallow bath twice a day. It was very soothing and healed up well.

Regarding salt baths. I can't comment with regard to episiotomy, but I had stitches in my gums when I had my wisdom teeth out, and the surgeon recommended rinsing my mouth with warm salty water a few times a day to help the gums heal.

poor you maria, what a fucker. Both salt and tea tree oil help. but the main thing is to keep them dry (not easy in this weather) and IT WILL HEAL

your poor thing

Lavender oil's good for healing too, I had a bath with it every day for a couple of weeks after my episiotomy and it seemed to heal up well. The midwives at my birth centre gave me the recipe for the mixture for your bath. Mix 6 drops of oil (maybe 3 tea tree and 3 lavender) with a teaspoon of milk before putting it in a warm bath. The milk helps it to spread through the water.

Just remembered, another thing they recommended was putting some witch hazel on a pad and leaving it on your stiches. Hope you're feeling better soon

porcamiseria is right, making sure your stitches are dry is important, I had baths with a couple of caps of dettol, and I know it sounds odd but i didn't really want to touch the stiches with a towel while drying myself so I used a hair dryer on cool setting, top tip from my auntie.

I had a similar experience to you. I tried to keep pressure off the wound and lay down instead of sitting whenever possible for the first few weeks. Also had salt baths, then dried the area with a hairdryer on a cool and gentle setting and dabbed with cottonwool with a few drops of tea tree oil on it. I didn't try witchhazel but apparently that is good too. Healed at around 6 weeks.

My dd is 12 days old & I have just had my stitches looked at by the mw.I have been having baths twice a day with tea tree & lavender oil in as advised by hospital mws. community mw today said salt baths only when stitches are ready - ie dissolving else they may dissolve the stitches before the wound is ready. hth

Hi.
I had an epesiotomy 4 weeks ago and had an infection. The best advice I got was from a midwife friend (not the hospital), who said the following.

1. After your bath/shower, lay on the bed with a towel under you and get as much air to the stitches as possible.
2. Where possible, wear a skirt with no underwear, Again, this helps keep the site dry rather than damp.
3. In terms of bowels, you're not very active, so you don't need to eat much. Eat small portions of high fibre foods and fruit/veg, but don't over do it. The more you eat, the more there is to pass along the bowel and I found this to be very painful. When I ate less, but drank more liquids, the pain eased.
4. If you're having problems going to the loo, take one sachet of fybogel on an evening and drink water through the night.
5. Walking upstairs puts extra pressure on the stitches so try to do this as little a possible.
6. Get a "valley cushion" from the NCT. You can hire them, and enable you to sit. Better than eating dinner stood up!

I found all this invaluable. I also found that going without a sanitary towel where possible stopped any chaffing, and if your stitches run along into your buttocks, don't use ones with wings as that irritates too.

It gets better after a couple of weeks, but don't expect the discomfort and swelling to go for some time. I'm 4 weeks and 5 days and still sore, but after the second set of anti-biotics, I felt much better.

I forgot to mention, in terms of pain relief, use paracetamol during the day, and ibuprofen through the night. Also, taking arnica in tablet form brings out any bruising quicker ( and therefore easier sooner). I bought mine from Lloyds chemist.

I really hope this helps. It's a tough time, I l know.