postpartum prolapse and breastfeeding

[Netherregion]

I gave birth 12 weeks ago. It all went quite quickly and without interventions, but I was pushing for about two hours (even when I didn't really have the urge because the midwife was basically shouting at me!)... I noticed some lower back pain when out for longish walks with baby carrier and over the past couple of weeks this has included an uncomfortable sensation in my vagina. I had a look in the mirror two days ago and was horrified by what I saw. After searching the internet I'm fairly sure I have a vaginal prolapse. It's definitely mainly anterior, though possibly incorporating the back wall too. My cervix doesn't feel too low, so not sure if there's a problem with that or not. Obviously I am very upset and scared about what this means for me in the future - worried I won't be able to relax and play with my baby, do active stuff I enjoy etc. Going to try to see GP and possibly health visitor tomorrow, and currently am madly trying to do pelvic floor exercises as much as possible, but hoping I can get a referral to a physio so I can get some specialist guidance as I'm sure my technique could be improved. Suspect I may need an operation in the long run as I can clearly see that the walls of my vag have collapsed in on each other, which leads me to believe my case is well beyond a mild one. Nothing's hanging outside yet, but the walls are meeting pretty close to the entrance. I was wondering if anyone has experience of this and how much things improved for them once they stopped breastfeeding and the relaxin left their system? Any help or comments would be great - feeling pretty down about this.

Btw was my first birth, I'm in my mid-thirties and currently exclusively breastfeeding.

Oh, poor you. I have an anterior and posterior prolapse. It is early days.

Get your gp to refer you directly to the pelvic floor physio (or ring the department yourself).

Lots of pelvic floor exercises and time to heal post delivery will make an amazing difference.

Mine - are still there but hardly noticeable. Ive had another 2 children since and they havent even got any worse.

Good luck with it!

Thanks so much for your response - very encouraging to know having further children hasn't worsened things for you and that yours isn't causing you too much grief! Hopefully I'll get a referral tomorrow.

My prolapse happened after my DC2 and I haven't had any more DCs so can't help you with that bit.

BUT...things definitely improved after I stopped bfing. Not a reason to stop, I still did so for over a year, but (as predicted by my gynae) did feel real improvements very rapidly after doing so, maybe a week or two later?

Get seen and referred, but it suspect they will tell you they won't do anything beyond Physio (exercises are good, a friend swears by a probe thing she inserted) until a good year after you have given birth. And surgery definitely not recommended until you are past the childbearing stage.

Thanks NormHonal! Great to know the improvement was rapid - had read somewhere it takes six months for relaxin to clear from system, so was expecting improvement would take a while. Whilst I'm waiting for my referral, are there any activities that in your experience you would strongly caution against? Have read that running is not a good idea, and will try to minimize heavy lifting, which I guess means not using the baby bjorn carrier any more and going easy on the gardening :(... but was wondering if pilates and yoga might help things?

Hello
I have posted on another thread more dédicated to surgery .
I have a posterior wall issue a rectocele which is small and greatly improved after i stopped breastfeeding . Had pain issues that i thought were linked to the rectocele but actually was nerve related.
You need to avoid by any means any constipation ! Regarding exercice i found tremendous help in hypopressive exercices and please have a look on www. Hab-it.com this is a blog run by tasha mulligan a physio who Experienced herself prolapse and created this method .
And dont hésitate to visite te web site prolapse health . A lot of tips and support .
On the diet site you can have sepia magnésium Omega 3 vitamine d all that Will help you with symptoms .
No running before you get Green light from your physio or gyneco
And yes things improve a lot
One year ago i was such in a dark place and Now really enjoy my babies and Life

Thanks Ffb... it's great to hear that things are more positive for you now. I've not heard of hypopressive exercises before, but will look into them - at first glance seems very similar to something my old yoga teacher used to try to get us to do in class (shame I didn't do more of it at the time). The GP gave me a referral and in the meantime I'm going to keep doing kegels and trying to stay positive. Thanks all!