Breastfeeding

[CathyandHeathcliff]

Baby was born on Wednesday. I’ve been exclusively breast feeding since.
Whenever he’s feeding I get what I can only describe as period pains during...then afterwards I go to the toilet and I have lost blood. Obviously I am losing blood anyway, but it seems to increase after the feed. Is this normal?

I’m not a professional, but as far as I know breastfeeding causes your womb to contract back down after birth (which is a good thing to speed up getting your body back to normal) so I would say this is what’s happening. I bled a lot, especially in the first week, so make sure you eat and drink plenty to keep your energy up and for making your milk. Speak to your midwife if you’ve got any concerns though.

Normal. As bluemoon said, your womb is contracting back and breastfeeding facilitates this - these are called afterpains. A bit of extra lochia with such pains is ok. If it is extreme and the blood is funny coloured, or you have a fever, alert for help.

Absolutely normal. Breastfeeding will shorten your uterus recovery time.

Yep- normal. Oxytocin I think causes the contractions whilst breastfeeding.

@Harebellmeadow What would funny coloured blood look like?

Congratulations!

Yup, normal. I experienced this too. It eases off after a few days. But like PP said, it's good news - your body's amazing mechansim is obviously is working well - the breastfeeding tells your body the baby is no longer inside and triggers the action to help retract your womb to normal size. But agin, like PP says, speak to your midwife/doctor if you're worried/think something's not right.