3 weeks postpartum, c section wound smells but no infection

[anonny55]

Is this normal, and how did you deal with it/eliminate the stench. I’m so self conscious it’s a joke! DH said this evening when I was standing next to him he could smell it. (Well I could too!)

ive had conflicting info about wound care, midwife said wash it 3 times a day, Health visitor said only once a day as I’ll wash away new cells that will be healing the wound , GP said wash morning and evening. I’ve done twice a day but it makes no major difference.

one side of the wound is taking longer to heal and weeps clear fluid. Midwife and HV both said it looks really good and healing well. I went to the GP as it’s just smelt so bad since a few days pp. She said it shouldn’t smell but doesn’t appear to be infected. I had infection swabs done which were negative. I have no other symptoms of infection, GP gave me antibiotics anyway and told me to contact again if the smell hasn’t gone away after the course.

did anyone else’s smell?! I feel so embarrassed to be around anyone incase they can smell me!

Are you ensuring it's fully dried? I got a smell when mine wasn't properly dried after showers etc

Mine had a bit of a smell for a while and I never had any infections. I think I was just a bit sweatier after giving birth which didn’t help. I’d shower twice a day and gently wash it with sanex 0% and then use a clean muslin type washcloth to pat it dry it properly afterwards.

@kjv1234 it’s fully dried after I’ve showered. It just gets sweaty/ full of moisture so quickly as I have an overhang and the postpartum sweats are real! I feel like I need to keep washing and drying it every half an hour to keep the smell somewhat pleasant but been told not to wash it that often as it’ll delay healing process🥲

I had clear fluid leaking, they found a tiny hole amongst the stitches. A few butterfly plasters (or whatever they’re called) fixed it within a couple of days.

i was advised to wash daily, dry carefully but air out the area as much as possible, to the point I would lie in bed with a handheld fan pointing at my wound. Definitely helped (I have an overhang too)

I put some bandages on mine as I hated it been exposed during the day. These are like what I used:

https://www.boots.com/lansinoh-c-section-hydrogel-pads-4s-10338917?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv_m-BhC4ARIsAIqNeBtCGTk-fjGoQa9kOl3rLSuyIKujjQiZZb3II0xUdTzXGV8trWutYQ8aAkjnEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Hey OP. Google intertrigo; it’s common with overhangs and can cause a horrible smell. Basically keeping it dry (warm not hot hairdryer, sanitary towel against it) and laying naked holding it up and letting it air all helped me, but losing as much of the tummy as possible was key too.

It might be a fungal infection and they’ve only checked for bacterial so that’s worth asking too.

@MolluscMonday thank you! I’ll try the sanitary towel. I wish I could just give it a good scrub😂 I lost 9 stone before pregnancy, my overhang was there before it’s loose skin :( I’m only 1 stone up since pregnancy which I need to loose again but doubt it’ll do much of reducing loose skin 😣