Worried about Fanjo maintainence, to be blunt!!

[shouldIbecrossaboutthis]

So there are loads of thread about labour bags which cover all the baby stuff but not very much for the mum other than pack a drink and some breast pads - job done.

I'm exoecting the area to be a bit of a car crash for a while - but how long?

I'm a bit confused about maternity pads. Which ones are best? How many will I need in each type of absorbency? How many will I use in a typical day? What about wings are they a must? I also wondered if something like Tena lady pants might be a good bet? When can I stop using maternity ones and then use always one or something like that?

So many questions; think this is made worse by the fact I use a mooncup normally. nothing to do with being due in 3 weeks!

What else do I need to worry about in the fanjo area? Witch hazel or something in case of stitches? Something to tip warm water over the offending area before peeing (sports bottle?)?

Any other tips? Going to the shops once the baby is here wont really be an option. I'm working right up to 39 weeks so will be staying in my pjs for a month!!

Thanks narkypeevy, I will do them I promise! I especially like the idea of doing them when DP pisses me off, I'll be a show girl in Thialans before you know it .

Ok my list now has 20 night time pads with wings, 28 medium flow normal pads with wings, 50 massive maternity pads, 36 thinner maternity pads, Badedas Original Bath Gelee, moist loo roll and arnica. Am I good to go fanjo wise??

I have bought 10 pairs of cheap pants and have 5 pairs you can throw away and I have about 7 pairs of tena lady bin-able pants too from a friend.

Will also pack, squirty bottle, bendy straws & lactoluse/prunes/apricots.

Try not to use the absorbant, mesh liner type pads because that's what will do stitches.

Its the dry weave topsheet on always and similar pads that you need to avoid. The thick maternity pads are more like the big bricks of towels that your mum might have given you when you were 12. These are what you need. The thin ones are not up to the job. Also you will appreciate the extra padding when you sit down - for this reason I used two of them at once!

Bicarbonate of soda (a good handful) in a few inches of water in a warm (not hot) bath with a few drops of lavender oil. Very good for healing and cleaning because you don't want to be scrubbing anything down there for a bit (possibly ever) and a warm, gentle sluicing is very effective. Also, pee in the bath.

I found lining my pants with Always night-time, then putting a maternity pad on top of that worked well. It prevented a lot of side leakage! I couldn't find any maternity pads with wings, so the above combo got round that. bo

Mothercare sell maternity pads with wings. They were alright for me.

No experience (yet) to share but marking my place for my own hospital bag!

and here is a funny blog post (not mine) on this subject.

Yes, the brick-sized pads may not look glam, but you might be relieved because you find you can actually sit down on them, if you have stitches!

I went through a whole pack before I even got to hospital when my waters broke- they dribbled over a course of hours, rather than all in one go... Definitely get loads more than you think you could ever need- it's just really reassuring to know you have enough.

If you do have a bad tear, ie right round to the back, I found that lactulose was imperative, and for the two weeks after I didn't even try loo roll, I just stripped off my bottom half and got in the shower and aimed the shower head there. No way I could have rubbed anything on the stitches..... Yowch!!

Midwife told me to layer maternity pads - side by side or one on top of the other as you get through one an hr to begin with!! I bled v heavily for six weeks and found Nat pads much softer than normal scratchy ones. Think mothercare now do them with wings which they didn't five yrsago. Third cheapo primark granny pants to throw, although I still have a few in my drawer, sooooo comfy!!

A useful thing that I found, was that Boots displayed maternity pads in the baby aisle so if I had to ask dh to get a pack he didn't have to rootle round in "feminine hygiene"!!

I made the mistake of using always after DS1 instead of maternity pads. I'd had an episiostomy and lots of stitches so I think the plastic on top of the Always pad aggravated - so another vote here for Mat Pads! I got cheapest cotton pants from M&S to see me through and just threw them out if too grim.

Also it's going to the loo after that can be a bit of white knuckle experience. Lactulose, baby wipes, packs of ice....

However DD2 was much better and very quick recovery.

My friend swears by a few drops of lavender in bath water.