How much maternity pads to buy?

[trrk]

This is probably a silly quesiton but was just wondering how many maternity pads I should bring for a C-section birth (at least 24 hr in hospital after birth but packing for 48 hr) and also for the first couple of weeks at home? They don't seem to be in stock in our local supermarket or Boots so was just going to do an online shop to cover the first few weeks at least.

I've been told to take two packs to the hospital, but after that it seems to be very varied! So following to see if anyone else has a better idea. I've also found that maternity pads are really hard to get hold of, seems to be a bit of a shortage.

Kotex nighttime pads or any of the traditional sanitary pads will do...they don't have to be maternity...just avoid the thin ones like Always...they can be uncomfortable..

You can get them in the cheap shops...probably just as many as you would use for a heavy period...

I just used always nighttime for dd2, that's what the hospital gave me (USA, they provided everything at a cost to my insurance of course).

More than you think.. I think I got through about 8 packs and then switched to night time sanitary towels.

I really liked Boots maternity pads and used them until the bleeding stopped. I would recommend buying 5 packs of 10 of the thicker ones (and take 2 packs to the hospital) and then see what you need after you've used those.

You might be able to move to the thinner ones after you've got through those

I got through about 12 pads then moved onto always night sanitary towels. I used cottons maternity pads with wings. In hospital post c-section I had the padded pants provided- they put them on me as I was post anaesthetic- not the most glamorous memory!! Didn't bleed as much as expected only few a few days.

I ended up bleeding for 6 weeks.... vaginal birth. And my mates with c sections 3 weeks kinda. It depends xx

You won't want to use maternity pads for longer than you need to, they're like nappies. I had moved onto sanitary towels by I think day 4. Think I used 3 packs of maternity pads. Everywhere sell them so I wouldn't go crazy. Hospital are likely to supply their own anyway and from what I remember they were better than the ones I had!

Twice what you think you'll need, at least! I was very grateful for the left over ones when I had my first post partum period. That was as if the world had ended and was falling out of my vagina.

I just used regular sanitary towels after c section, the maternity pads were like mattresses and really uncomfortable

My waters broke before my section and I must have used most of my stash before I even had the baby! I bled for about four weeks afterwards (but regular pads would be fine as maternity pads, at least 15-18 years ago, were very thick).

Likes do good maternity pads which Amazon has, they're not thick. I used 5 or 6 packs for a vaginal birth each time, bleeding was much worse than my normal heavy period for at least week and then like a period for another 2-3 weeks

I used kotex nighttime straight afterwards. They are very absorbant and really soft so they don't irritate any stitches.

I had a c-section and bleed for 10 weeks, but it did get lighter, it wasn't a period because they only came back after I stopped breastfeeding.