I am gonna write about two topics that women normally are embarrassed to share. Many have elders in the family who advise about these issues. For those of you who do not have that luxury, I wanna share my experience so you can benefit.
Episiotomy stitches care:
These stitches usually run from the vagina till the anus on one side of the thigh. I don't intend to scare anyone. You will become super busy with the newborn that you will hardly have time to worry about it and it would have healed by then.
I was given pain killers for the first three days along with anti-biotics to speed up healing. You will normally have some pain only for the first ten days, though you can walk and sit normally. By the end of a month, it would have completely healed.
Wash the area as and when possible (atleast thrice a day) with warm water mixed with dettol, dry with toilet paper or soft tissues and apply Betadine ointment. You can use your fingers to lightly rub and wash without fear.
Breast-feeding:
Now this is an issue I am still struggling with. I had assumed that breast-feeding is easy as its natural. How very wrong!
My milk took three whole days to come. Until then I was producing colostrum which was transparent, thick and sticky just like sugar syrup, but very little. Normally the baby will have enough reserves to keep him going until mom's milk come and can actually survive on this meager amount of colostrum. It is essential that you let your baby suckle as much as possible, so that the baby learns to latch well, your brain gets the signal to start lactating.
If you think you are not lactating, please dont give up. I know how hectic, emotional and nervous it is, as I have gone through it too. But, trust me, you will lactate. There are medicines that the doctor can prescribe to help start the lactation. So please don't panic. You can definitely breastfeed your baby.
On day three, I woke up with engorged breasts and one very huge and very very painful lump in my right armpit. My doctor whom I had been pestering about my lack of milk, laughed and said that the breastfeeding journey has begun for me. She put me again on meds for three days to help me with the lump in the armpit.
Engorgement was one great painful issue for me. It was quite very painful. If you get engorged in the hospital itself, the nursing staff will help you with the breast pump to help relieve it. Even if you're home and its too painful, you can visit the hospital for help.
At home, if you own a breast pump, use it to get relief.
Soak a piece of cloth in hot water and apply compress on breast and gently massage it and hand express the milk or pump it out. The engorgement won't last long. It lasted for ten days for me.
For the first one month, I was milking like a cow. My breasts used to fill up fast and they remained full almost always. To top it all, I was leaking all the time. I could drench a terry towel in minutes. I could never step out of my room. I soaked through breast pads in seconds. Gosh it was very messy. I strongly believed that I could nurse two more babies :). By the end of that month, my body stopped over lactating and balanced the supply with demand.
Even now, I do leak when I am full and when I am nursing my son. I have accepted this messy part of the business with reluctance first and now happily as I am confident that I can nurse my son long(hopefully atleast till he is a year old)
Episiotomy stitches care:
These stitches usually run from the vagina till the anus on one side of the thigh. I don't intend to scare anyone. You will become super busy with the newborn that you will hardly have time to worry about it and it would have healed by then.
I was given pain killers for the first three days along with anti-biotics to speed up healing. You will normally have some pain only for the first ten days, though you can walk and sit normally. By the end of a month, it would have completely healed.
Wash the area as and when possible (atleast thrice a day) with warm water mixed with dettol, dry with toilet paper or soft tissues and apply Betadine ointment. You can use your fingers to lightly rub and wash without fear.
Breast-feeding:
Now this is an issue I am still struggling with. I had assumed that breast-feeding is easy as its natural. How very wrong!
My milk took three whole days to come. Until then I was producing colostrum which was transparent, thick and sticky just like sugar syrup, but very little. Normally the baby will have enough reserves to keep him going until mom's milk come and can actually survive on this meager amount of colostrum. It is essential that you let your baby suckle as much as possible, so that the baby learns to latch well, your brain gets the signal to start lactating.
If you think you are not lactating, please dont give up. I know how hectic, emotional and nervous it is, as I have gone through it too. But, trust me, you will lactate. There are medicines that the doctor can prescribe to help start the lactation. So please don't panic. You can definitely breastfeed your baby.
On day three, I woke up with engorged breasts and one very huge and very very painful lump in my right armpit. My doctor whom I had been pestering about my lack of milk, laughed and said that the breastfeeding journey has begun for me. She put me again on meds for three days to help me with the lump in the armpit.
Engorgement was one great painful issue for me. It was quite very painful. If you get engorged in the hospital itself, the nursing staff will help you with the breast pump to help relieve it. Even if you're home and its too painful, you can visit the hospital for help.
At home, if you own a breast pump, use it to get relief.
Soak a piece of cloth in hot water and apply compress on breast and gently massage it and hand express the milk or pump it out. The engorgement won't last long. It lasted for ten days for me.
For the first one month, I was milking like a cow. My breasts used to fill up fast and they remained full almost always. To top it all, I was leaking all the time. I could drench a terry towel in minutes. I could never step out of my room. I soaked through breast pads in seconds. Gosh it was very messy. I strongly believed that I could nurse two more babies :). By the end of that month, my body stopped over lactating and balanced the supply with demand.
Even now, I do leak when I am full and when I am nursing my son. I have accepted this messy part of the business with reluctance first and now happily as I am confident that I can nurse my son long(hopefully atleast till he is a year old)
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