I am trying to think of more than one question so I can couch this one, but what the heck. I am going to go ahead and post about lochia:
what kind of post-partum pads do we need? Are regular old sanitary napkins enough or do we need something special?
Thank you for playing.
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we bought some rather large pads :) Plus, the hospital gave us a bunch as well! The first few days, Steph put two side by side.
What I found was that Alw@ys, my usual brand, did *too* good of a job of wicking moisture, and made me too dry to be comfortable. Find some without a "dryweave" layer--natural pads or cheap-o pads.
And yeah, the first few days or week, plan to double up.
The hospital had pads that were pressure-activated cold packs. They were excellent! Best thing about the hospital, and you know my experience, so I'm not joking about that.
Ooo ... very good question. I will eagerly be reading responses!
I didn't have the discomfort issue down there because of the c-sec but i still had all the fun bleeding. The hospital pads were the best because they were long and skinny and two of them fit side by side on the lovely mesh underpants they give you - i was in those for weeks because regular underwear hurt the incision. Eventually it was one pad at a time and the wider the better. And then a long stretch of small amounts and sort of unpredictable - liners, maybe.
The hospital ones work well for the first few days because they are so long - as others have said, two side by side. Then for a couple of weeks afterwards, the regular wide ones and finally the liners, etc. Your needs may vary from day to day a bit, though. (I had a c-section, so take that into consideration, too)
I've never used "real" postpartum pads for any length of time. The ones in my birth kit are the same as hospital ones, I presume, and they irritated me and gave me a nasty yeast infection, so I had to switch to cloth (I actually used cheap washcloths folded in thirds for the rest of the heavy flow period, as they were soft, absorbant and cheap), which were much much less uncomfortable for me.
I picked up cloth postpartum pads with Davif and have been using them ever since as my primary AF protection. I don't see any particular difference between them and overnight size/style pads, personally.
I must be weird, because I never used the hospital pads side-by-side. I always just used one, and changed frequently. As soon as I left the hospital, I moved to overnight pads (long/thick) for a few days and then just went to regular long-length ultra-thin pads, which I wore for quite a while until I switched to extra large liners, and then regular liners.
But I found that after the first two days (as in, after I left the hospital), I didn't bleed all that much. Like a period.
Like Jude I didn't need to use anything more heavy duty than a regular Maxi Maxi Pad (Al.ways Super Overnights I think). I used some of the hospital ones in the hospital but switched to regular pretty quickly and never really had an issue and regular period products worked just fine.
my midwife (a mom herself) recommends buying some tube socks, cutting the leg part off, and pinning the foot part to your comfiest panties. (all this after thoroughly washing them of course.) she says the worked like a charm for her, super absorbent and surprisingly comfy...
When we helped out at my neighbours birth we prepared some plain budget brand maternity pads for her and applied drops of homeopathic calendula and arnica, then put them in a baggy in the freezer for her. She swore by them for pain releif as well as absorbancy.
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