Following the delivery of your baby, the joy of being a mother is temporarily interrupted by this pain that comes following delivery as the womb starts to undergo involution to return to its prepregnancy state. This pain of involution is also called afterpains. Postpartum afterpains is a normal event that can occur following your delivery and you need to be aware of it so you will have the knowledge of how to address this issue when it arises.
Cause, Symptoms and Duration
Basically afterpains is caused by the contraction of your uterus to expel the blood and lochia following the delivery. This is initiated by the release of the hormone oxtyocin. It presents with pain in the lower abdomen that can range from mild to moderate to severe and can sometimes be very excruciating requiring you to visit your doctor.
It occurs most often while you are breastfeeding your baby due to the contractile effect of the hormone oxytocin on the myoepithelial cells of the breast during the breastfeeding episode. This is the reason the pain is usually associated with your feeding of your baby as the hormone also acts on the uterus to cause it to contract. This may hamper the choice of exclusive breastfeeding of your baby while the pain lasts.
Postpartum afterpains usually lasts some days before subsiding but the intensity of the pain that occurs within these few days has placed afterpains in a league of postpartum conditions that mothers should be aware of during pregnancy and delivery.
Afterpains Management
The importance of care and support from family and friends and counseling from care givers in helping you cope and manage afterpains is invaluable and this should be your first line therapy in the management of postpartum afterpains.
Home Made Remedies
1 Hot Water Bottles – When you apply warm water bottle to your lower abdomen the heat from the water has a soothing effect on the pain helping you to manage the pain considerably. Even taking a warm bath has a soothing effect also on the pain and is very helpful.
2 Ice Packs – Placement of ice packs on your lower abdomen helps reduce the pain and inflammation that follows delivery and has a wonderful effect on afterpains.
3 Warm Sitz Bath- When you do sitzbath especially when you had an episiotomy that was sutured it helps in relieving the pain and inflammation of your stitches. It also has a tremendous impact on afterpains. Most mothers that had an episiotomy and are doing regular sitz bath have fewer complaints about the severity of the pain of afterpains.
4 Massage- Massaging your lower abdomen applies direct pressure on your uterus which is still an abdominal organ at this stage and direct massage on it causes the pains to be remedied and subsides subsequently.
5 Emptying your bladder often by urinating frequently prevents the effect of a full bladder on the uterus as a full bladder causes the uterus to become atonic and increase afterpains as the uterus tries to contract against a full bladder.
6 Herbal teas like catnip tea and black tea have an anti-cramps effects and helps to reduce cramps generally and is an important home made remedy for afterpains.
7 Liberal Water Intake- Keeping yourself hydrated helps to improve the discomforts associated with the early postnatal life like headaches, cramps, insomnia and is overall a good strategy.
8 Bellybinding- This can be an effective therapy for your pains as the pressure exerted on the uterus by this process helps to keep the uterus quiet calming the pains down.
9 Essential Oils- Adding lavender oil to a warm wet cloth and applying it to your lower abdomen will drastically reduce your afterpains.
10 Maintain a comfortable posture- By lying down on your tummy with your pillow tucked under your lower abdomen if you have had a normal vaginal delivery or on your side with pillows for support if you have had a cesarean section, you can maintain a comfortable posture that will be good enough to help support you and help you through this phase of afterpains.
Exercises
Relaxation and Breathing Exercises- The same relaxation and breathing exercises that you used during pregnancy and especially during labor and delivery will also be helpful to you in the postpartum period to manage your afterpains.
Kegels Exercises- These exercises are very good for your lower abdomen, pelvis and perineum. They are excellent muscle toning exercises and has a great impact on relieving afterpains.
Pain Medications
In most instances of afterpains, the observation and use of home made, mild and psychological remedies will alleviate the pain and since this pain lasts for a short duration of only days, most new moms will prefer to use mild remedies to tide themselves over till the womb involutes and the pain subsides.
There are some situations of postpartum afterpains that the pains are moderate to severe and hampers your enjoyment of your new mom status and makes taking good care of your baby virtually impossible that medication becomes inevitable.
In most cases of moderate pains you will get symptomatic relief by the use of analgesics like acetaminophen or the use of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAID). This will definitely lead to relief of symptoms.
In cases of severe cramps that is not amenable to symptomatic relief with the use of NSAIDs, you are advised to consult your doctor for proper review as the pains may be a sign of sub involution or other complaints of early postnatal period especially if your postpartum afterpains is extending beyond one week.
Prepregnancy Counseling Helps
Afterpains is a common complaint of your early postnatal period and you should be aware of this during your pregnancy period and talk about it with your care provider or your doctor as counseling during pregnancy has been found to have immense benefit in the ability of mothers to cope with the pains when it does arise following delivery.
It can however be handled in most cases by good care and support from family and friends at this period showing the significance of family support to the new mother at this critical period,
For cases that are moderately to severely painful, pain medication either orally or in the severe cases, injectables, under the supervision of your doctor resolves it for those few days it lasts. Always follow your doctors advice in case some other medical condition is developing.
To your wonderful motherhood experience
Dr mawa
mypostnatalmanagement.com
