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The first six weeks: what your body is doing

Almost all the attention goes to the baby. This lesson is about you.

Lesson 1 of 5

11 min Text

What this lesson says

  • Bleeding after birth lasts for weeks and gradually changes colour and reduces
  • Afterpains, particularly while feeding, are ordinary in the early days
  • Stitches and a caesarean wound both have a normal course and specific warning signs
  • Leaking urine, constipation and pain passing stool are common and are treatable rather than permanent
  • Nothing about recovery is a competition, and nobody bounces back

This is general education. It is not advice about your own situation, and it does not replace seeing a clinician.

Written lesson.
  1. 1. Bleeding after a birth continues for several weeks. It is heavy at first and then reduces, changing from red through brown to a lighter discharge. Doing too much on a given day often makes it briefly heavier again, which is information rather than damage. What is not expected is bleeding that becomes heavier rather than lighter, large clots, or blood with an offensive smell — those need assessment.
  2. 2. Cramping pains, particularly while feeding, are ordinary in the first days: the womb is contracting back down and feeding prompts it. They usually settle within a week or so.
  3. 3. If you have stitches, whether from a tear, a cut or a caesarean, ask before you leave what normal looks like and what does not. The general pattern is soreness that improves day by day. Increasing pain, redness spreading outwards, a wound that opens, discharge, or fever are all reasons to be seen rather than to wait for the postnatal check.
  4. 4. After a caesarean, recovery is from abdominal surgery as well as from a birth, and the advice about lifting, driving and activity is specific. Ask for it in writing, and ask who to contact about the wound.
  5. 5. The parts nobody warns you about. Leaking urine when you cough, laugh or lift is very common in the early weeks; it is treatable, pelvic floor exercises are the usual first step, and it is not something to accept for the rest of your life. Constipation and fear of the first bowel movement are near-universal and there are simple things that help. Piles are common. Any leakage of stool or wind you cannot control should be reported rather than tolerated — it is treatable and it is much easier to treat early.
  6. 6. Recovery is not linear and it is not a competition. Six weeks is a convention, not a deadline, and people who appear to have bounced back are usually managing something you cannot see. What matters is that anything that is getting worse rather than better gets looked at.

All lessons in this course

  1. 1 The first six weeks: what your body is doing 11 min Reading now
  2. 2 Feeding: what help exists, and what nobody tells you 11 min
  3. 3 Your mind after birth, and telling low days from something more 11 min
  4. 4 The postnatal check, and using it for yourself 9 min
  5. 5 When to get help quickly 8 min

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