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The postnatal check, and using it for yourself

Most of what women want to ask at this visit goes unasked. Write it down.

Lesson 4 of 5

9 min Text

What this lesson says

  • The check covers your recovery as well as the baby's; both are legitimate uses of it
  • Raise bleeding, wound healing, bladder and bowel control, pain, mood and contraception
  • Contraception after birth needs a plan, including if you are feeding
  • Anaemia after birth is common and worth checking if you feel exhausted
  • If something has already been dismissed once, it is reasonable to raise it again

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

Written lesson.
  1. 1. The postnatal check is your appointment as well as the baby's, and it is routinely used as only the baby's. Going in with three things written down is the difference.
  2. 2. A short list of what is worth raising: bleeding that has not settled; how a wound or stitches have healed; leaking urine or any loss of control of wind or stool; pain, including pain during sex if you have resumed; how you are sleeping and how you are feeling; how feeding is going; and contraception.
  3. 3. Contraception needs a plan and it needs it sooner than most people expect. Fertility can return before periods do, including while feeding, and which methods are appropriate depends on how you are feeding and on your own history. The intrauterine device can be fitted immediately after childbirth in India's public programme; other methods have their own timings. Ask what suits you rather than assuming a gap is protection.
  4. 4. Anaemia after a birth is common, particularly after heavy bleeding or a long labour, and it is worth checking if you are exhausted in a way that feels physical rather than only about sleep. Exhaustion is easy to attribute entirely to a newborn and sometimes it is also low iron.
  5. 5. If you were seen in a public facility and the appointment is short, prioritise ruthlessly: say the most important thing first. "There are three things and the main one is —" changes how the time is used more than anything else you can do.
  6. 6. And if something has already been raised once and dismissed, it is reasonable to raise it again, and reasonable to ask for a second opinion. Being told that something is normal after a birth is sometimes true and sometimes the end of a conversation that should have continued.

All lessons in this course

  1. 1 The first six weeks: what your body is doing 11 min
  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 Reading now
  5. 5 When to get help quickly 8 min

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