Although giving birth is probably the most rewarding process that a woman can go through, pregnancy can have significant effects on your body and can leave you with many unwanted consequences. Post-pregnancy health issues aren’t rare; they can affect your life and cause problems in the period after giving birth. Here are some of these issues and how to deal with them.
Back pain
There are several causes for back pain after pregnancy. One of them is the hormone relaxin. It is released by your body during pregnancy, relaxing your joints and pelvis ligaments, so that the baby can pass through the birth canal more easily. However, this can sometimes cause inflammation and consequent lower back pain. These hormone-caused issues should gradually disappear within the first few months after the pregnancy, as the hormone levels go back to normal. Other causes of back pain include bad posture during pregnancy or lifting weight daily as you take care of your newborn. In these cases, it could be helpful to do some light exercise, lose your extra weight or take omega-3 supplements. If the pain persists, visit your doctor.
Breast issues
After birth, your breasts can fill with milk, which causes them to become very hard and even painful. This is called engorgement. Putting warm towels or cooling your breasts might help with this, as well as feeding your baby more often or storing your breast milk to avoid it from filling your breasts and causing engorgement. Other breast issues involve sore nipples, experiencing pain while nursing and leaking breasts. Soreness of nipples can be eased by feeding your baby more often, so that it doesn’t suck too greedily, allowing your nipples to “breathe” by leaving your bra unlatched, or even visiting your doctor and asking for medicines and creams. If you feel pain while breastfeeding, you may have an infection and you should seek medical help as soon as possible. Leaking breasts occur when they overfill, so use soft pads to collect the leaking milk and be sure to change them as often as possible, to avoid nipple discomfort.
Stomach changes
Since your uterus will be hard for several weeks after birth, you will be able to feel it when touching your stomach, which will subside within the following six weeks. The same thing will happen to the brown line that appeared on your lower abdomen. And although the brown line should disappear soon, the stretch marks will stick with you for a while. They will, however, lose their red color and turn silver and less visible. You should also be ready for a flabby stomach. Sit-ups and other similar exercises might help you, but if they don’t, body sculpting is an effective treatment for this problem. Another issue is the separation of stomach muscles, or diastasis recti. This is a common problem, but one that should disappear by the eighth week after birth. To reduce the separation size, do exercises for your stomach or ask your general practitioner for advice.
Urinary problems
During pregnancy, your baby pressed on your bladder, causing you to urinate more often than you usually do. This problem should disappear after birth, but the pressure put on your urethra during the delivery can make urinating difficult afterwards. Another problem that can occur is a urinary infection, while stretching your muscles when giving birth causes the loss of bladder control and leaking urine. Even though you can strengthen your muscles to some extent by doing Kegel exercises, you should pay a visit to your doctor to get help.
Constipation
If you had problems with constipation during pregnancy, it may continue after birth as well. Hemorrhoids often appear in the case of constipation, but also due to severe pushing at delivery. They are usually painful and can even bleed, causing additional discomfort during your bowel movement. Take plenty of liquids and eat foods rich in fiber to alleviate the pain and deal with constipation. If nothing else helps, let your doctor know about the problem. And if you have gas problems, due to lying down extensively, it might help to walk more and to lie on your side when resting, so that the gas can pass through.
Vaginal pain and bleeding
The delivery may cause your vagina to be stretched and painful, and for several weeks after birth there will be some vaginal discharge, mainly consisting of blood and the remaining uterine lining left after your pregnancy. Bleeding should stop after about two weeks, with occasional discharge lasting up to six weeks. If bleeding continues for longer, report the problem to your doctor. About four weeks after birth, you can start having sex again, but you may experience vaginal dryness if you’re breastfeeding. This can make intercourse quite painful and stressful, so use a lubricant to lessen the soreness.
In the nine months of pregnancy, your body went through many changes. You can’t expect it to go back to normal right after you’ve given birth. Sometimes, it only takes time and patience, but you may have to work hard on getting your body back to its original state. This includes exercises, diet and even visiting your doctor. In the end, you should know you’re not alone. So, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to other mothers for support and good advice.