Pregnancy

What To Expect With Regard To Discharge After Giving Birth

There is a certain amount of bleeding after you give birth which is called Lochia. It's your body's way of getting rid of all the extra mucous, blood and fluids that it collected while you were pregnant and carrying your baby.

So, it's perfectly natural to have some bleeding and discharge for up to 6 weeks after you give birth to your baby -- whether you had a vaginal birth or cesarean birth.

Lochia will be bright red to start out with for the first 5 to 10 days, and then will level off to pink and then yellowish white. Also, don't be surprised if there are some blood clots.

Most women are used to having some discharge for 5 days or so, but weeks is another matter entirely. 

Check out these tips for keeping on top of all that discharge after you give birth:

• Wear heavy duty sanitary pads. In this case, there will be enough discharge that thin maxis aren't going to cut it.
• Don't wear tampons because they can cause infections. And let's face it, you don't want one of those!
• Rest as much as you can. If you do a lot of walking this can increase the flow of the discharge.

Here are some things you want to look out for. If you have any of these symptoms contact your doctor:

• Your discharge smells. If your discharge smells bad, then this could indicate an infection or some other problem.
• You have bright red discharge for longer than 10 days.
• You're having a discharge flow that soaks a heavy duty sanitary pad in less than an hour.
• You're shivering and or you have a fever.