Periods after childbirth

After the birth of a child, a young mother’s menstrual cycle becomes established only over time. Therefore, many women are concerned about issues related to menstruation after childbirth. Let's try to find answers to these questions.

How long does your period last after childbirth?

Many women consider the discharge that occurs after childbirth to be real menstruation. But this is not at all true. This postpartum discharge is called lochia and consists of pieces of mucous membrane, blood and bacteria. First days after childbirth they come quite abundantly, then after a week their intensity decreases. They turn brown. After another week, the discharge becomes light or transparent. They stop completely around the fortieth day after the baby is born. Throughout this period, hygiene must be carefully observed.

For problematic childbirth or the birth of two or more babies, the discharge continues for more days. Don't be afraid of this. But if the lochia becomes pale and then turns red again, you should consult a doctor.

When does your period start after childbirth?

It is impossible to indicate a specific period for the restoration of menstrual function. It all depends on the individual characteristics of the young mother’s body. Most often, menstruation does not come all the time while a woman is breastfeeding her baby. This is the effect of a hormone called prolactin, which is produced in the pituitary gland during lactation.

With the introduction of complementary foods and a decrease in the amount of feeding, the hormone prolactin ceases to be produced. During this period, menstrual function is restored. If a young mother for some reason does not breastfeed her child, then menstruation begins three or four months after childbirth.

In addition to breastfeeding, other reasons also affect the process of menstruation restoration:

• A complete daily routine.
• Features of the diet.
• Existing diseases in chronic form or acute stages.
• Psychological situation surrounding a young mother.

Menstruation after childbirth while breastfeeding

As we have already noted, the process recovery menstruation depends on the duration of lactation. The earliest date for the onset of the first postpartum menstruation occurs after three months. This can happen if lactation stops or if the pituitary gland has good function, which is an individual characteristic of the body.

For most women, menstruation begins after about six months or a little more. This occurs due to the introduction of complementary foods and a reduction in lactation. By the age of one year, most women's menstrual cycle returns to normal.

Delayed menstruation after childbirth

Sometimes it happens that, despite all the established deadlines, menstruation never comes after childbirth. There could be many reasons for this. First of all, you should pay attention to the general health of the woman. The reason for the delay may be low hormone production, the presence of cysts in the ovaries, infection, poor emotional and psychological state, neoplasms of the uterus or ovaries of various types, or a new pregnancy.

First you need to check did you get pregnant again. After all, many women are sure that pregnancy cannot occur before the arrival of the first postpartum menstruation, and therefore do not think about contraception. But menstruation begins two weeks after ovulation, so a new pregnancy could well have occurred at this time.

If this does not happen, you should contact a gynecologist to identify pathologies. If the examination does not give any result, then you need to consult an endocrinologist. In this case, a long absence of menstruation can be explained by pathological changes in the pituitary gland. This is how the body acts in the presence of Sheehan syndrome. It can appear with various complications during childbirth, for example, with heavy bleeding.

In fact, a long absence of menstruation may not pose any threat to a woman’s health. But still, you shouldn’t take risks and let everything take its course, postponing a visit to the doctor under the pretext of lack of time and the need to care for the baby. The sooner you understand the reasons for delayed menstruation, the greater the chance of curing any disease.