Several stupid questions

jilicious

Is it okay that my bleeding is still pretty dark, at two weeks postpartum? It's  definitely more brownish than straight up dark true red, but it's still dark.

Has anyone tweaked their stitches? I was sitting on the sofa and twisted in my seated position to pick up LO and my stitches have been killing me all day.

Fans of Baby Whisperer: WTF at the conflicting information here? I keep hearing that you should just let a sleeping baby sleep unless they sleep more than 3 hours during the day but The Baby Whisperer says you should wake them up after 45 minutes to an hour! I am just so confused, I keep hearing all this different, conflicting information and it's frustrating. The BW says the first six weeks are a good time to start this schedule of  45 min - 1 hour naps but I keep hearing that you can't spoil a baby's schedule in the first EIGHT weeks so whaaaat?

A nurse at the hospital told me I shouldn't take a bath for 2 - 4 weeks to give the cervix time to close but my Bradley teacher who is also a trained doula said baths were okay after 48 hours. What do you ladies do?

ETA: When is your bedtime? Did you decide to move bedtime to an earlier time? DH is reluctant to eat dinner and get to bed earlier which confuses me because I figure the more time spent trying to sleep the better. We went to bed around 11pm before bambino, btw.

teelaman

jilicious:

A nurse at the hospital told me I shouldn't take a bath for 2 - 4 weeks to give the cervix time to close but my Bradley teacher who is also a trained doula said baths were okay after 48 hours. What do you ladies do?

 

I'm not sure about all the other stuff - but I was told to take baths up to 3 times a day to help with the pain and recovery. While I was in the hospital, they also had me do a Sitz Bath (where you sit in a semi bath and water swirls around you). So, I would say yes, you can (and I do have stitches) but maybe there's another reason they don't want you to?

MyOwnLady

Bleeding: My nurses told me that it would be bright red, then brown, then pink, then stop...

Sleeping: I was told not to wake him unless more than 3 hours had passed.

Stitches: I don't know if mine were irritated, but they itch like crazy, but I was told that means they're healing.

Bath: I was told to take 3 baths a day for 10-15 minutes each to help speed the healing.

Hope this helps!

mrsthedixon

Sleeping: I let my baby sleep. Maybe once she's around 4 months, I might not let her sleep too long during the day... but I'll probably play it by ear, based on how she sleeps at night. I've also read that the more the baby sleeps soundly during the day, the better they sleep at night. And I've found that to be true so far.

I think a lot of what the BW says doesn't really apply to babies under 3-4 months. When they're so little, they need their parents to hold them often, they need sleep, they need to feel safe and secure (in my opinion). And I don't think they can develop bad habits before 3 months.

mbgreenwalt

jilicious:

Is it okay that my bleeding is still pretty dark, at two weeks postpartum? It's  definitely more brownish than straight up dark true red, but it's still dark.

Yes. 

Has anyone tweaked their stitches? I was sitting on the sofa and twisted in my seated position to pick up LO and my stitches have been killing me all day.

At 2 weeks I was still pretty sore and any irritation to that area lasted most of the day.

A nurse at the hospital told me I shouldn't take a bath for 2 - 4 weeks to give the cervix time to close but my Bradley teacher who is also a trained doula said baths were okay after 48 hours. What do you ladies do?

My nurses had me in the tub about 12 hours after having DD and they recommended soaking in a bath 2-3 times a day.

ETA: When is your bedtime? Did you decide to move bedtime to an earlier time? DH is reluctant to eat dinner and get to bed earlier which confuses me because I figure the more time spent trying to sleep the better. We went to bed around 11pm before bambino, btw.

DD and I go to bed at 11pm.  I always went to bed a midnight before DD was born.  DH stays home with DD all day so after we go to bed it is his time and he plays his video games.

sapphire angel

arpslady:

Bleeding: My nurses told me that it would be bright red, then brown, then pink, then stop...

same here

Sleeping: told to let her sleep as she wanted to so long as she was gaining weight. I used a regular bathroom scale and so long as her weight went up about every other day, I just let her sleep after the first four days. Before that I woke her every 3 hours if she wasn't already stirring.

Stitches: I had staples that caught on cloth and were tweaked all the time with no problems, but if they hurt (not just tender) you might want to call just in case.  

Bath: I have no idea. We never made it all the way to a dilated cervix  so...no clue here, and after the c-section there was no way I was going to lower and raise myself out of the tub.

yourmomwreckedmybike

I found that my bleeding would get darker if I was on my feet a lot one day. Could be you overexerting yourself, but it could be normal for you too. The nurse told me no hot tubs or pools for 6 weeks but baths were okay, they help so much to relax and a Epsom salt bath will help too. We never really had a regular bed time. For 10 weeks prior to LO being born my DH was home only 3 days a week. Now I start getting LO ready around 10 or 11. I will put him on the bed and turn the lights down really low while I get ready for bed and tidy the room. We aren't in bed later than 11, although I am not asleep until after LO BFs.