First bath post-birth?

IncogNeato

How long did you wait before taking a bath? My discharge papers only said to wait until bright red bleeding has stopped. They also said I could work out 1 wk pp, so I don't know if my doctors are a little too chill...

tryingandhoping

I was told to take baths right away...as in the next day in the hospital.  Maybe there's a reason your doctor said to wait?  I had a vaginal birth with a second degree tear.  By the way, baths felt AWESOME.

IncogNeato

tryingandhoping:

I was told to take baths right away...as in the next day in the hospital.  Maybe there's a reason your doctor said to wait?  I had a vaginal birth with a second degree tear.  By the way, baths felt AWESOME.

They just gave me the standard packet, no personal instructions. I want to take one SO badly!

Britty685

I wasn't instructed to wait at all. They recommended to tale soaks to help ease the soreness

monkeyqueen

I was advised TO take baths right away - 2 - 3 times  a day with a little epsom salts.    It was supposed to promote healing and help to keep the area clean.  I say go for it.   It sounds like the discharge papers are sorely outdated.

kg_08

I was told I could take a bath soon after, but I didn't until I stopped bleeding because of the gross factor. It was about 3 weeks PP.

I didn't exercise until 6 weeks.

callthewind

I took an herbal bath about an hour and a half after LO was born before I left my birthing center!

IncogNeato

Oh, I love you all. Going to turn on the taps!

kjuliet91

They never told me anything about baths and I didn't think to ask, so just to be safe I waited until after my 6 week appointment. 

JenGarden

I was told to wait for a month and no exercise I would consider "strenuous" (basically, nothing other than walking) until my 6 week pp appt.  The bath instructions were general discharge instructions, and the exercise part came from my OB.  I'm probably going to call the OB's office tomorrow and double check on the bath thing - I'd really like to take one.

CFH79

My PP instructions from my csection were to wait 2 weeks for a tub bath. That's Tuesday and I can't wait!!!

nearly_klo

JenGarden:

I was told to wait for a month and no exercise I would consider "strenuous" (basically, nothing other than walking) until my 6 week pp appt.  The bath instructions were general discharge instructions, and the exercise part came from my OB.  I'm probably going to call the OB's office tomorrow and double check on the bath thing - I'd really like to take one.

You have great taste in names!

Definitely call and check. I was told by my very conservative OB to take them straight away with rock salt to help speed up the healing (I had an episiotomy). It was heaven, and it really helped.

The home visit nurses also suggested that I use my hairdryer on cool to dry myself afterwards - and trust me, that was a revelation! Even after showers I used that trick for a good couple of weeks.