Do I really need to wait 6 weeks pp to take a bath?

Temp86398625009737

I love to take baths. Discharge paperwork said wait 6 weeks. Pretty sure I didn't wait that long last time. I do gave some stitches. What were you told? Thanks

jess1984

I wasn't told no bath... I could have had one in the hospital if I had wanted too. Sounds strange to me.

cubsfan1

I was told to take as many sitz baths a day as possible. It helps healing. Maybe just don't use bubble bath or stuff like that for 6 weeks...

Aviee

I was told no baths right away so that my stitches and things could heal and to prevent infections before the uterus was back down to normal size.  I wanted a bath by 3 weeks pp, but never got one til about 4.  Everything was fine with me when I took it, and I was in it for about an hour.  I didn't take it everyday, which probably wouldn't be reccommended just because you'd want to make sure you were shrunken down enough so you dont get infections.  Til my 6 wk checkup, I only did a bubble bath as a splurge (I wasn't supposed to have the bubbles, tho).

SkiesOfBlue

I was told that I could immediately take a bath as long as there was no soap or anything in the water.  I thought it helped with the pain/soreness.

EEN09

I started taking baths again around 3 weeks pp when the initial grossness had subsided quite a bit. I did not, however, add any soap or bubbles to my baths until after my 6 week check up. 

JustOne

I was told no baths with bubbles or bath bombs until after 6 weeks.  I will be taking one on Saturday (I am 6 weeks on Friday) with one of the Lush bath bombs that I have waiting on me.  I miss baths.

stefsaut

I was specifically told by two different OBs that is was fine to take baths. In the first few days after birth, they told me just to make sure it wasn't super hot so I wouldn't irritate anything. Obviously no bubble bath/salts either. I took them all the time right after both LOs.

Manateearmz

I wasn't told not to take one. But I also wasn't given any PP instructions other than follow up with my OB in 4 wks. I took a bath with just hot water as soon as I walked in the door after leaving the hospital. I haven't taken another one since. It felt like I was sitting on a golf ball in my asssss thanks to hemmroids. I should clarify that I HAVE been taking showers. I don't want you girls thinking I smell like spit up and raw meat.

anmeie

I also wasn't told no baths.  My OBs even said go ahead and soak if the stitches were becoming very irritated.  Don't put any soap or bubbles in the bath, but otherwise they help ease pain and keep the area clean. 

MandyD82

i was told the same thing. i took baths the first week home. they felt great!

mom2case

You're not supposed to take baths?  That's news to me!  I took one right when I got home from the hospital.  And when LO was asleep and I needed to get clean, I had to take a bath instead of a shower so I could hear her cry.  It makes sense that you're not supposed to use bubbles or salts, but I used salts around 4 or 5 weeks.  No one gave me any "bath" instructions, so oh well.  I had my 6 week PP check up yesterday and everything was great.

ermimac

I was told by my doctor at 2 weeks that I needed to take a bath to peel off my steri-strips. I didn't have stitches or staples and I didn't put bubbles in the bath water.

daniellepanda

I was specifically told by the nurse who discharged us at the hospital no baths when she went over the paperwork. The paper said no baths for 4-6 weeks, but obviously showering was fine. I was told it was because your cervix isnt closed all the way and you dont want to get an infection. I also had a c-section so im not sure if it also had to do with my stitches at all but it was standard printed discharge papers for postpartum that were pre-printed from the hospital so for where i delivered it was standard instructions not to.

FutureMrsCaesar

I took a few after my showers the first few weeks and they felt ahhh-maaa-ziiing.  Pretty much the only thing other than pain meds that made me feel better.

Lizzie1184

it's interesting to see the different things we are all told.

my daughter was born (vaginally) at 3:06 am.....by 3pm that afternoon a nurse was helping me get a bath started (and making sure i wasnt trying to take a scalding hot bath like i normally do..my husband ratted me out to her, lol). fwiw, i had a 1st degree tear and internal "skidmarks" from where my daughter came out fast and with her head cocked to the side. so maybe the worse the tear = no/less baths?

AmyMcD1

I was encouraged to take sitz baths with Epsom (sp?) salts to help with healing. I took probably 3 before 6 weeks, but found that it dried out my stitches and it aggravated it more than anything.

Firedancer1013

I took pp herbal baths by myself and with LO as soon as I got home from the hospital to help heal both of us. But no soap at that time til I was cleared.

sparkelz

I wasn't told I had to wait to take a bath, infact the nurses would have let me use the Jaccuzzi tub if I really wanted to while in the hospital (we were in for 5 days due to LO's Jaundice).

Sleep2Live

I was cleared for baths at my 2 week check up. My OB wanted to check my incision to make sure it was healing well first.