Your First Period After Pregnancy Might Be Different

As we all know, the first and most common sign of pregnancy is a ‘missed period’. Depending on the phase of life you and your partner are at, a missed period could be a good thing or a not-so-good thing. Regardless, when the child arrives, it’s the best thing in the entire world and that’s on periodt!

When your baby is born, your body begins to expel the ammnotic fluid and tissue that helped sustain your pregnancy and grow your baby. The body expels it as blood also known in postpartum lingo as LOCHIA. Lochia is also referred to as the ‘postpartum period’ so it’s easy to assume that this is your first ‘regular’ postpartum period. It is not.

Lochia is a tad bit heavier than your regular period and it lasts for about four to eight weeks post delivery. Your normal period might take a while to return- it could take a month, three months, nine months or a whole year after delivery and that’s normal.

You cannot know for sure when your period would return. If you are bottlefeeding or combine bottle feeding with breast feeding, your period could return five to six weeks after delivery. If you are fully breastfeeding, your period may not start again until you begin weaning your baby or your baby is fully weaned. This is because the hormone that helps your body produce breastmilk could stop your body from producing the hormone that controls your periods.

At this point, it’s important that we add that breastfeeding is NOT a contraceptive method and that the fact that you aren’t seeing your period doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant again. Play it safe ladies!

When your regular period returns, it might be different. By ‘different’, we mean compared to your pre-pregnancy periods, your first set of periods post-delivery might look different, feel different or/and develop a mind of its own. It might take another three to six months for your periods to become familiar to you again.

Notable changes in your period include;

Irregular Flow: The flow would seem to start and stop over the duration of your period
Cramps: Your cramps might be lighter and stronger than it was before you got pregnant.
Heavier Flow: Your flow might be heavier than usual
Irregular Cycle Length: For the first few months, your cycle might be unstable.
Blood Clots: You might notice small blood clots in the first few months

Give your body time. Soon, it would begin to function as it did before you got pregnant. Your body is amazing and so are you.