Just a quick question, how long are you supposed to use maternity pads? I had Noah about 2 weeks ago and my bleeding has eased off quite a bit, and i ran out of maternity pads and used a normal sanitary pad. Feels much better as even the slim maternity pads are about a metre long but I heard that normal sanitary pads can mask signs of infection so it's best not to use them.. but how long is that true for?

Im not sure hun, I was bleeding after having Alyssa for practically 12 weeks and it was only the last 3/4 weeks that I started using normal ones again. xx

aww Shev that is a long time.. I bled for about 7 or 8 weeks with Milo and that felt like forever, it feels weird to me that it's easing off so soon, but the midwife seems to think it's ok.. Hope you're feeling better now after all the rubbish things you went through, sending you hugs!

I think I used normal pads after 2weeks, I only bled for about 3 but so prob wasnt that heavy the last week. I loved the maternity pads from the hospital, I stole loads to bring home as they were so comfy and squishy on my stitches. Must remember to nab some again lol!

Im pretty sure an infection would have showed by now but dont quote me. x

Hiya, I never heard about ordinary towels masking signs of infection tbh. I started using normal pads as soon as I felt I could trust them to do the job! Hope that helps x

I was told to only use maternity towels. You can get some super slim ones though. Mind you, I guess once you're bleeding less it doesn't matter as much

I only ever used two pack of maternity pads then one pack of night pads (thats all i bought prehand) then just used normal ones. I've never heard of normal ones masking signs of infections.. I was fine.

heya...i think i used them for a couple of weeks - i went from the huge ones to tesco's thin maternity ones which felt loads better.

i had a friend whos son must be about 3 now...she used normal sanitary towels quite early on and had a lot of stitches. she ended up with a lot of problems and some infection - what she was told by several doctors/midwives afterwards was that because of the 'gel' and the large amount of plastic (in the backing) of normal towels, they were much less breathable. they are also designed to 'draw' blood out rather than just absorb it, so in effect they were trying to draw her stitches out rather than just soak up the blood if that makes sense.

not trying to scare you! that is the reason i didn't use them really, i like the tesco ultra-thin maternity pads they felt tiny in comparison then after that went straight to liners - probably from about 3 weeks

I wore ,mine for about 1 week then

Char

Oooh that's a gory story Mari!

I was really reluctant to try the ultra slim ones when I first saw them - I just couldn't believe they could actually work after the shocking experience of having to double up whilst on the maternity ward! (No really, I was horrified - "why do I need TWO??" - I had never used pads before and had absolutely no idea about them anyway)

But actually the slim ones were surprisingly effective and I wished I'd moved on to using them sooner.

Do you have any more MW visits left NatKat? perhaps you could ask - there must be a point after which you're safe to change over. Perhaps after any stitches have dissolved away and the bleeding starts to die down anyway?

xx Em

EmVar wrote:

(No really, I was horrified - "why do I need TWO??" - I had never used pads before and had absolutely no idea about them anyway)

Just like me. I put one mothercare one on after Immi was born and not 30mins later bed was covered in blood Nurse was really nice tho and advised me to use 2 or 3. The mothercare ones were awful tho so had to use about 4 for the them to actually last more than an hour. Tesco ones much better, only 2 of those.

Mari, eek! That could be why they advise against it then Your poor friend!

Thanks, I'll check with the midwife next time I see her. I had a c-section so no stitches or anything, don't know if that makes a difference. I'll probably pick up some more slim maternity pads tomorrow then, They are really slim and comfy but they're just so flipping long!! Thanks for the advice xx

This might sound daft but can you trim them?

I remember them being long but not ridiculously so. My ass is about 3 times the size of yours but so maybe that made a difference haha!

I know you cant use tampons but I wasn't told not to use normal pads but I think I carried on with maternity owned as they were cheaper. I'm a bit of a horror story, bled for about 16 weeks and had to use 3 for the first few days! Best to check with your midwife though just in case. X

mariheartselijah wrote:

they were much less breathable. they are also designed to 'draw' blood out rather than just absorb it, so in effect they were trying to draw her stitches out rather than just soak up the blood if that makes sense.

that's what my midwives told me before I popped!