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During pregnancy, a woman’s body functions change significantly. One of them, having a great impact on both the hormonal balance of the mother’s body and her well-being, is the fact that the process of ovulation and menstruation is stopped. The regular menstrual cycle does not return until after delivery, but it may be delayed in various cases.
Postpartum – When Does It Return?
It should be noted at the beginning that the regularity of menstruation is a very individual matter and differs depending on the predisposition of the female organism. The same applies to the return of the menstrual cycle after an interruption during pregnancy. The timing of re-menstruation does not usually occur immediately after delivery, but its exact determination is in many cases difficult to predict.
Statistically, regular periods usually return only during breastfeeding. Young mothers usually have no periods for around 20 weeks after giving birth. This situation changes for women who feed their children with formula. In their case, the menstrual cycle may appear as early as 10 weeks after giving birth. There are also occasions when ovulation begins before this period.
Bleeding and the postpartum period
Note that although your period does not start until some time after birth, you may experience vaginal bleeding earlier than this due to other conditions. Most often, such bleeding is a direct consequence of labor and has nothing to do with the ovulation cycle.
This type of vaginal bleeding can happen in the first 7 days after you give birth. It only affects women who have given birth naturally (not with a caesarean section). The bleeding requires that young mothers maintain a particularly high level of hygiene. During their appearance, you should regularly wash intimate places; you can also use pads and special, disposable underwear, designed to absorb postpartum blood.
Postpartum bleeding can be easily distinguished from menstrual bleeding. First of all, it is definitely more abundant. When bleeding is unusually heavy and regular you should report it to your doctor. Postpartum blood also has a slightly different color – bright red that turns brown over time. Moreover, it differs in smell (it can be mixed with postpartum faeces).
The specifics of the postpartum period
Many young mothers ask if the postpartum period is regular and what its course is. In most cases, the first periods after birth are irregular and more heavy compared to the periods before birth. This condition is a natural consequence of changes taking place in the woman’s body and should not cause anxiety. A woman’s body undergoes serious hormonal changes that affect the regularity of menstruation.
After the first few months after birth, your menstrual cycle should stabilize and continue as often as you did before birth. Note that the first menstrual periods after childbirth can be more painful for many women and more bloodshed than they were before birth.
The ovulation process itself after childbirth can also change to some extent. Occasionally, ovulation may occur before symptoms such as menstrual bleeding appear. Reverse order situations also occur. Moreover, for the first 6 weeks after giving birth, ovulation and the chance of becoming pregnant are very low.
The course of the ovulation process is also influenced by the fact of breastfeeding. Especially right after giving birth, when the baby’s feeding intensity increases. The baby’s intake of breast milk triggers the production of the hormone prolactin, which blocks the ovulation process. Then a situation occurs called lactation infertility, which is the natural mechanism of the woman’s organism in the postpartum period. However, obstructing ovulation requires a large amount of prolactin, which is why not all women experience lactation infertility. Later postpartum, when the frequency of the child’s intake of mother’s food decreases, the production of prolactin also decreases. Thanks to this, the ovulation process begins to normalize and take place again in the woman’s body.
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