Allocations after childbirth: color, smell, how many are normal?

Pregnancy is behind, in the hands of a small miracle and the body of a young mother needs time to restore reproductive functions and the usual work of the organs of the genitourinary system.

Women, especially those who became mothers for the first time, are concerned with the question: how long are discharge after birth and what should they be normal?

How many postpartum discharges occur?

The duration of postpartum excretions in a young mother is about 6-8 weeks on average, in obstetrics they are called lochia.

The recovery period of each puerperium is different: one woman can take about 1 month, the other - up to 2 months.

This largely depends on the anamnesis of labor, the intervals between births, the lactation period in the past, the state of the immune system of a woman.

Lochia 3 months after birth is usually mucous, not abundant, whitish or colored yellowish - this is the norm and indicates that the uterus has returned to its physiological state.

What should be postpartum discharge?

In the first day after delivery, blood is released from the genital tract of the parturient in large quantities, in which large clots can be present.

In the second and third days after delivery, the lochia become light red with an admixture of mucus, still abundant.

By the end of the first week of excretion, brown mucus resembles the presence of blood veins and small clots. When straining, lifting weights, physical overstrain, they can be amplified.

By the end of the second week after the birth of the baby, the mucous discharges are replaced by watery ones, and acquire a yellow or brownish hue.

This will continue for another month.

In addition to the duration of the recovery period of the uterus and reproductive functions, women often ask the doctor the question - what should be postpartum discharge?

Normally, lochia should not have an unpleasant odor, impurities of pus, nor are accompanied by pain and fever.

A month after delivery, excretions are normally clear, yellowish or brownish in color, there should not be any blood.

Yellow postpartum discharge

Yellow postpartum discharge appears in the young mother about 6-8 days after the placenta retreats, and before them there are quite abundant and intense bloody, which are becoming paler with each passing day.

The appearance of yellow lochia is due to the presence of a large number of white blood cells( leukocytes) in them and indicates that the healing process of the uterine cavity is in accordance with the norms.

First lochia abundant, but every day they become less and by the end of 2 months after delivery they completely disappear.

Sometimes the appearance of yellow precipitates signals a pathological process taking place in the uterus, and a woman should immediately seek gynecological care.

Dangerous symptoms are:

• Bloody discharge in a month after birth, which came to be replaced by yellow;
• Pain in the lower abdomen with irradiation in the waist of a cramping character;
• Raise body temperature to 39-40 degrees;
• An admixture of pus in the secretions;
• Nausea, vomiting, mounting weakness;Unpleasant smell of rot.

Similar signs indicate the development of an infectious inflammatory process in the uterus, which requires immediate examination and adequate therapy, otherwise the mother can develop blood infection.

Unpleasant discharge after childbirth indicates the attachment of a bacterial infection, the development of endometritis or the incomplete withdrawal of a child's place.

Bloody postpartum discharge

After the birth of the baby, the uterus begins to contract intensively, resulting in the child's place( placenta), this organ has performed its function and is no longer needed in the body.

When the placenta is separated, a rupture of the blood vessels that connect it to the uterine wall occurs. At the time of rupture of blood, blood from them is poured into the uterine cavity, which is accompanied by further bloody discharge from the genital tract.

Normally, blood is released only on the first day after childbirth, and its volume usually does not exceed 250 ml; on the second day, blood-mucous discharges in large amounts of blood are discharged from the uterus, in which large clots are present.

As the uterus involution, they will lighten daily, decrease and become watery.

If the discharge is over and the reds start again - you need to contact the gynecologist for an examination.

Brown postpartum discharge

Brown postpartum discharge usually scares young mothers, but do not worry - this is normal.

Staining in brown is caused by the impurity in them of dead endometrial particles, clots with clotted blood, products of the involution process in the uterus.

The brown color of lochia is most often observed in the second week after childbirth, but the appearance of smearing brown veins and the end of the first month is not excluded, which is not pathology if the young mother feels well at the same time.

Discharges after childbirth with odor - cause to be alarmed

Odor lochy can not be called unpleasant, rather it resembles the smell of dampness or menstrual flow. The appearance of unpleasant putrefactive odor should alert the woman and become an occasion for immediate consultation of the gynecologist.

A similar odor may indicate that a piece of the placenta remains in the uterus, and the processes of decomposition of tissues have begun. As a rule, strong pains in the lower abdomen, high body temperature( over 39 degrees) and an admixture of pus in the discharge quickly join the clinical picture.

In rare cases, the appearance of an unpleasant odor from postnatal idiosynchias can occur if a woman does not change disposable sanitary napkins in time or does not follow the rules of personal intimate hygiene.

Similar to its health after delivery, it threatens the development of serious inflammatory diseases of the uterus and its appendages as a result of penetration of pathogens.