The female body is designed in such a way that menstruation after childbirth does not begin until the period of lactation, that is, breastfeeding the baby, lasts. It is worth noting that nutrition and complementary foods for breastfeeding were relatively recent developments, which is why women used to breastfeed their babies while milk was available.
Nature is wise, and initially conceived in such a way that the next pregnancy could occur in a woman only after the first baby is strong enough and can eat on its own. At the same time, menstruation after childbirth did not come all this time, which, in fact, was considered as the norm for a woman who had given birth and was breastfeeding.
The modern involvement of hormones during lactation, feeding the child with mixtures instead of mother’s milk has led to the fact that the existing norm of menstruation after childbirth has undergone significant changes.
Changes in the body of a pregnant woman
During the bearing of a child, all kinds of transformations occur in the female body. After the baby is born, a woman needs at least eight to ten months to bounce back. However, hormones and breasts are subject to a longer recovery period, which depends on breastfeeding.
During breastfeeding, the body produces the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for the production of breast milk and stops the production of hormones in the ovaries. As a result, ovulation becomes impossible, respectively, menstruation after childbirth does not immediately occur.
The normalization of the menstrual cycle after the birth of a child depends on hormones and on the process of lactation.
When does menstruation occur while breastfeeding?
When breastfeeding a child only with breast milk, menstruation after childbirth begins about a year later. However, it happens that menstruation does not begin throughout the entire lactation period. When using formula milk for feeding a baby, menstruation can begin as early as three or four months after the baby is born.
If the young mother refuses to breastfeed, then the menstrual cycle is adjusted within three months after childbirth.
The current view that menstruation after childbirth is related to the passage of delivery is incorrect.
Neither caesarean nor natural birth affects the time of the onset of menstruation after childbirth.
After the birth of a child, spotting from the uterine cavity may appear for several weeks, which many women confuse with menstruation. However, such secretions are lochia that occurs when the placenta detaches on the uterine walls. Lochia disappears five or six weeks after delivery and is not related to the process of breastfeeding.
Restoration of the menstrual cycle
After the onset of the first menstruation after childbirth, we can talk about the beginning of the restoration of the cycle. Of course, menstruation is rarely restored immediately. Sometimes it takes a period of several months before their full recovery. If the menstrual cycle does not recover for a long time, then you need to contact a specialist, as this may indicate the presence of:
- inflammatory process;
- the formation of neoplasms;
- Violation of the hormonal background.
Changes in the menstrual cycle
The birth of a child can affect the change in the nature of menstruation. For example, if before pregnancy and the birth of a child, menstruation was profuse and accompanied by pain, then after the birth of a baby, menstruation can be tolerated much easier.
This is a consequence of the fact that often soreness during menstruation is a consequence of the bending of the uterus. In the process of delivery, the location of the internal organs of the abdominal cavity changes, respectively, the bending of the uterus is eliminated. As a result, the pain of menstruation after childbirth disappears.