Let’s be honest here. In the few months weeks after giving birth, you don’t exactly feel like wanting to have sex anytime soon. You have to pad yourself up to, what feels like, the size of a sumo wrestler. Not only that but your boobs are sore and leaking, regardless of whether you’re breastfeeding or not. Your body has gone through some huge changes, and you’re absolutely exhausted (hello night feeds), but most of all the thought of ANYTHING ever going “in there” again.. hell NO! Look what happened last time you did it. So why the need to talk about contraception so soon?
Well, those of you with two or more children know that all of the above does not last forever, because believe it or not, you will want to have sex again. In fact, some women are back on their feet in that area a lot quicker than others would even dare to think about. The first reason to think about it, is that if you do decide to get back on the horse (pun totally intended), your body is in prime condition to house a baby since you’ve just given birth to one. Don’t worry though, you can’t get pregnant for at least the first 21 days after giving birth! However, lots of unintended pregnancies happen right after having a baby. It can happen and it will happen, so unless you’re really wanting to expand your family at a rather alarming rate, I’d hold out until you were sure you were protected.
Secondly, you can ovulate as quickly as three to four weeks from your delivery. This includes those who breastfeed because while breastfeeding makes you less fertile, it doesn’t render you infertile, so it can happen! So in answer to the question, yes I’d say it was super important to discuss contraception as soon as possible. When I was still in hospital after having Teddy, a leaflet of all the contraceptions available was one of the first things the midwives shoved under my nose who then asked if I’d given much thought to it. Funnily enough, no. I hadn’t. Giving birth is enough to put me off for a good while thank you very much. Given that I was discharged after just over 48 hours, they’re not tiptoeing around it. But it’s still really important for you to think about.
Given all the above, what contraception is right for you? This is something you will really need to discuss with a family planning nurse or a pregnancy clinic because what was right for you before, could be all wrong for you now. Depending on your health and whether you’re breastfeeding or not will also help determine what kind of contraception you can use.
Prior to having either of my boys I was on the combined pill for 9 years but after I’d had Toby and I looked into contraception I couldn’t actually use that while breastfeeding. Once I’d finished breastfeeding I took it and it played absolute havoc with my body to the point that I had to stop taking it and give up on contraception altogether. I ended up using natural family planning and found it really easy to track using an ovulation calculator, although this will be harder for some women – not forgetting that it’s not 100% foolproof.
There are lots of methods of contraception available, you can read about them all here, it’s just about finding the right one for you. Everything from condoms, to the implant and even a patch! Just remember that condoms are the only ones that will protect you from STIs and STDs whereas the others will not. All of these methods are available free of charge on the NHS, even after your 1 year maternity exemption, so there’s really not much excuse to get pregnant, unless you’re trying, to which I think you’re absolutely blooming barmy!
Jade x
After this babies born im booking my hubby in for the snip!
Good read! I was told recently about having the implant inserted was the best option after birth as it’s just there! You don’t forget to take the pill
Great post! At my six week check the GP tried to talk to me about contraception and I was like, who you kidding lady? I too didn’t want to go back to hormones and recently had a coil fitted