Menstruation while breastfeeding: causes and features

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

About eighty percent of the fairer sex, the menstrual cycle "comes back to normal" after ten to twelve weeks after the birth of a child, provided that they do not plan to breastfeed him. For mothers who do this, menstruation returns to normal a little later - after about six months.

Often, young mothers are alarmed and embarrassed by the appearance of red discharge from the genital tract in the first weeks after the birth of a baby. These substances are indeed visually similar to menstrual ones, but their composition is fundamentally different from them. They are called lochia (discharge from the uterus). After the placenta is torn away from the uterine wall during childbirth, a fairly extensive bleeding zone is formed on the latter. That is why the first time after childbirth, a process of heavy bleeding occurs - subsequently, the red lochia turns into a yellowish-white discharge, and ultimately their number is reduced. Thus, menstruation during the period of feeding and discharge, characteristic of the first"postpartum" weeks are two completely different phenomena that can occur in parallel.

Many are interested in the question of why menstruation occurs during breastfeeding. The fact is that the normalization of the menstrual cycle is a natural biological process, its pace depends on the speed of improvement in the hormonal background of the woman's body after the birth of the child, and his condition is affected by the way breastfeeding occurs. If the baby feeds exclusively on mother's milk, then the menstrual cycle, as a rule, occurs at the moment when the child is one year old. Experts in this case say: “Monthly during breastfeeding appears when the lactation period ends.”

In the case when a child receives, in addition to mother's milk, other nutritional options (the so-called complementary foods), then menstruation may occur before the end of lactation.

If the child's diet is combined (mother's milk + complementary foods), then menstruation during breastfeeding normalizes only 90-120 days after the birth of the baby. The menstrual cycle after childbirth can be accompanied by pain. However, a certain part of women argues: "Menstruation during breastfeeding does not cause pain and much discomfort." Yes, it happens. The fact is that the cause of pain during the menstrual cycle is the bending of the uterus, as a resultwhich makes the process of outflow of blood secretions difficult. During childbirth, the uterus, of course, is in its natural position, at the same time, the order of the relative position of the abdominal organs becomes different, and the location of the above “female genital organ” becomes more physiological. Because the pain is simply absent.

It must be emphasized that if menstruation began during breastfeeding, that is, it happened during lactation, then there is no reason to panic. There is also no need to think that breastfeeding should be abandoned. Very often there are situations when menstruation went during breastfeeding, as a result of which the mother's milk production decreased. You should consult a specialist and gradually introduce complementary foods.