How To Care For Hemorrhoids After Birth?

Hemorrhoids after delivery are nothing new. In most cases, they are not dangerous and they do not require more than home treatment and care. Nevertheless, hemorrhoids do not make postpartum recovery process on mothers any easier. Here are some points to help you understand the causes of hemorrhoids after birth and how to treat them and handle them at home.

In terms of causes, post-partum hemorrhoids are often triggered by the pressure made on the perineal region during and few months before delivery on one hand, and the increase production of progesterone that relaxes the blood vessels and causes them to swell on the other hand.

As for hemorrhoids home treatments, they are quite easy and require from you the following instructions:

• Try to sit in a tub, having water as hot as you can bear. Soak in for 10 minutes so that the rectum is covered by the water. Repeat the process few times a day or as much as needed to relieve your pain and itching.
• Soak a cold pack in witch-hazel water and put it on the affected area. Repeat the process several times a day. Try your best to switch between cold and hot for better results.
• Keep your affected area clean at all times. Use for this purpose a warm water spray bottle to wash the rectum after passing stool, and a clean dry cloth to dry it.
• Ask your doctor for safe anti-inflammatory ointments you can put on the affected area to cool it and lessen the swelling, the itching and the burning sensation of the blood vessels.
• Make sure that your hygienic products, i.e. toilet papers and pads, are not scented and dye-free.
• Take regular breaks from standing and sitting by relaxing and lying down in a way that lessens the pressure on the area affected by hemorrhoids. And if you have to sit, try to do so while using a special pillow that redistributes the weight and pressure on the rectum.
• Enrich your diet with high-fiber foods, such as dried apricots, prunes and bread, in order to stimulate your bowel movement and prevent you from constipation that may make your condition worse.
• Try to practice Kegel exercises and strengthen your perineal muscles.
• Visit the toilet whenever you feel the urge to, and do not hold back your stools in fear of pain, for waiting and postponing are your worst enemies and can make your stool harder.

Those were our tips for you to handle hemorrhoids after delivery. Follow them diligently and always take care of yourself, and you shall feel a gradual improvement in the weeks following your childbirth. In case of the contrary, i.e. if your condition gets worse and your rectum is bleeding, then you will have to consult a specialist. 

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