Baths

You’ll definitely need to wait until your stitches are healed and dissolved, but I think I waited about 6 weeks all together. Ask your midwife or health visitor x

I took a bath within a few days of giving birth and I had a 2nd degree tear with stitches. My midwife recommended epsom salt baths to help with healing my stitches. And I swear it helped a ton! Sitz baths are highly recommended so I don’t see why a regular bath would do any harm. I would talk to your midwife to be sure though!

I was told by my obgyn that they recommend6 weeks because that’s typically how long your cervix stays open. I guess it’s less about the stitches and more about risking an infection in your uterus. I’m right there with you though it was the first thing I did when I was cleared!

I will also say I follow this girl on TikTok (ebby Moyer) and she took baths freshly postpartum with a big batch of herbs. She said that large amounts of certain herbs act as an antiseptic so that it’s safe but I didn’t have the energy to look into it lol

I had a sitz bath for 20 minutes on day 3 after birth with herbs made up from the naturopath. I had second degree tearing and torn urethra as well as grape sized hemmys 😭 I believe it made my healing quicker. Yes it does break down the stitches earlier but they are designed to break down over time. I checked with my midwife and she quietly said it would be fine, but the hospital does not promote it. Trust your heart ❤️ I can send you thr list of herbs if you like ☺️ p.s make sure you scrub your bath and make the bath very shallow e.g only covering your bits as you don't want to submerge yourself in water as you want to avoid infections

@Bella Gerry I second this recommendation!!