Just had your baby? How to do first aid for a sore bottom

The pelvic floor needs the same love, care and attention as any other injury. What first aid should you do in the first hours and first days after delivery? How do you get the best healing and recovery?

There are proven first aid methods to encourage optimum healing  and reduce complications after a soft tissue injury. The same methods work for a new mum’s sore bottom as for a footballer’s sprain.

In sport there is  a snappy acronym to help  remember the routine RICE: Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation. I have coined my own:

Copy the sports teams with my new mums RESCue remedy:

 REST – ELEVATE – SOOTHE – CUE

R IS FOR REST

Relative Rest.  It’s a sad fact that we don’t live in a culture that respects rest. I know you have a newborn – and possibly other children too, as well as a home to clean and visitors to entertain! However, rest is important. It doesn’t need to mean do nothing. However it does mean watching out for signs that you have been literally ‘on your feet’ for too long. This causes blood to pool and congest in the perineum.

What are the warning signs?

• swelling and puffiness in the perineal area
• being achy & sore underneath
• feeling numb
• being bizzarely irritable

You likely won’t be sore enough to realise why you feel out of sorts and grumpy. But you will find yourself fidgeting and wishing everyone would go home! It’s your body telling you to sit down (or even better lie down) to take the pressure off.

So…..that’s what you NEED TO DO…. and while you do……

E Is FOR ELEVATION

Elevate  Ideally get your bottom higher than your heart so the swelling will be drained back into your lymph system.  Just 10 minutes with the weight off will make you feel like a new person. You don’t have to be unproductive(!):

• have a luke warm bath (hygiene etc!)
• lie on your side to cuddle or feed the baby
• snuggle up to watch telly or read with your toddler
• lie on your back on the sofa, pillow under your bottom & phone a friend
• have a power nap to help you cope better with tonight

S IS FOR SOOTHE

Soothe  Cold usually feels wonderful against hot, bruised tissues, and then the cold makes blood flow to the area increase. You will see your skin go pink as the blood vessels dilate. With lovely open blood vessels you can then help drain the swelling by pulsing the pelvic floor muscles. This will push the congested fluids back into your blood stream to be carried away.

How to cool your sore bits? Most purchased cold/gel packs can go directly on your body but if you make a DIY ice pack wrap it in a damp cloth to prevent the pack sticking to your skin. Apply to the sore area for just 5 minutes. You only need the cold for long enough to bring a nice rush of blood flow to the area. This opens the blood vessels up wide to help take the swelling away.

Just cooling will feel nice … and then even better – help the swelling material move back into the blood stream by moving the affected tissues …

CUE – YOUR PELVIC FLOOR

Cue the pelvic floor.  In the early days of healing don’t be overwhelmed by the idea of having to do hundreds of pelvic floor exercises.  ‘Training’ your pelvic floor comes later. In these first few weeks the priority is MOVEMENT and CONNECTION. Aim to move the muscles to get the swelling down, to make you feel comfortable and to remind the muscles how to work.

Who’s looking after the Chicken?

Mama Chickens, you can’t love & care for your eggs if you are sore and uncomfortable. Use this First Aid for a sore bottom process regularly. Especially in the early days – to help you love and nurse your bottom back to health quickly.

Share the love & most importantly The knowledge. Please let your mum friends know what to do to feel more comfortable.

New Mum’s RESCue Remedy  Rest – Elevate – Soothe – Cue

www.supportedmums.com/firstaid