VAGINAL BLEEDING

Vaginal bleeding is the result of the endometrium, or lining of the uterus, shedding itself so that new growth can be generated.

The colour and quantity of the vaginal bleeding are directly related to the rate at which the uterus involves following childbirth. Involution is the process by which the uterus returns to its original size, shape and position in the body. It takes six to eight weeks, a period of time known as the puerperium, before the uterus is completely back to normal. However, the most dramatic changes occur during the first two weeks.

Immediately after the delivery of the placenta or afterbirth, the uterus contracts. This helps to prevent excess bleeding from the area where the placenta was attached to the uterine wall.

WHAT HAPPENS ?

For the first three to four days following delivery the vaginal bleeding is bright red, since it consists mainly of blood from the healing placental site. Occasionally, it may contain a few small, loose blood clots. By about the fifth day its colour has changed gradually through brownish red to a pinkish brown, due to a decrease in the number of red blood corpuscles and an increase in white blood corpuscles and other secretions. It continues to become paler until by the end of the second week the discharge will be almost white.

The quantity of vaginal bleeding for the first few days is similar to a heavy menstrual period. The amount should decrease steadily after the first week. However, it often increases temporarily immediately after breast feeding.

HOW LONG DOES IT LAST ?

Vaginal bleeding lasts on average for about three weeks, although this can vary from as little as two weeks in some women to as much as six in others. It is quite normal for such variations to occur, but if you have any worries about any aspect of the vaginal bleeding, you should consult your doctor.

As breast feeding speeds up the rate at which involution occurs, vaginal bleeding will disappear more quickly in these mothers than in those who are bottle feeding. Very often, mothers who are not breast feeding find that at about the twenty-eighth day after delivery and vaginal bleeding suddenly becomes heavier and brighter in appearance again. This is in fact their first period. When it has finished the vaginal bleeding will have also disappeared.