If you hop on the pony immediately after giving birth, you may not be waiting long enough.
One doctor says new moms don’t give their bodies enough time to recover before having sex after childbirth.
Wisconsin-based OB-GYN Dr. Sara Swift tells PEOPLE the “general rule” for waiting to have sex after childbirth “is six weeks or until your provider has cleared you.”
This should be common sense, but some moms are hopping back in the saddle too quickly after giving birth. As a result, they develop infections that land them back in the hospital and away from their newborns.
Dr. Swift tells PEOPLE of the timeline she would normally recommend, saying that “applies to both cesarean [section] and vaginal [delivery].”
Some couples are eager to get busy after the baby is born, but Dr. Swift says six weeks is necessary to give the body enough time to heal from what she describes as “a big raw wound”.
“Mainly because where your placenta was is a big raw spot (think big wound), which can be a great place for an infection. That, combined with a dilated cervix, is a perfect setup for an infection.”
