Recovery after a C-section
The physical recovery after a caesarean section takes longer than with a natural birth. You have had major abdominal surgery. That is why your body needs a lot of rest, especially in the beginning.
Many women underestimate the impact of a caesarean section. Therefore, keep a close eye on what you can and may do each week immediately after giving birth. We will tell you what you can generally do again. We will also tell you what you can do after the first 6 weeks to help your scar recover.
1-2 days: Recovery in hospital
- The first 1-2 days after your surgery, you and your baby will stay in the hospital to recover. This way, the doctors can monitor everything and take care of you.
- Usually on the second day your bladder catheter can be removed and you can go to the toilet independently, shower again and walk a bit. This is also a requirement before you can go home.
- You can breastfeed and often you start this as soon as your baby gives hunger signals. The nurses and maternity care can help you put your baby to the breast comfortably.
- Sleeping on your side right after a C-Section may still hurt. This is normal and can last a few days (sometimes weeks). Keep getting out of bed on your side for the first 6 weeks of your recovery. (You did this during your pregnancy).
2-7 days: Further recovery in hospital or at home
If there are no complications, you can often go home after 1-2 days. You must be allowed to recover well at home. This depends on two factors.
- Do you need care at home for more children than just your baby?
- Do you have sufficient support from other people in your immediate environment?
Recover at home in peace
It is important that you recover in peace. Your body often indicates that you need this rest. For example, you get tired quickly. So you are not allowed to do much at home.
- In the first few days, you will still have many complaints. You will mainly have pain in your abdomen and your wound will also still be painful. A pulling feeling at your stitches is normal. You must take good care of your wound.
- Keep your wound clean by gently rinsing it in the shower. If blood or fluid is coming from your wound, you should change the plaster or bandage daily.
- Drink and eat enough after your operation, so your bowels start working again. The first time you poop after the caesarean section can be painful. You can reduce this by eating enough fibre. This makes your stool soft and you don't have to push as much.
- Are you breastfeeding? Then you can't drink alcohol yet. Are you not breastfeeding? Then don't drink alcohol for the first week after the operation.
1-2 weeks: Light household chores
After the first week of recovery, you can start to do light household jobs again. These include washing dishes or making coffee.
- Limit yourself to light household tasks. So don't do heavy household work such as lifting, vacuuming and washing windows.
- Be careful with your movements. Even quickly climbing stairs to get something seems like a small thing, but it puts pressure on your wound and the stitches. It is also wise to climb stairs as little as possible.
- Do not exercise in the first six weeks after a caesarean section. After your recovery, you can slowly build it up again.
- A bit of cycling or driving? Unfortunately, that is not possible yet. You can cycle again when your body allows it. You may only drive again when you have sufficient focus and are no longer in pain.
- After two weeks you are allowed to ride in the car, but it is not advisable to sit in the car for more than two hours.
- When starting other household chores, exercise and cycling, pay attention to your body. Listen to your body. Are you in pain and/or tired? Then take a rest.
2-4 weeks: Gradually build up exercise
After two weeks (or longer if your body needs it) you can often start building up different activities.
- Build up the exercise slowly. Often you can start with exercises for your pelvic floor. Abdominal exercises often follow after 6 weeks and not all exercises can be performed immediately.
- Walking a short distance regularly is good for your recovery. Keep in mind that as soon as you start to feel more pain, you have done too much. Standing for long periods is also not a good idea.
- Do you want to exercise? Unfortunately, this is not allowed until after your check-up appointment.
- Heavy lifting and heavy household chores are not yet possible.
- You can discuss building up all these activities with a specialist. This way you can be sure that you don't start too early or too intensively.
4-6 weeks: If you can, you may do more again
What you can do after the first two weeks depends mainly on the healing of your wound. Furthermore, you will probably be able to do more physically.
- In many women, the wound heals around three weeks. No more fluid or blood comes out and scabs form. To prevent further scarring, you should leave the scabs. They will fall off by themselves.
- Is your wound dry? (This can also be earlier than 3 or 4 weeks) Then you can swim or take a bath again. Also, pay attention to your vaginal bleeding. Is this still there? Then you cannot swim or take a bath yet due to the risk of infection.
- Do you still have a wet wound and vaginal bleeding? Then it is better to postpone sex. It is also wise to postpone sex in the absence of these signals, because of the physical exertion.
- You can cycle a bit again. Only do this if you don't have pain when getting on and off and can make an emergency stop.
- Driving advice varies greatly. It is wisest to wait 6 weeks. It is important that your concentration is good again and that you are no longer in pain. Because of possible emergency stops and the impact they have on your body, the 6 weeks is often used.
Tip: Want to know more about your scar and how to best treat it? Read the free scar guide.
After 6 weeks: You are suddenly allowed to do everything again
After 6 weeks you often have your check-up appointment. If everything is okay, you are often told that you can do everything again.
- You are allowed to drive and cycle again.
- You can start exercising again.
- You can have sex again.
- You don't always have to get out of bed lying on your side. (You did this the past 6 weeks and during your pregnancy.)
- Heavy household chores and heavy lifting are also allowed again.
- This can all be very overwhelming. After weeks of doing little, you are suddenly allowed to do everything again. It is not wise to suddenly do everything at full speed again. Building up is very important. Start slowly with the activities you can pick up and listen to your body.
Are you getting more pain? You are doing too much. Recovery after a C-section is different for every woman every week and the total recovery takes much longer than 6 weeks, with every pregnancy.
Your C-Section scar
At your check-up appointment about 6 weeks after your caesarean section, your health will be examined. Has the wound healed well and are you allowed to do everything again? How nice! Now you can slowly build everything up again.
What often gets no attention after your caesarean section is the scar. Often a specialist does not tell you what you can do to take good care of your scar and that you can do something to reduce your scar. Don't worry this is possible!
Reduce and prevent scar complaints
Your caesarean section scar can cause unpleasant symptoms such as pain, itching and redness. You can also have permanent scar complaints after your caesarean section.
To reduce the symptoms you currently have and prevent the growth of your scar, you can use Scarban C-Section. This is a silicone patch specially developed to treat a scar after a caesarean section.
Read more about how Scarban C-Section works and which scar complaints a silicone patch can help with.
