Lochia During Pregnancy

Lochia during pregnancy is a combination of blood, mucus and tissue from a healing uterus. This post delivery discharge is normal and it lasts anyway from 2 to 6 weeks. Bleeding varies from woman to woman. Avoid tampons as you are prone to infection; use sanitary napkins only (either the thin absorbent ones or the old style thick pads) However long it lasts, there are 3 stages to it:

• Bright red copious discharge lasting for 3-4 days

• Gradual slowdown in flow and the color changes to pinkish-brown

• From day 10 it starts to lighten in color considerably and becomes yellowish white or colorless

If you breastfeed, oxytocin will cause lochia to taper off to zilch much faster; this is because uterine contractions caused by the hormone shrinks the uterus back to normal size thereby reducing the blood loss

Your doctor needs to be informed:

• If lochia starts to smell foul (it should have fresh blood like smell), it means you have an infection and you may be given antibiotics to treat it

• If flow becomes bright red again, it means you are over-exerting and need to take it easy

• If the bleeding is very heavy or with clots or tissue, it means not all of your placenta or membranes was expelled. You will be given medicines to help flush them out of your system and occasionally a D&C to remove the remnants

• If there is no bleeding since delivery