Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 4/11/2011

Question
For how many days should one keep away from sexusl intercourse after normal delivery?
I mean after how many days (after normal delivery) can one start to have sexual intercourse without any risk?

Answer
Dear Adebby,

I am attaching an excerpt from my book (see below) that will answer your question. Good luck! Sally

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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Olds & Marks, 4th edition, September 2010, published by Workman Publishing, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters.
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Resuming Sexual Activity
Men and women generally have different attitudes toward sex, especially during pregnancy and after childbirth. While sometimes the woman is more sexually eager than the man, the more common situation is for the man to press for a resumption of sexual relations, especially intercourse, while the woman is content to go without it for a while. Some researchers suggest that women can accept disruptions in their sexual relationships more easily than men do and that they’re more apt to dismiss the impact of child rearing as a temporary sexual inconvenience, while men seem more likely to feel that children interfere with sex. How much of this is physical and how much cultural? This is a hard question to answer, but there are some obvious physical reasons.
  A man’s body does not, of course, undergo the changes that a woman’s does. His shape does not change; he is not uncomfortable in various positions; he is not exhausted and sore after childbirth; he is not subject to bleeding for a couple of weeks after delivery. Nor do the hormones in his body change radically during pregnancy, after childbirth, and during lactation. All of these physiological differences affect women in various ways, one of which is often a reduced desire for sex. Furthermore, men often find emotional comfort in the sex act itself, while women are more likely to be comforted by being held and caressed. Still, women who may not be hungry for sex themselves will often be ready to resume relations because they want to give of themselves to their partners.

When to Begin
Most doctors advise women not to engage in sexual intercourse until after their first postpartum examination. This is to prevent the two biggest postpartum risks, infection and hemorrhage. Either one can result from the introduction of an object—any object—into the vagina before it is fully healed from childbirth. Before you are ready for intercourse, you want to be sure that any vaginal tears or episiotomy incisions have mended, that the tenderness in your perineal area is less severe, that the placental site (the place on your uterus where the placenta had been attached until it was sheared away during childbirth) has healed, and that your vaginal canal has again developed the microorganisms that protect it from infection. Generally, once soreness has gone, stitches have been absorbed, and bleeding has stopped, intercourse is safe.
  This postpartum exam has traditionally taken place at about six weeks after delivery, but may occur any time between three and eight weeks postpartum, depending on your desires and your doctor’s policy. If you want an earlier postpartum exam than your doctor customarily schedules, ask whether this is possible. It’s also a good idea to ask your doctor to explain to both you and your partner together the reasons for abstinence before this exam. Men who understand these reasons are less likely to pressure new mothers to resume intercourse before the moms are ready. In fact, even if your doctor says you’re ready, this doesn’t mean that you feel you’re ready.