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Post-partum sweats

  1. #1
    Gracey is offline Registered User
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    Post-partum sweats

    I sweated more after giving birth, which I hear is normal. I had very bad water retention, so this made sense. It was my body getting rid of excess water weight. It went on for a few weeks, especially at night.

    Now I am 10 weeks post-partum and the sweats have come back with a vengence. They are even worse than before -- I wake up drenched. And it's cooler weather now than when I gave birth in August. It makes me feel very uncomfortable when I am nursing. I am forever turning the air con on (to cool myself off) and then off (because the cold air feels bad on my wet skin).

    Anyone suffering from similar? BTW, I am breastfeeding exclusively except for an odd bottle here and there.


  2. #2
    mummymoo is offline Registered User
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    Gracey, from my reading the breasts are just modified sweat glands and the hormones that make breastfeeding possible also act in some ways on your normal sweat glands hence you sweat. Explained to me by my O& G friend. Now that I have wound down the BF it is almost gone.


  3. #3
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gracey View Post
    I sweated more after giving birth, which I hear is normal. I had very bad water retention, so this made sense. It was my body getting rid of excess water weight. It went on for a few weeks, especially at night.

    Now I am 10 weeks post-partum and the sweats have come back with a vengence. They are even worse than before -- I wake up drenched. And it's cooler weather now than when I gave birth in August. It makes me feel very uncomfortable when I am nursing. I am forever turning the air con on (to cool myself off) and then off (because the cold air feels bad on my wet skin).

    Anyone suffering from similar? BTW, I am breastfeeding exclusively except for an odd bottle here and there.
    All I know is that I had terrible hot flashes when I was pregnant both times and it was totally related to hormones. It makes sense as when women go through menopause they can also have those night sweats and hot flashes and that's an intense time of hormonal change. I think that 10 weeks post-partum is still not that very far out from childbirth and it's kind of normal to have hormonal flux--especially if you're breastfeeding. Are you taking a good daily supplement? That can really affect things, I find.
    “Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a
    spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware …
    To such a woman childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory.
    She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.”

    ~ Grantly Dick-Read (Childbirth Without Fear)

    Mother of Two
    JMW, boy, born November 29, 2007, 9:43 pm, USA
    MJW, girl, born March 17, 2011, 4:14 pm, HK

  4. #4
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    carang is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by thanka2 View Post
    All I know is that I had terrible hot flashes when I was pregnant both times and it was totally related to hormones. It makes sense as when women go through menopause they can also have those night sweats and hot flashes and that's an intense time of hormonal change. I think that 10 weeks post-partum is still not that very far out from childbirth and it's kind of normal to have hormonal flux--especially if you're breastfeeding. Are you taking a good daily supplement? That can really affect things, I find.
    heck, i still blame my "moods" on hormones... and my youngest is almost 5 YEARS old! LOL!

    gracey, sorry you are suffering. while i'm not breastfeeding, i DO become a human furnace at night. i sleep in a camisole, with a light blanket, a ceiling fan, right under the air con which is on TURBO and as cold as i can make it. i put an ice pack under my head and under that i have a large gel pack on top of my pillow to try to keep me cool. i STILL wake up after 2 hours and have to change the ice pack because it's not only not frozen, but it is warm to the touch!

    it's awful.... i wake up many nights with wet hair and a wet pillow.... i've been woken by the sweat running between the boobs!

    i hope you get over it soon! i've always been like this but it got worse after childbirth and have given up ever getting over it.

  5. #5
    NewBunny is offline Registered User
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    My sister had similar sweats for her first baby, and had to see a Chinese Dr to stop her sweats. For her second, she did NOT have this problem since she decided to follow the more Chinese way of having chicken wine soup after 12 days of delivery.

    Perhaps you can try to see a Chinese Dr as western medicine may interfere with your breastfeeding if it interacts with your hormonal balance.


  6. #6
    carey is offline Registered User
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    I experince something similar Gracey.

    My second is 6 month today and I am breastfeeding exclusively. I was just wondering if there was anything wrong with me becuase I have cold sweat all the time. I don't remember I had similar situation with my first. I was pumping exclusively then.

    I googled it. The answer is similar to the Mummymoo's and it says breastfeeding mother experience longer sweating.

    I sweat a lot during confinment month (1 month post-partum). I sweat less now. But in my Yoga class, there are three other mothers whoes babies are similar ago to mine. I sweat way more than them. I also would break out in cold sweat from just sitting around minding my child.

    Should really take advice to take supplement and hope it would stop after breastfeeding too.


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