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The gestation period is an extremely delicate moment in a woman’s life. With the body undergoing constant changes, the hormones on the surface and all the psychological preparation that a woman needs to have while pregnant, it is normal for life to turn upside down and things sometimes get a little confusing.
But it is exactly during this period that certain care that a woman normally has with her body needs to be redoubled. The attention to personal hygiene , for example, is one of them. With the body changing, the ways of performing your intimate hygiene change a little.
Some things you didn’t do should start to be done and some things should be left to do. All of this is necessary so that your body is prepared in the most comfortable and healthy way possible for your baby’s arrival.
Does Intimate Hygiene Affect Health?
It may not seem like it, but the way you perform your intimate hygiene directly affects your health. Intimate hygiene performed correctly during pregnancy prevents women from developing diseases such as candidiasis , for example, which is much more common in pregnant women than is imagined.
The care that a woman should take with intimate hygiene during pregnancy can reflect on how comfortable the delivery will be and, mainly, will provide a healthy and risk-free pregnancy for both mother and baby.
Main Questions of Pregnant Women About Intimate Hygiene
And taking into account that pregnancy is often surrounded by doubts, especially when we talk about first-time mothers, we will address some topics that will clarify the main doubts about the process of intimate hygiene during pregnancy, such as:
- What is the best way to perform intimate hygiene during pregnancy
- What to do or not to do
- How it can affect your health
- Postpartum care
Knowing all these steps and following them correctly, your intimate hygiene will be smooth and free from major problems during your pregnancy.
How to perform intimate hygiene during pregnancy?
First, some care must be taken. One of them is the question of washing the genital region , which must be done from front to back, to prevent bacteria from spreading from the anus to the vagina. Still talking about washing, prioritize the use of neutral liquid soap or even the use of intimate soaps , little perfumed and colorless. Washing your intimate area once a day is enough.
When using the bathroom, the pregnant woman should use white, unscented toilet paper or clean herself with wet wipes appropriate for the intimate area, but preferably always wash the anal area instead of using toilet paper. when washing your hands , always before and after using the bathroom, when you get home from the street and before meals.
Regarding clothes, prefer the use of cotton panties , those made especially for pregnant women. Always try to wear loose, comfortable pants that do not tighten the vaginal area too much, the less pressure on the vagina, the less risk of contracting bacteria you have. Also, do not wear wet bikinis for a long time, as this can attract fungi and bacteria that can harm your health.
What should I not do?
It is not recommended by gynecologists in general that pregnant women do total hair removal of the groin, as hair is a natural form of protection for our body. However, the hair can be trimmed hygienically.
In addition, it is highly contraindicated that you perform intimate hygiene with a shower , as it can facilitate bacteria to enter your body reaching the uterus, which can cause complications in pregnancy and even a premature birth .
How will it affect my health?
As we said above, taking the right care with intimate hygiene during pregnancy serves as disease prevention, and is the main weapon to protect your body from bacteria that can bring you more serious diseases and infections.
Of course, even if you take all precautions, a possible illness can still happen, but it is much less likely than if you do not perform intimate hygiene correctly. It is important to note that just taking care of yourself will not leave you completely protected from acquiring diseases during pregnancy. You must have a medical follow-up and perform all tests in the correct way to make sure that your health and your baby’s health are up to date.
IMPORTANT: When identifying any disease or anomaly, seek immediate medical attention and in no way attempt to self-medicate. In addition to being dangerous for you and can worsen your medical condition, some medications can also harm your baby.
Postpartum care
After pregnancy, especially with normal births , the woman’s genital area tends to become more sensitive and vulnerable. That is why it is also extremely important to continue to pay extra attention to intimate hygiene even after delivery . Imagine you with all the worries of taking care of your newborn child and still having to deal with diseases or infections in the intimate area.
There are some women who suffer from laceration in the region after normal birth, so the general recommendation is that, after using the bathroom, the woman clean herself with water and mild soap instead of toilet paper, exactly to avoid irritating this region that it’s already very sensitive.
Intimate Wash Care
It is also recommended that women do the washing a little more often , especially in the first days after normal birth. This is because the body releases a secretion similar to that of menstruation, which works as a kind of cleaning of the woman’s reproductive system after having a child.
Therefore, changing the absorbent and doing the intimate washing more frequently is important. It is very common for women to be frightened by so much information and care with intimate hygiene that should be taken during pregnancy, but little by little, you will realize that these are simple things that will help you not have major problems and have a more comfortable pregnancy.
It is also perfectly natural that the resistance of the woman’s body becomes lower during pregnancy, our body reserves more energy to protect the baby and to do everything possible for the pregnancy to occur in a healthy way.
It is just one of many changes that occur with the woman’s body during this period. Following these steps, along with a good medical follow-up is sure to make you feel calmer and your body will thank you in the future for taking all these precautions.
See Also: Can You Get Pregnant?
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
