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 Women in the study were just as likely to report sexual problems 12
weeks after delivery, regardless of how they gave birth, although
complaints did differ somewhat between the C-section and
vaginal-delivery groups.
“The message for pregnant women is that sexual dysfunction in some
aspects or domains is expected and is not permanent,” said senior
author Dr. Taymour Mostafa, a professor of andrology and sexology at
Cairo University in Egypt.
Pregnancy and delivery can cause physical changes that often cause
pain during sex, reduced desire, difficulty achieving orgasm and
fatigue, Mostafa and his colleagues write in the International
Journal of Impotence Research.
Many women with these problems don’t ask for help from doctors, even
though they want to, the authors note.
The researchers surveyed 200 women six weeks after giving birth, and
again at 12 weeks. The average age was 25 to 30; most were highly
educated and living in urban areas. Forty-five percent delivered
vaginally; 55 percent had a C-section.
Six weeks after delivery, 43 percent of the women noticed a
difference in sex, with 70 percent feeling pain and 30 percent
fatigue. By 12 weeks, however, 38 percent said their sex lives were
improved because of more intimacy and less pain.
Overall, the risk of problems was similar for both delivery modes.
But those who delivered vaginally felt much less desire, arousal and
lubrication than the C-section group, though not much difference in
ability to have an orgasm, satisfaction or pain. The women who had a
C-section only noticed a significant difference in their level of
desire after 12 weeks.
“Many women are afraid (to resume sexual intercourse), so I think
fear plays into that part of desire,” said Sandi Tenfelde, a women’s
health nurse practitioner and researcher at the Marcella Niehoff
School of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago.
“If you are concerned about the changes that happen in your body and
you’re nervous about what it’s going to feel like, that fear can
reduce the desire,” she said.
“Women can also have pelvic pain or perineal (between vagina and
rectum) pain, depending on their mode of giving birth, that may also
impact not only their desire but their arousal,” Tenfelde said.
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Tenfelde praised the researchers for doing a study on a subject that
needed more answers.
Women who return for their six-week postpartum check "are reassured
that everything is normal and healing, but many women recognize that
their body has changed during pregnancy and after birth and they are
wondering how they will recover from the physical changes that
happen with pregnancy and birth,” she told Reuters Health.
“Until we can start asking those questions, it’s hard for us to give
that anticipatory guidance to help women recover and heal and
understand what is expected,” Tenfelde said.
Mostafa and colleagues say the new father’s state of mind can also
affect sex after giving birth.
“The role of the male partner is highly important for good
understanding of these changes, support, encouragement and avoiding
criticisms,” Mostafa told Reuters Health.
Tenfelde said couples could have a “desire discrepancy,” where the
typical six weeks of waiting for sex after a birth was long and
frustrating for a partner but a woman still felt apprehensive. But,
Tenfelde said, couples could find other ways to be intimate.
“There are lots of ways to be intimate with your partner after the
birth of a baby (hand holding, cuddling, massage and genital
stimulation without vaginal penetration). Finding alternate ways of
being intimate without vaginal penetration can be very therapeutic
for the couple,” Tenfelde said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Ae3vRJ International Journal of Impotence
Research, online February 12, 2015.
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