few random questions advice would be greatly appreciated

ok few questions. one. how long should it take for my episiotomy to heal? two. any suggestions on how to get some relief from it? I have the wipes, spray, pads and one ice pack (saving it for when I really need it) from the hospital but they haven't really given much relief. only for a very very short while. three. i'm breast feeding and I woke up with boobs the size of watermelons and they're rock solid, sore and leaking horribly. if I feed baby it helps for a second then they're full again. is this inevitable or is there anything I can do to help this? four. do you feed on demand or do you feed on a schedule?

1)Episiotomy: it took a good 3 weeks to feel back to normal down there. I did not look to see if I was healed up or not though. I know I was at my post partum appointment, but cant remember how many weeks PP I was.

2) Clean yourself really good and fold a tucks pad with witch hazel on it onto your pad so it stays there to sooth the area. I usually left them 20-30 minutes and did it each time I used the restroom.

3) Manually express your breasts into a bottle or bowl (clean of course) and freeze it in breast milk bags. Warm compresses will help the engorgement as well.

4) On demand, if baby was sleeping and I needed relief I just hand expressed until I felt better.

it will take like 6-8 weeks for it to completyely heal and you should look into buying a donut at walmart. There probably like 10 bucks and they take pressure off you perineum and butt. You should pump the breast milk and freeze it if your breasts are becoming engorged...your just producing too much milk for your baby right now but eventually he/she will need more and its good to have some frozen as back up

I can answer about the episiotomy.
It tooks mine about 6 weeks to heal and having to wear pads for pp bleeding doesn't help at all. Just keep on doing what your doing eventually one day the pain wont be as bad. Sorry your hurting I definately can relate. After having mine with my first born I am absolutely terrified to haveto go through it again.

Quoting Kayla and Baby Landyn:" ok few questions. one. how long should it take for my episiotomy to heal? two. any suggestions on how ... [snip!] ... again. is this inevitable or is there anything I can do to help this? four. do you feed on demand or do you feed on a schedule?"

Ok few questions.
1). how long should it take for my episiotomy to heal?
It took mine a week or so I just used the wipes and the spray.


2) any suggestions on how to get some relief from it?
Use the spray  


3). i'm breast feeding and I woke up with boobs the size of watermelons and they're rock solid, sore and leaking horribly. if I feed baby it helps for a second then they're full again. is this inevitable or is there anything I can do to help this?
It's normal. If I were you I would pump if baby isn't hungry so you can keep up your supply and have frozen milk for when you start letting others baby sit him/her. Eventually your supply will regulate and not be so random. And the pain and hardness will go away too.


4) do you feed on demand or do you feed on a schedule?
I fed on demand with both babies (bottle fed and breast fed). I feel like if baby is hungry then there is no need to deny them food.

sitz baths <3 it took mine 6 weeks or so...well actually i tore..i didnt get cut. but i tore pretty good and it was painful for a while. the sitcz baths really help. and i put iodine in the squirt bottle with warm water and used that a few times a day