lol, I feel so much better reading these answers. I had quite a lot of stitches I thnk, after having a forceps delivery and an episiotomy. My doctor told me that it was the quality of the stitches that count and not the quantity so not sure how many I got! Baby is 3 weeks old now and I thought that I should be back to normal, wasn't told how long this would hurt for! My do-nut shaped cushion has been wonderful and can now sit on sette without it, although dining chairs are still better with it. Wound looks like it's healing ok but still quite sore, especially after walking or sitting for a while. I do walk with a limp after a while though, such an awful place to have something sewn up! I was told by midwife to use Badedas in the bath, have been taking Arnica tablets too. Gem x

I was told to bathe with teatree oil and lavender oil in the bath (ration 2drops of teatree, 5 of lavender in a tablespoon of olive oil), it worked ok but mostly I found not actually sitting was the best of all, also don't start walking any sort of distace until your baby is about six weeks, and don't dream of heavy lifting - you are not supposed to lift anything heavier than your baby for a while. I found that arnica was good for aiding the healing and that solphadine was the best for killing pain, although they say to be careful of codine based drugs as they can cause constipation, but my mum just kept reminding me what a traumatic thing I had just been through and expect it to hurt for a while... it took me nearly 6 weeks to the day to feel pain free and able to get up and about properly

I had a really difficult birth, lots of stitches. The midwife told me to bathe the stitches, and consultant who stitched me, told me to bathe with Salt in my bath. I didnt know which to believe so I had a bath with a cup of salt in the morning, and a bath with plain water in the aftenoon. This seemed to work, and I healed pretty quick (quicker than I thought), I also took arnica for the bruising and senokote for the first few days to go to the toilet! It gets better i promise!

Have a chat with your midwife and ask her to check your stitches as sometimes they maybe too tight - so get them checked out. Let me know how you get on. Lizzie

I have a two week old baby who is wonderfull but unfortunatley I had to have quite a few stitches. Any magic tips for easing the pain ?(apart from a rubber ring!)