Childbirth is a complex and unpredictable process, the course and ending of which can not be predicted. It's good when they run smoothly and without complications, but sometimes the birth is complicated by crotch ruptures, an intimate placenta increment or an increase in temperature in the early or late postpartum period. In this article we will consider the causes of temperature after delivery and how to deal with it.
Temperature after birth - reasons
The process of childbirth requires a lot of energy and takes a lot of labor from a woman in labor, which reduces the body's ability to fight various infections. Therefore, the increase in temperature after 2 hours after childbirth above 37.5 ° C can be associated with the attachment of infection. It can be an acute respiratory viral infection, infection of the birth canal with a possible nosocomial infection or activation of the opportunistic pathogen in the mother's body. The increase in temperature to 38 ° after delivery is considered physiological, which occurs in response to swelling of the mammary glands and manifests itself on days 2-4, and should not cause concern. This temperature can hold in during the period when the mammary gland is filling.
Postpartum endometritis, diagnosis and treatment
An increase in temperature after delivery is higher than 38 ° C may be a symptom of postpartum endometritis. Diagnostic criteria that confirm the presence of endometritis are the following:
- after childbirth, high temperature appears in the first 1-2 days after birth. The temperature after childbirth reaches 38-39 ° and not only does not decrease, but can even increase;
- a rise in temperature is accompanied by pains in the abdomen and perineum;
- during the normal course of the postpartum period on the 5th-6th day, bloody discharges are replaced by saccharine, and in the case of endometritis, abundant spotting after labor continues.
In such cases, the immediate administration of antibiotic therapy is necessary (antibiotics of a wide range of action are preferred).
Elevated temperature after birth - mastitis
In some young mothers, the onset of lactation can be accompanied by a rise in temperature, which normalizes after 4-7 days with the change of colostrum with breast milk. If a woman on the 7th day has a fever after giving birth above 38.5 °, which is accompanied by pain, tightening and redness of the mammary glands, you can already talk about mastitis (inflammation of the breast). In the clinical picture of mastitis, all manifestations of the inflammatory process are present: fever, chills, weakness and malaise. Mastitis occurs in primiparas as a result of milk stagnation in the ducts of the mammary glands - lactostasis with the subsequent attachment of a bacterial infection. To prevent the development of mastitis, you need to express the first signs of lactostasis to express breast milk after feeding milk or use a breast pump. Often in the treatment of mastitis antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action are used. The most effective prevention of lactostasis is the frequent application of the baby to the breast.
Other causes of fever after delivery
If the temperature rises in a week or a month after childbirth, the reasons for it may be very different. So, if the birth occurred
We examined the causes of fever after delivery. I would like to add that another reason for the temperature increase during the postpartum period is banal ARVI, which can be recognized by the characteristic clinical symptoms: a runny nose, coughing, itching in the eyes.