Lately, I’ve been getting tons of questions about what to wear. More specifically, what to wear after a c-section.
C-sections require more recovery time than normal births. As such, you will want to do everything possible to ensure the process goes as quickly as possible.
Helping your c-section heal will allow you to get back to your life. So, while I’ve highlighted plenty of things to wear, I’d now like to focus on things you shouldn’t wear until your incision heals more.
What Should I Avoid Wearing After a C-Section?
There are certain types of clothing you should steer clear of until you’ve gone to your postpartum checkup.
Tight and constrictive clothing
Listen, Mama, I know you want to get back into your pre-pregnancy wardrobe. However, stuffing yourself into clothes isn’t going to work. Not only will it be unflattering but also, it’s going to be uncomfortable.
Do you want to feel like pythons are squeezing you to death? Exactly.
Aside from that kind of discomfort where you’ll feel like you can hardly breathe, anything that is tight on your c-section incision will irritate it. Trust me, that area will be so tender afterward. You will do anything to avoid that pain.
Even with it bandaged and covered, you will hurt like you wouldn’t believe. So skip anything tight across your midsection.
Bottoms with buttons and zippers
Another thing you will want to stay away from are bottoms with buttons, snaps, or zippers. These things will press down upon your c-section incision and make it feel sorer than it needs to be.
For your c-section recovery, you should avoid putting pressure on the area. This is why choosing looser clothing without these types of closures is best. Think drawstring pants or even your favorite staples from your maternity wardrobe. I might have mentioned in recent posts how I loved my maternity jeans even after I gave birth. They were so soft and comfortable, giving me the look of jeans without impacting my delicate incision area.
Girdles
Now I put this one on here, but that’s because I want you to talk to your doctor first. They may advise that you use a certain type of girdle after a c-section that will help. As you recover, you can use tighter ones, but in the beginning, you must use the kind your doctor recommends.
You should also only wear it for a few hours daily, ideally when you are most active. Don’t wear it 24/7.
Additionally, I’d ask your doctor about compression garments. He or she may advise you to wait for a little before wearing them, usually about 2 or 3 weeks.
In other words, check with your doctor first to ensure your best recovery when it comes to girdles and compression garments.
You can go over to my recent post to get the full scoop on what to wear after a c-section. My quick recap is this: wear things that don’t squeeze you and don’t rub your incision site.
Also, it would help if you considered tops or dresses that make breastfeeding easy. If you’re not breastfeeding, you may also want that easy access because you will likely need to expel the milk from your breasts to get some relief.
Leslie Berry lives with her husband and two young daughters in Los Altos, California, where she loves helping other moms get comfortable with motherhood and embracing the insanity with facts peppered with laughs.
