Gentle Beginnings
Week 2 postpartum: bleeding lightens and the first stitches start to go
General guidance, not medical advice. Follow your own provider’s clearance. Read our Medical Disclaimer and Editorial Policy.
Bleeding usually begins to lighten and may turn pink or brown. Afterpains generally settle. Dissolvable stitches often start breaking down around now, which can feel itchy or like a small tug, and finding fragments on a pad is expected rather than alarming.
The emotional side matters this week too. Baby blues typically peak around days three to five and lift by the end of the second week. Low mood that is still there after that, or that is deepening, is worth naming to your midwife or doctor rather than waiting for it to pass.
What is most worth attending to
Gentle pelvic floor work usually becomes comfortable around now after a vaginal birth, and it pairs naturally with breathing.
Movement that is generally appropriate at week 2
This is what MatraBloom would draw on to build a session at this point in recovery. It differs by birth type because a caesarean is abdominal surgery, so anything loading the abdominal wall is held back longer.
After a vaginal birth
- Breathing — Diaphragmatic Breathing, Cool-Down Breathing, Restorative Breathing
- Gentle mobility — Neck & Shoulder Rolls, Ankle Circles, Heel Slides, Cat-Cow (Supported), Child’s Pose
- Pelvic floor — Gentle Pelvic Tilts
After a caesarean
- Breathing — Diaphragmatic Breathing, Cool-Down Breathing, Restorative Breathing
- Gentle mobility — Neck & Shoulder Rolls, Ankle Circles, Heel Slides, Seated Spinal Twist, Standing Calf + Hamstring Stretch
If you had a caesarean
Pelvic floor work generally waits a little longer after a caesarean in this model — see week four.
What becomes available next
Strength generally comes in at week 3 after a vaginal birth, and week 6 after a caesarean.
Worth a call this week
Low mood, anxiety or intrusive thoughts that are not lifting by the end of this week.