What will be checked during the 42-day postpartum checkup?

Generally, before discharge, the doctor or nurse will recommend coming to the hospital for a follow-up examination 42 days later, because many mothers feel that they have recovered well after giving birth, but there are some minor problems that are not easy to find, and if they are not treated in time, you will suffer in the future. During the examination, the doctor will help the mother and baby check the physical condition, baby's development, etc.

1. Check your body’s recovery: Many mothers rely on their feelings and feel that they have recovered well, but self-feelings are never as convincing as scientific examinations.

2. Discover whether you are sick or recovering poorly in time: for example, the uterus is not recovering well, there are other problems in the pelvis, there are some inflammations in the cervix, or there are some postpartum problems in the vagina, so as to avoid the mother's illness from having adverse effects on the baby's health.

3. Observe the baby's development and make timely adjustments in feeding and other aspects.

What items to check?

For mothers, postpartum check-ups include full-body and gynecological examinations.

General examination

Including weighing, measuring blood pressure, routine blood and urine tests, and understanding breastfeeding status. If the doctor finds that the new mother is overweight, anemic, or has an infection, she should be treated promptly and given guidance on life. Mothers who have medical complications such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc. during pregnancy should also go to the internal medicine department for relevant examinations during the postpartum follow-up.

Gynecological examination

Through gynecological examination, B-ultrasound and secretion testing, we can understand whether the perineum, vaginal wounds, cervix and uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries have returned to their pre-pregnancy state, and whether there are any abnormalities in vaginal secretions. Mothers who have undergone cesarean section should also check the healing of the abdominal wound.

Pelvic floor function test

Now more and more hospitals are carrying out pelvic floor function examinations. This check is very important. Pregnancy and childbirth will cause varying degrees of damage to the pelvic floor muscles, ligaments and other tissues, making it easy to experience symptoms of impaired pelvic floor function such as urinary incontinence and uterine prolapse. If pelvic floor function damage is not treated in time, it will seriously affect women's quality of life in the future.

Newborn babies need to undergo physical examinations and malformation screening.

Inspection items

A newborn checkup is usually done 6 weeks after birth. The doctor will usually ask about the baby's breastfeeding, whether he or she chokes or spit up milk, and about his or her urination and defecation. Babies who have not undergone hearing screening after birth should also undergo a make-up test.

The physical examination mainly includes: mental reaction, presence of rash, jaundice; head circumference, height, weight; fontanelle, throat, heart and lung auscultation, reproductive organs, muscle tension and other systemic examinations.

Understand the baby's growth and development and provide guidance on feeding. When measuring the baby's height, it should increase by 4 to 6 cm; the weight should increase by about 1,000 grams, and the head circumference should increase by 2 to 3 cm. The early development of a newborn baby is very important, especially for low birth weight babies, early feeding is critical.

Further deformity screening was performed. After the baby is born, there will be a newborn examination to screen for malformations. But many abnormalities develop slowly, such as heart murmurs, genital malformations, and hearing abnormalities.