Would you use frozen condoms to soothe your lady parts?

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Would you use frozen condoms to soothe your lady parts?
Condom Rubber Stamp from Crass Stamps

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Post-pregnancy people and new mamas: have you heard about this trick to help soothe vaginal trauma post childbirth? The irony of using pregnancy prevention methods to make your vagina feel better post-baby isn’t lost on us.

Apparently filling the condoms with water and having them on hand is just a tricksy way of having a perfectly shaped ice pack at the ready. It’s basically just a homemade version of this kind of product. For external use only, of course!

There are even doctors giving the thumbs up to condoms as ice packs…

Lauren Streicher, M.D., an associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, tells SELF that she and her colleagues used to make these for new moms in the hospital when she was in her residency. “We had a whole freezer full of them at the hospital,” she says, noting they were for external use.

Let the store clerk have a good giggle at a pregnant person buying a big box of condoms if you want. Also note that some mamas recommend a few other things to help with post-partum pain:

  • a spray bottle of warm water
  • maxi pad–shaped disposable ice packs (like these)
  • witch hazel cooling pads (like these)
  • ibuprofen or acetaminophen

Are you planning to fill up some condom balloons to soothe your downstairs parts post-pregnancy? What pain management wisdom can you share with us?

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About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.

Comments on Would you use frozen condoms to soothe your lady parts?

  1. Had a vag birth (and tore, so needed stitches) and was told by doctor not to put anything up there for 6 weeks! like, NOTHING! They gave me disposable frozen ice packs to use and witch hazel pads/spray. Those really helped! The best things were actually depends (old people underwear)! I would put some witch hazel or water on that area of the depends pad, then freeze them, then pull them out of the freezer as needed. It was a perfectly chilled soothing pad that also melted (so it’s not too much cold on your lady parts for too long) and absorbed all the fun stuff that comes out after birth. Good times! If you end up having a C-section, you shouldn’t need any of this advise. Good luck to you.

    • also, all of the bullet pointed items the hospital actually gave me (nurses encourage you to take them home and would bring more if asked!) I don’t react well to strong pain meds, so I just took tons of Advil and Tylenol for about a week.

  2. I just gave birth in July, and they made ice packs for me at the hospital out of a newborn diaper opened at one end and filled with ice. They only let me use the ice packs at the hospital for the first 24 hours after birth though. I was told that after that, you can do more damage by continuing to ice, since you want blood flow to come back to the area to promote healing. I only had a 1st degree tear, so perhaps the recommendations are different if you have more extensive trauma.

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