Many new moms suffer postpartum ailments

More than half of new moms suffer postpartum ailments such as incontinence, a U.S. doctor says.

Dr. Dee Fenner, director of the University of Michigan Health System’s Healthy Healing After Delivery Program in Ann Arbor, says all too often new mothers are unclear about what is normal or abnormal, when to worry and when to just wait for healing to occur.

Easily over half of women who have vaginal birth, at least their first birth, will have some problem in terms of bowel, bladder or sexual dysfunction that can occur, Fenner says in a statement.

Unfortunately, I think many women suffer in silence in that they don’t really complain or know that something can be done.

The University of Michigan clinic involves physicians, nurses, midwives, physical therapists and others who offer comprehensive postpartum care that includes education and is open to any woman — regardless of where she delivered her baby.