Sex After Baby, with Kate Dimpfl

The Birthful Podcast: Episode #24

You’ve probably heard that caregivers recommend waiting 4-6 weeks before having sex after giving birth. That’s usually to give your body some time for healing, but what about your libido? When does that come back? And once you do it, will it hurt? How will your body be different? What if you don’t want to? What if your partner doesn’t want to? Will you ever feel sexy again? In this episode of the Birthful Podcast, Kate Dimpfl helps us understand the new normal of sex after baby.

What we talked about:

• How breastfeeding can impact sex
• Feeling “overtouched” or “undertouched”
• Milk let-down reflex during orgasm?
• Will it hurt?
• Feeling visible again
• The message behind “mommy porn” book (actually named Porn for New Moms)
• Finding your new intimacy
• Changes in topography: get to know the new you
• Your erotic brain
• Complementary care practices that can help you reconnect with your new body
• Positions for sex after baby
• Why lube is your new best friend

Resources mentioned on the show:

• Love in the Time of Colic: The New Parent’s Guide to Getting It On Again, by Ian Kerner and Heidi Raykeil
• Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life, by Emily Nagoski
• Porn for New Moms: From the Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative and Susan Anderson
• Putting Sex Back into Birth  – Kate’s Tedx talk (video)

Courtesy of Kate Dimpfl

[mark]About Kate Dimpfl[/mark]

Kate Dimpfl is owner of Holistic Childbirth  and co-founder of The Center for Perinatal Education and Support. As a childbirth educator, doula and perinatal counselor, the main focus of her work is normalizing all women’s experiences of pregnancy and birth, while they prepare for life transitions that are often complex, private or need more personal attention. As a frequent speaker at Cornell University and TEDx presenter, Kate works hard to demystify birth as a way to encourage women to be empowered and engaged consumers in their care. In addition to her business, she also co-founded the Ithaca Childbearing Loss Network and  is a founding member of the Ithaca Doula Collective. To learn more about Kate, you can watch her TEDx talk on Putting Sex Back into Birth  or visit her Holistic Childbirth website.

You can also email her at Kate [at] holisticchildbirth [dot] org