Something else? Ask Aunt Vadge – bottom left of your screen!
Hello Aunt Vadge,
I have a problem with a vaginal tear. After I gave birth to my first child vaginally, I got a tear that has never healed. Please help me with what I can do to mend it.
Yours,
Cracked
Dear Cracked,
A birth tear that simply won’t heal does need an in-person look – but I don’t want you walking in empty-handed, so here are the likely reasons, because several are very fixable and routinely missed.
The one people forget most often is breastfeeding. If you’re nursing, your oestrogen stays low, and that leaves the vaginal and vulval tissue thin, dry and slow to heal – essentially a postpartum version of menopausal atrophy. A non-healing tear in a breastfeeding mum is very often exactly this, and a little local oestrogen cream can be transformative, so ask about it directly.
The next suspect is granulation tissue: overgrown, raw, bumpy healing tissue at the repair site that stays sore, bleeds and won’t close over – common after birth repairs, and easily treated once someone actually spots it.
Then there’s a repair that didn’t hold – stitches that broke down or healed misaligned, leaving a persistent gap, which sometimes needs a small re-repair – and, less often, a low-grade infection quietly slowing everything down.
So keep a short journal – how long it’s been, what it feels like, any bleeding or pain, and whether you’re breastfeeding – and take it to someone who handles postpartum recovery properly, ideally a women’s-health physiotherapist and a gynaecologist. Push for answers: is this granulation tissue, could breastfeeding and low oestrogen be slowing the healing, does the repair need revising?
Far too many women get told postpartum problems are ‘just how it is now’. They’re not, and you deserve a proper look. In the meantime, plain water only, keep your bowels soft so straining doesn’t tug at the area, eat well to support healing (protein, zinc, vitamin C), and hold off on penetrative sex until it’s healed and comfortable.
It’s a fixable problem – you just need the right person to look properly.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information based on current research and our clinical experience, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
