Using a vibrator post-partum is the best gift for vaginal health

In the weeks and months after giving birth, new mothers are full of love, fear, fatigue, and, well, milk. Your body feels as though it belongs to someone else, and your vagina, well, that’s just had a whole baby squeezed through it. And if you had a cesarian section, you didn’t get off scot-free — your pelvic floor still bore the weight of your baby throughout pregnancy. But the chances are that unless you live in France, where postnatal care covers 10 to 20 sessions of la rééducation périnéale (pelvic floor retraining), you ignore it; ignore the fact that a little pee escapes when you laugh, or sneeze, or cough, or happen to jump on a trampoline in your friend’s garden. You ignore the fact that your vagina feels completely transformed, and you just carry on, too busy to give it much thought. Maybe you’re avoiding sex with your partner, or maybe you decide to “get it out of the way” so it’s one tick off your list of things to do. No wonder, then, that the idea of pleasuring yourself — all by yourself — with a vibrator sounds like an entirely preposterous one. If you’re barely having sex with your partner, you’re hardly going to prioritize having sex with yourself — right? Wrong.