Abstract:
Background: Postpartum sexual abstinence until when the child is weaned from breast milk is
deeply rooted in most cultures in Nigeria. Aim: The study aimed at describing the current sexual
practices of postpartum women, sexual morbidity, contraceptive prevalence and predictive
factors for early postpartum sexual intercourse and associated sexual problems in our setting.
Subjects and Methods: This cross‑sectional study was conducted among consecutive 340 women
at a child welfare clinic 14 weeks after childbirth. Questionnaires were administered between
January 2012 and June 2012 to ascertain their socio‑demographic and obstetric features, sexual
activity, time to coital resumption, reasons for resumption and non‑resumption of intercourse,
sexual problems encountered and contraceptive usage. Statistical analysis was performed using
the SPSS version 16 for windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Sexual intercourse
was resumed by 67.6% (230/340) of women with a mean time to resuming intercourse of
8.2 (2.9) weeks postpartum and a median time of 8.0 weeks. About 3.5% (8/230) did so within
the puerperium. Sexual intercourse was initiated mainly (77.4% [178/230]) by their husbands
and only 19.1% (44/230) of them were using modern contraceptives. About 62.6% (144/230)
of women experienced sexual morbidities including vaginal dryness/insufficient lubrication,
dyspareunia and vaginal discharge. Socio‑demographic and obstetric features, menstrual and
breastfeeding status were not predictive of early resumption of coitus. Vaginal delivery (OR: 3.6,
95% CI: 1.3‑10.0, P = 0.01,) and previous episiotomy (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 2.0‑6.1, P = 0.04,) were
predictive of sexual morbidity. Conclusion: Women in our setting resume sexual intercourse
early after childbirth without the use of contraception and often with associated sexual
morbidity. Emphasis on sexual and contraceptive education during the immediate postpartum
period is therefore imperative.
