London - Having sex within one week after giving birth can be dangerous and even fatal, British doctors warned yesterday. Intercourse too soon after childbirth can cause a deadly air embolism, or bubble, in a blood vessel, a risk that remains for six weeks after birth while the mother's womb is returning to normal and the spot where the placenta was attached is healing.
"It can be fatal. It is very, very rare," said Dr Philip Batman, a pathologist at the Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust. "It does happen and obstetricians should be aware of it."
In a study published in the monthly Postgraduate Medical Journal, Dr Batman and his colleagues described the cases of two young mothers from northern England who died within a two-year period as a result of making love shortly after having a child. A 22-year-old woman suddenly collapsed and died while having sex with her husband eight days after delivering her third child. The second woman, a 29-year-old with four children, suffered a similar death five days after giving birth. Both deaths were caused by air embolism.