Why it hurts this much

Gas trapped in a gut that has slowed down stretches the bowel wall, and stretch is one of the few things the bowel can feel. The pain is often sharp, moves around, comes in waves, and can be worse than the wound it is sitting behind.

After a caesarean there is an extra twist: gas under the diaphragm irritates the phrenic nerve, and that nerve refers pain to the shoulder tip. So a pain in your shoulder after abdominal surgery is a recognised phenomenon, not a separate injury from lying awkwardly.

Why the gut slows after a birth

Several things at once:

Abdominal surgery. After a caesarean the bowel takes time to wake up. This is why the NHS advice on caesarean recovery is that "you'll be encouraged to get out of bed and move around as soon as possible" and that "you can eat and drink as soon as you feel hungry or thirsty."
Opioid painkillers. Constipation is a well-known effect, and it compounds the problem.
Not moving. Walking is what physically moves gas along.
Pelvic floor and abdominal muscles that are not working normally. The HSE makes the link directly: "When your tummy is relaxed, the pelvic floor will often relax. This makes it easier to poo."
Fear of pushing. Stitches, piles or a wound make people hold everything in, which backs the whole system up.

The HSE also flags the other end of the problem plainly: after birth "you may find it hard to control farts or poo. This is because a nerve that controls the muscles at the opening of the anus (anal sphincter) has been stretched." Passing wind you cannot control is common and usually improves.

When tummy pain is not wind

This is the part that matters most on this page, because "it's just wind" is a comfortable misinterpretation.

Contact a GP, midwife or public health nurse immediately if the pain in your tummy is not getting better, is getting worse, or is severe. The HSE says this "can be a sign of infection," and lists it alongside a fever, especially over 38 degrees Celsius, and discharge or bleeding that smells bad or unusual.

NICE NG194 makes the same point, telling midwives to warn women to seek advice without delay for "abdominal, pelvic or perineal pain, fever, shivering, or vaginal discharge with an unpleasant smell, which could indicate infection."

Wind pain moves, comes in waves, and eases when the gas shifts. Infection pain is constant, localised, gets worse rather than better, and usually brings a temperature or feeling generally unwell with it. Wound pain that is increasing rather than decreasing, or a wound that is red, oozing or opening, is on the HSE's urgent list too.

Call 999 if you also have sudden very heavy bleeding, or feel faint, dizzy or have a pounding heart. And if breathlessness or chest pain is part of the picture, that is a clot until proven otherwise, not indigestion.

What actually helps

Move. Short, frequent walks around the house beat one heroic walk. This is the single most effective remedy and the one people put off because it hurts.
Warm drinks. Peppermint tea is the traditional one and is worth trying.
Rocking and knee hugs. Lying on your side with knees drawn up, or gently rocking on all fours, helps gas move.
Support your wound. Holding a folded towel or pillow against a caesarean scar when you move, cough or laugh makes it possible to do the things that shift the gas.
Do not strain. The HSE's toilet advice: bend forward slightly, put your feet on a footstool, avoid pushing, take your time and breathe "like you're blowing bubbles."
Treat the constipation. The HSE says to drink plenty of fluids and eat high-fibre foods, and to talk to your GP or midwife if you go more than three days without opening your bowels. Ask a pharmacist about what is suitable for you if you are breastfeeding.

ACOG's postpartum pain guidance covers the same territory and notes that it may be hard to have bowel movements for a few days after delivery, and that you may pass gas when you do not mean to.

Things people try that do not help much

Holding it in, out of embarrassment on a ward, prolongs it. So does skipping meals in the hope of producing less gas; eating normally helps the gut restart. Fizzy drinks and drinking through straws add swallowed air. And lying flat and still for a whole day, which feels like the safest option after abdominal surgery, is the thing most likely to make tomorrow worse.

The shoulder pain question

Shoulder tip pain after a caesarean is common enough that it is worth naming, because it frightens people who assume a pain nowhere near the wound must mean something has gone wrong internally. It is referred pain from gas pressing against the diaphragm, it eases as the gas moves, and walking, gentle movement and warm drinks are what shift it. What it should not do is persist and intensify while your tummy pain also worsens, or arrive with breathlessness — that combination is not wind and needs assessing.

How long it lasts

For most people the worst of it is over within the first few days once they are moving and eating. What tends to run longer is the constipation underneath it, particularly if painkillers or iron tablets are involved — and that is worth mentioning at your postnatal check rather than tolerating, because straining puts pressure on a healing pelvic floor. No source publishes a fixed number of days for postnatal wind, and any figure you have been quoted was a guess.

Trapped Wind After Birth