Introduction: Sexuality is an important part of an individual's life. It affects relationship satisfaction as well as quality of life. The puerperium is a unique time period in a woman's reproductive timeline in which many physical, psychological and social factors impact sexual funtion. The most common sexual challenges women face in the puerperium and are luckily transitory are decline in sexual libido, painful intercourse and vaginal dryness. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine women's sexual experience in the first year postpartum. Methods: This paper is comprised of two parts. The first part is based on a systematic review of professional and scientific sources which was obtained via descriptive method. The second part is empirical and is based on the Slovenian validated FSFI – 19 questionnaire. The research was conducted with the help of the online tool 1ka. Lastly, we analysed the gathered data with the IBM SPSS programme (version 31.0.1.0). Results: 80 % of deliveries were vaginal with a 23,7 % episiotomy rate. The delivery was executed via cesarean section in 15,8 % of cases. In 4,2 % of cases delivery was assisted with vacuum. Two thirds of women (67 %) reported to be exclusively breastfeeding at the time of filling in the questionnaire. Two thirds (66,8 %) of respondents engaged in intercouse six to nine weeks following delivery. The act was mainly (86,2 %) equally motivated by both partners. Almost two thirds (63,7 %) of women felt their sexual function was the same or even better compared to the time before pregnancy. The average FSFI score of the respondents was 26,8. Discussion and conclusion: We did not find a correlation between mode of delivery and sexual function, nor between episiotomy and sexual function. We did find a statistically significant correlation between breastfeeding and FSFI categories of orgasm, satisfaction along with total FSFI score. We observed the need to destigmatize the topic of sexuality both in private and public, professional settings. Midwives could have a crucial role in this as we are competent in providing care for women in all seasons of their reproductive timeline. Understanding the multi-layered nature of sexuality in the transitory period of the first postpartum year is, in fact, essential for providing support to new parents and helping them maintain healthy relationships and overall well-being.
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