It's indeed easy to get tricked into using the regular high tech pads which come with wings and are thin and seemingly comfortable. This works for the normal standard bleeding (monthly period). From experience, this does not work well for post delivery bleeding. For post delivery, the plastic lining in the regular sanitary pads causes heating up, which can be very uncomforatble and eventually leads to pain (especially when you get stitches). Worst still, when you go along with standard cotton pants (no matter how comfy they are and how well they fit) this makes things worse. The maternity pads along with mesh pants for the first couple of weeks after delivery are the best option I finally settled with! They may not be the most comfortable pads (being big and all, especially when you're used to the thinner ones) but they do their job just fine. Maybe companies should start looking into producing more comfy versions

I went fot the night time/heavy bleeding pads rather than the maternity ones, along with cheap black cotton knickers.

That's what I've stocked up with for this time as well!

I used maternity pads for first few days but now using night time ones I have stitches and have not been any more uncomfortable than with the maternity ones.  

I would definately use proper maternity pads and dont underestimate how many you will need.  I think i bleed heavier than most after having my 2 sons but I could honestly of used a packet a day the first few days and then gradually lighter over the next 5 weeks!  I thought it was never gonna stop.  This is one aspect of child birth that isn't talked about very much.

I have got maternity pads from Boots but I got thin ones. And just cheap black cotton knickers like babyfox xx