Objective Programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) was reported to provide superior maintenance of labour analgesia with better pain relief, and less motor block than continuous epidural infusion (CEI). Whether this is also evident for uterine contraction pain relief after caesarean section remains unknown. Design Randomised, double blind, positive-control trial. Setting Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, China Population Parturients scheduled for elective caesarean section under combined spinal-epidural anaesthesia were enrolled. Methods At the end of the surgery, after a similar epidural loading dose given, patients received either PIEB (6 mL every hour) or CEI (6 mL/h) of 0.1% ropivacaine. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was the effectiveness of uterine contraction pain relief during breastfeeding assessed with visual analog scale score (VAS-UD) at the postoperative 36 h. Secondary main outcome was lower extremity motor block (defined as Bromage score > 0). Results One hundred and twenty parturients were studied (PIEB, 60; CEI, 60). The VAS-UD at the postoperative 36 h was significantly lower in the PIEB group than in the CEI group [median (IQR), 30 (20 to 40) mm] compared with the CEI group [40 (30 to 50) mm], with an estimated difference of -10 mm (95% CI -15 to -5 mm; P=0.001). Motor block was higher in the CEI group than in the PIEB group during the study period except 2 h (all P<0.05). Conclusions PIEB provides more effective uterine contraction pain relief and less motor block after caesarean section than CEI.