That was one of my biggest dilemmas after surgery. I often felt my surgeon was not listening to me as he just assumed most of what I was experiencing was normal healing until I insisted he view my pouch. I can tell you I had many sleepless nights crying on the bathroom floor or sitting in the tub every few hours as the pain was excruciating (rectal itching, burning, broken glass feeling, boot up the butt sensation etc.). I just did not think it was normal takedown healing pain. There were nights I swore to my husband I was going to yank the pouch out myself.
I do think frequency is normal and some 'butt burn' is normal but blood, severe pain and burning/itching like I had signifies cuff inflammation, which my surgeon noted as 'surprising' on my pouchoscopy (I was complaining for a couple of months). I also had a stricture at the anastomosis so I had so many things going on it was tough to figure if the stricture was causing the pouchitis, cuffitis or pain.
My pouchitis has always been pretty mild and I think my surgeon just kept me on the antibiotics as a safeguard while I was healing. I find the cuffitis most troubling as it is very uncomfortable and irritating and I NEVER experienced this with UC EVER.
Just keep an eye out for severe rectal pain when emptying the pouch, passing blood, increased frequency and urgency (aside from normal adaptation time), extreme rectal burning, malaise like the flu (exhaustion) and nighttime leaks after takedown. These are all the hallmarks of pouchitis/cuffitis.