Separation while staining

Hi,

I have been nursing clean for 9 months. Last night, more than 15 seconds after wiping, I saw blood on toilet paper that looked to me like menstrual blood. I told my husband that I was not a niddah yet, but thought I might be soon, and we slept in separate beds that night.

This morning, however, the blood seems to have stopped. It never turned into a flow, and was never even heavy enough to stain my pantiliner, so I was never a niddah.

My question is how I should deal with such occurrences if they happen in the future. I know that I should not have relations for 24 hours after seeing staining, but is it necessary to separate from my husband in other ways as well? In the past I distinguished between staining between periods, and staining that I thought was going to lead to a period; however, since I now have no idea when I will get my period, can I continue to have physical contact with my husband even if I am having staining, unless it actually turns into a flow? Can we sleep in the same bed even if there is a possibility that I will be niddah by morning, though I don't know how strong that possibility is?

Thank you.

Dear questioner,

Thank you for your question.

Stains such as you describe do not make you niddah. We believe abstaining from relations is an important precaution, so that you do not find yourself becoming niddah while having relations.  If this were to occur, it would be an inadvertent transgression of a severe Torah prohibition.

This precaution relates to relations alone, and not to other forms of physical contact. Even if you choose to adopt this precaution of avoiding relations for 24 hours, you are not obligated to abstain from other physical contact, nor do you need to keep the harchakot.

This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases.

If you have further questions or comments about this email, please click here to Ask the Yoetzet.

The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefitted from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.