Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

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Pregnant without mikveh

24 January, 2007

Question:

I gave birth to a baby girl 10 months ago and recently stopped breast feeding her. Since giving birth I have had occasional, almost monthly, light bleeding but I was uncertain as to whether my regular periods had yet returned. In early December, I was traveling to a place where there was certainly no mikvah so when I began noticing some light bleeding I disregarded it as spotting and chose not to look by wearing dark underwear and not looking at toilet paper etc. I recently found out that I am pregnant again meaning that I became pregnant after a period which I had disregarded as spotting. I feel very strange about bringing a baby into this world without having gone to the mikvah as my husband and I try to be very careful about matters realting to taharat hamishpacha. Please advise what the halacha might be in this situation. Am I permitted to go to mikvah without having counted 7 clean days etc?
Thank you for your help.


Answer:

In a situation in which a married woman is not considered niddah, she is permitted to immerse in a mikveh without a bracha on any night she pleases.  In your case, assuming that you are not in niddah, that would be permissible.  Many women have a custom of immersing at the ninth month of their pregnancy.

We cannot evaluate whether or not you are in niddah from the bleeding episodes you describe without detailed information.  If you have any question in this regard, please get back to us with details.  We recommend consulting with a halachic authority whenever there is light bleeding to assist you in evaluating your halachic status.

Note that it is possible for a woman to become pregnant the first time she ovulates during or after breastfeeding – without having a menstrual period before conceiving. The fact that you are pregnant does not in itself mean that the light bleeding you experienced was a period.


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