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

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Managing continual staining

13 September, 2009

Question:

I had a baby 9 weeks ago and had staining/bleeding issues. I would get clean and then have bright red again still at 8 weeks. The staining took place after I had already gone to the mikvah and I did not become niddah from it. I went to my dr. who did a sonogram and determined that the irregular bleeding was hormonal and not because any placenta was left. He prescribed the minipill for contraception, and I started taking it six days ago.

Tonight I noticed some orange on toilet paper (15 seconds after urinating) and I have not seen anything since. How long does one have to wait from the time they see a stain until they have relations? I think that this staining is from the pill, so if I stay on it relations will never take place. I'm thinking about stopping the pill tomorrow and just using my diaphragm.

Thank you:


Answer:

Mazal tov on the recent birth of your baby!

While our general recommendation is to wait until 24 hours after the staining has subsided before resuming relations, in situations where there may be continual staining issues, there is more flexibility. It is important to note that abstaining for 24 hours while staining is not a halachic requirement – rather a recommended precaution to help avoid the halachically problematic situation of finding blood during/after intercourse.

Therefore, if staining may be a continual issue and waiting 24 hours after each episode will effectively bar you from being intimate with your husband, we recommend checking shortly before relations to see whether you are staining. Do not perform a bedikah; rather, you can externally wipe yourself with toilet paper (not after urinating) to see whether you are staining. If you are not staining, go ahead with intercourse. If you are still staining, try again the next day. 

After relations, you should wait a few minutes before getting up. Make sure that your sheets are colored, and that you and your husband wipe yourselves with colored towels. Do not look to see if there was any staining on you or your husband. If you do use the diaphragm, when you rinse it off, do not look. Close your eyes, or turn off the lights if necessary. There is no obligation to look for any stains at a time you are not expecting your period, and you should take precautions against finding any staining.

Once the staining seems to subside, you should not continue to check for further staining. You may also want to avoid looking at your toilet paper, and take care to wear colored underwear to avoid becoming niddah should the staining resume. You can read our article on stains for further details.

Note that a diaphragm should be refitted after childbirth, or after any weight gain or loss of about ten pounds (five kilograms).

Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.


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. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.

For further questions or comments: 

The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site 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 benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.


Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.


Accessibility Toolbar