Changes in nursing routine are often associated with irregular bleeding. Based on your description, the bleeding you experienced on Wednesday was a flow, not staining, and made you
niddah. When it is clear to you that bleeding should be characterized at a flow, its timing mid-cycle does not affect its classification.
According to Ashkenazi halachic practice, and that in some Sephardi communities, the
five-day count begins when the couple are prohibited to each other, or are unsure of their status, and act as though they are prohibited out of that concern. When a woman knows she is not in
niddah, her five days don't start. Since you were in doubt about your efforts, it would have been best to say "I am not sure if I am in
niddah" (as opposed to declaring that you were not in
niddah and that you were observing
harchakot only as a precaution). In this specific case, where in fact you were unsure of your status, and actually you were in
niddah and observing
harchakot, you may count Wednesday as the first of your five days. (In some Sephardi communities, the minimum wait of four days is calculated from the last episode of marital relations and not from the onset of
niddah.)
Please write back with any further questions.
