First of all, it is important to note that not only menstruation (“a period”) makes a woman niddah, but any form of bleeding from the uterus that is not caused by injury. Therefore, the physician’s statement is not halachically precise.

The status of bleeding after IUD insertion is a matter of halachic debate. Some poskim maintain that any that any bleeding from the uterus makes a woman niddah, as one cannot be totally sure that it is from injury. However, Rav Henkin, the halachic supervisor of this website, rules that clear injury to the uterine lining does not make a woman niddah. Therefore, if a woman is not bleeding immediately prior to the insertion (and the physician can see if she is or is not), then the bleeding that accompanies insertion does not make her niddah.

There is further halachic debate as to for how long bleeding following the insertion of an IUD may be attributed to the trauma caused by the procedure. This depends somewhat on the individual circumstances. With a copper IUD such as ParaGard, there is room to allow a few days as long as the bleeding is continuous. If the bleeding following insertion has stopped and then restarted, it cannot be attributed to the insertion.

Other factors, such as a woman’s status as mesuleket damim (not halachically expected to menstruate), can also be brought into play in giving an individual answer. This applies in your situation, since you are postpartum and nursing exclusively, have already been to mikveh after giving birth, and have not yet resumed menstruation. Therefore, in your case, with 36 hours of continuous spotting, the bleeding can still be considered dam makkah and you are not niddah.

You can often avoid becoming niddah from spotting by being careful with the precautions outlined in pages on stains and toilet paper, such as wearing disposable pantyliners or colored underwear and waiting a after urinating before wiping. (Ideally, you should wait 15 seconds after urinating before wiping. However, as long as you did not wipe immediately after urinating, you may disregard staining on toilet paper.)

If you were to find staining in a manner that would usually render you niddah (larger than the size of a gris on skin, on toilet paper immediately after urinating, etc.) then you should ask a specific halachic question with up-to-date details, which will be answered based on the principles above.

This response was updated on 15 February, 2024.