Extended staining in clean days
30 April, 2018
Question:I just gave birth 6 months ago and breastfed my daughter until 4 weeks ago. During the time I was breastfeeding, my period came every two months. Three weeks ago, my period came back again.
After 7 days, I did hefsek taharah and the moch. Both came out clean. On the 5th of my shva nekiim, the bedikah cloth had blood in it, as well as my pantyliner. Every day from that day on, there was always blood on the pantyliner and it's not just a spot or two. I decided to wait for the spotting to cease and did another hefsek taharah without the moch on Friday (before Shabbat, this is 2 weeks and 2 days since I had my period). I didn't do a bedikah the day after (Shabbat) because I saw again some blood spots on the pantyliner. I did a bedikah this morning (Sunday) and it came out clean. Also, there were no more blood spots on the pantyliner.
Assuming that the bedikot I'll be doing for the next few days would be clean, should I start the count of the shivah nekiim on Shabbat (meaning I'd have to go to the mikveh next Friday night) or do I start the count today (making me go to the mikveh next Sunday night)? Either way, I'd probably only have one week of taharah (since that will be the approximate time my next period is expected). This is a first for me. I'm assuming this is all happening because of the breastfeeding. I'm also thinking if I should just skip mikveh this month since not so much time will be left anyway before I become niddah again. What should I do?
Answer:Mazal tov on the recent birth of your baby!
Unfortunately, it is common to experience irregular staining after weaning, due to the changes in hormone levels in your body.
Your hefsek taharah from Friday remains valid. The stains found on the (disposable) pantyliner did not invalidate your clean days. However, since you didn't perform a bedikah on Shabbat, you may not count that day as day 1 of the clean days. Your bedikah on Sunday counts as your new day 1, and assuming you are able to complete the clean days, you are scheduled to immerse Motzai Shabbat.
Since disposable pantyliners are a surface that is not susceptible to tum'ah, and stains found on them may be disregarded, it is preferable not to wear them during the clean days. Please see our posted question on the topic for a more detailed discussion.
Since the staining you are experiencing is causing difficulty completing the clean days, you may reduce the number of bedikot required. You already performed a hefsek and a day 1 bedikah, so you should just perform one more bedikah on one of the intermediate clean days (days 2-6) as well as a final bedikah on day 7.
You should also change your white underwear (or pantyliners) more frequently to prevent any staining from accumulating to the size of a k'gris (approximately the size of a US dime or Israeli shekel coin).
Even if you will only have a week or so after immersion before your next period, we still highly recommend that you try to complete the taharah process and immerse. It is possible that your cycle will still be irregular at this point, so you may have more time left than you expect. However, ultimately it is up to you and your husband, and if you agree that your situation is too frustrating, you can jointly decide to skip mikveh this month.
Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.
B'hatzlacha!
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