Third attempt at hefsek postpartum

24 May, 2006

Question:

I am a month after birth.

I have twice started the 7 clean days. Both times I had a problem on a bedika after only a few days. Am I better off waiting a bit before trying again, or should I try another hefsek tahara right away?

Is it a problem to do the hefsek on Friday night. (meaning mikva following childbirth would be on Friday night)?

Answer:

Mazal tov on the birth of your baby!

There is no halachic problem with doing a hefsek on Friday, or with immersing Friday night following childbirth (please read the article about Friday night immersion posted on our site if this is your first Friday night immersion). There is also no halachic problem with trying to count seven clean days again immediately. We would only be concerned with the emotional effect of trying again too soon and being disappointed.

Keep in mind that the nature of postpartum bleeding is to come and go periodically, and many women find themselves bleeding on the fourth or fifth day of the seven clean days. If you think the bleeding has subsided, we suggest you try again, keeping all this in mind so you are not too disappointed if things don't work out.

Since this is the first time you are going to mikveh postpartum, you should omit the moch dachuk. If you continue to have difficulty completing your clean days, please get back to us.

Behatzlachah!

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.