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

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Shivah neki’im postpartum

20 December, 2009
Question:

Hello,
I am breastfeeding, and delivered my baby 4 weeks ago. I am having difficulty getting 7 days of clean bedikot, and would like to know how (if at all) I can reduce the number of bedikot. Several times, I had a clean bedika for the first one, (and did not do a mokh because it irritated me too much) only to find that on day 1 or 2, the bedikot were stained.
Thank you


Answer:

Mazal tov on the birth of your baby!

Postpartum bleeding tends to come and go in waves, so it is not surprising that you have a day or two of no bleeding followed by some renewed bleeding.  The median duration of postpartum bleeding is three to four weeks, which means that fifty percent of women bleed for longer.  In other words, you can definitely try for clean days now, but it may well be a couple of weeks before you succeed.

Omitting a moch dachuk postpartum is permissible.  (Though, in cases where you have had a day or two without bleeding, followed by making a new hefsek taharah on a day of renewed bleeding, you should make an effort for your hefsek taharah to be just before sunset.) 

In this case, you may also perform only one bedikah each day.  If you still have trouble getting through the clean days, please get back to us or a local rav about further reducing the bedikot required.

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