Spotting with pill before wedding

Mazal tov on your upcoming marriage!

In general we recommend that a kallah who wishes to take birth control pills to regulate her cycle should start three months before the wedding, since staining is common during the first three cycles as her body adjusts to the hormones. This is especially true with low dose pills such as Loestrin, which frequently cause staining issues.

We suggest returning to the physician who prescribed the medication to see what adjustments can be made at the moment. If your kallah is only using the pills to prevent chuppat niddah, it might be best to stop the medication in about two weeks and just go with the natural cycle. If she plans on continuing the pills for birth control after the wedding, then another formulation might be preferable at this point. She should make sure her physician understands the implications of staining. She can show him or her the relevant articles about staining and manipulating one’s cycle before the wedding in the section of our website designed for medical professionals, Jewish Women’s Health. Until she goes to her doctor, she should continue taking the pills normally.

During the seven clean days, she can consider taking bioflavonoids (1000 mg 3x/day) to help reduce any spotting. In addition she may reduce the number of bedikot to the hefsek taharah and one bedikah each on days 1, 7, and one of the intermediate clean days. It is important to remember that not all staining will invalidate the clean days, and she should be in touch with a halachic authority should she find any staining during the clean days. See our article on stains for more details.

We hope these steps will help her successfully complete the clean days, but sometimes a chuppat niddah is unavoidable. It is important to keep in perspective that a somewhat challenging beginning will not overshadow a lifetime of happiness together.

Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.

B’hatzlacha!