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

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Washing before bedikot in shivah neki’im

19 January, 2017

Question:

What is the minimum amount of time you have to wait in between cleaning yourself internally and doing a Bedika in the seven clean days? I know you can’t do one immediately after cleaning but how long do I have to wait? Since I am staining for a prolonged period of time due to the Mirena insertion I am trying to help my help myself count seven clean days but I want to make sure I am in within the guidelines of what is allowed to do.


Answer:

A woman is permitted to clean herself internally during the clean days, but should not do so just prior to performing bedikot. At least fifteen minutes should elapse between such cleaning and performing a bedikah, so that she can honestly determine if there is bleeding.

A woman should not perform a thorough internal cleaning during the seven clean days, as with a douche. Doing so defeats the purpose of the clean days. In some extreme cases, there may be room for greater leniency.

If staining is causing difficulty completing the clean days, you may reduce the number of bedikot required to one each on days 1, 7, and one additional intermediate clean day.

Unfortunately, irregular staining or bleeding is common for up to six months after having the Mirena inserted as your body adjusts to it. We do recommend attempting to count the clean days, but be prepared for the possibility that you may have to restart them due to continued staining or bleeding. If these suggestions don’t help you successfully complete the clean days, please feel free to get back to us for further guidance.


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.


Accessibility Toolbar