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

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

I started the minipill during my postpartum clean days – and bleeding resumed. What should I do?

20 August, 2024
Question:

Hi! I am 5 weeks postpartum, I was all clean and started my 7 clean days. On my 4th day I started taking the mini pill as per my doctor. The next day I started bleeding again (full bleeding, not just staining). What would be the best way to go about this? Should I stop taking the pill for the bleeding to stop, or continue and my body will get used to it?


Answer:

Mazal tov on the recent birth of your baby!

In general, because of the likelihood of staining during the adjustment period, we recommend starting the minipill after immersing and using a backup method such as spermicide until you are protected by the pill. This is because dealing with staining while tehorah is much less complicated than trying to get through the clean days while staining.

In addition, it is not unusual for postpartum bleeding to stop and start up again. Experiencing a full flow the day after starting the minipill might be a combination of the two factors.

Since you have already started the minipill, there are two possible options for how to proceed.

1) You could stop the pill, let the bleeding subside, and attempt to get through the clean days and immerse. You should then restart the minipill after immersion (using spermicide until you are protected, or abstaining from intercourse until you are protected if you absolutely cannot risk getting pregnant).

2) You could continue with the pill, give yourself some time to adjust to the pill, and attempt to get through the seven clean days once the staining slows down. You can speak to your doctor about doubling up on pills temporarily to help you get through the clean days. There are also halachic leniencies (reducing the number of bedikot, changing white underwear frequently/wearing disposable pantiliners) to help you get through the clean days despite the staining.

There is no clear cut answer how to proceed, we recommend speaking to your doctor.

In either case you should be prepared for the possibility that it may take a few weeks to get this sorted out.

Once you are able to immerse, you should take precautions against becoming niddah from any further staining, such as wearing colored underwear and waiting a few seconds (ideally, fifteen seconds) after urinating before wiping. Some of these precautions are also applicable during the clean days. See our pages on stains and toilet paper for more details.

Taking the minipill at the exact time each day may help reduce staining.

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

BHatzlacha!

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