Period pads in bathroom bin

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My mum gets worried and anxious about all sorts of crazy things, courtesy of her mother. I am much more chilled and so we clash a bit...

I gave birth 2 weeks ago and, of course, I'm still bleeding a bit and wear biggish daily pads (the biggest one of the small ones, you know). My mum said to me that I shouldn't put them in the bin in the bathroom because of my DH and FIL. I should take a separate bag (and put it where???!!!).

Let me be straight with you: my answer was "not happening"!!!

Are you team "my mum" or, like me, you think "though"?? (Btw the boys of the house don't usually empty the bathroom bin)

@nicerbeing

Who empties the bin? You should empty the bin every two days so the bathroom doesn’t smell.

I agree the bin should be emptied regularly but why the fuck does it matter who empties it?

It’s more of a general ‘you’. I wouldn’t expect OP to be changing the bin 2 weeks post-partum.

That's what a bathroom bin is for. I don't wrap mine in plastic either, there's quite enough plastic in the world. DH has probably worked out by now that I bleed from my bits periodically, pun intended.

Ha! I have a bucket with a lid in my bathroom for reusable pads. Don’t come to my house! DH and the kids don’t ever go near it.

@SnuggyBuggy

Surely walking them to the kitchen bin in front of everyone would be much more awkward.

This. I had four older brothers who had no shame in teasing me in anything female related growing up. Defiantly going to kitchen with them about would have been a no go. I had my first child in June and would make a point of talking about the fact that my insides felt like they were going to fall out after having an episiotomy in front of them. It made them very uncomfortable 😂 As long as they are rolled and wrapped YANBU you've just given birth for gods sake who cares what men think. My husband virtually assisted in delivery of my son as the extra midwife who was called in couldn't put her PPE on quick enough (bloody Covid) so DH had to step in. He's seen a lot more than some pads in a bin (it's a pedal bin and only I empty it). Times have changed, women have periods and bleed after birth. Men (or mum) need to get over it.

The burying in the garden ceremony idea has made me sad I have no garden 'hubble bubble, bloody towel & trouble'

FWIW - my mother used to hide all used sanitary stuff and burn it on the fire after my dad had gone out. Yep. My mum was adamant that my father shouldn't know anything about my periods. Since this was in the days of giant pads, I used to wrap them in newspaper and keep them under my bed until I got round to putting them on the dining room fire. Same dad who had to be protected was quite happy to go to the supermarket and buy sanpro for me after my second DS.

Since I'm probably older that OPs mum, and from a conservative provincial background, I'm quite surprised at her stance.

Empty the bin often or they do get smelly, maybe I'm just sensitive to smells.

Please don't wrap them in nappy sacks, there's enough plastic in the landfill as it is. Just use the wrapper of the next one, or some loo roll if it's a tampon, and go on with your life. I am sure the men can overcome the difficult realities of the female reproductive system if they try really, really hard.

Bathroom bins are for bathroom rubbish which includes used sanitary pads.

On an entirely different note reusable period pants are much more comfortable and reliable. Of course you’ll need a laundry basket in the bathroom so it might blow MIL mind.

Wrapped ... would mil prefer them to be disposed of down the loo to cost a fortune in drain clearance?
I have a really strict no tampons down loo rule due to ancient drains... but still visitors do dump tampons down loo as drain man shows them to me.
WHY don’t people bag and bin?
My bro had his saniflo buggered and backing up from a female visitor who refused to use bags and bin.

@Ingridla

The burying in the garden ceremony idea has made me sad I have no garden 'hubble bubble, bloody towel & trouble'

I just spat out my tea. True story.

I'm on your side OP.
We're supposed to put up with some men making a mess of the toilet with pee drops on the floor and leaving the toilet seat up (my FIL when he visits ) but you can't leave a pad in the bin? Sad how internalized misogeny cause women to make these ridiculous demands. Get a bin with a lid, remove the bin bag daily and nobody has any right to complain.

#TeamYou for definite, the males in our house aren't afraid of periods

When I first started my period up until I was in my mid 20s it was perfectly acceptable to flush sanitary products. Applicator and all. My mum finds the whole concept of wrapping and disposing as bizarre and alien....along with men being comfortable with the women in their lives menstruating and even talking about it!

How ridiculous. Hyacinth Bouquet?

I'm on your team. It's what bathroom bins are for. And any man who isn't grown up enought to deal with periods isn't grown up enough to have a baby. In any case, your house your rules

My dd's wrap them and put them in the outside bin.
Them and their friend's just used to chuck them in the bathroom bin but they do have a rather distinctive smell that appears pretty quickly and for some reason makes me heave.

Some people are so weird about period blood that I really think it’s a throwback to random pagan beliefs of something. I mean I’ve heard about the burning thing on here several times. There’s no way bandages would be treated like that.

Yanbu. Actually if anything I'd find it weirder to put them in the kitchen bin...

Why are such old fashioned men going through your bin anyway? To be fair to men used sanitary pads aren't exactly a thing of beauty. I'm a woman but I don't want to see them and I can't imagine why a man would unless he is a bit weird so I think it is reasonable to wrap them.

My bf and I regularly have sex on my period, and I've never had a man even blinked at the sight of sanitary products. My bf has a bin at his place for me even - so did my ex H when we were dating. I grew up with my dad who emptied the bin when my mum was travelling. And this was in a very conservative Asian country.

Wrap and roll, and store in bin. Which gets emptied every few days. Who are these people who in 2020 think all evidence of periods should be removed IMMEDIATELY.

Can’t believe people suggesting wrapping in next pad’s wrapper and plastic bag. Awful for the environment, and so unnecessary.

Roll and wrap (roll in next pad's wrapper), and put in bathroom bin. Tampons: wrap in loo roll, and put in bathroom bin. It has a lid. Though even if it didn't, I'd still roll and wrap.

We didn't have bathroom bins when I was a teenager. I'm not sure what our DM expected us to do with pads. I "solved" the problem by feeling deeply embarrassed and hiding them in a drawer at the bottom of my wardrobe, and would then secrete them out of the house and into a public bin (though this took some planning, and even then, I thought I'd be discovered).

I'd glad my DD doesn't feel she has to do the same.

I wouldn't put them in a kitchen bin either. Unless you live in a mansion the outside bin isn't going to be that long a journey, obviously a bit different when you've just had a baby, I mean generally. I feel the same about used nappies, can't understand people putting them in a kitchen bin.

I don't remember her as she died when I was a baby, but apparently my Italian grandmother burned the hair from her hairbrush, fingernail clippings, and sanitary pads out of superstition. My dad's sister does the same with the hair and fingernails - maybe with pads too when she was younger, but she's a bit too fastidious to talk about it if she did. I guess the witches can fuck you up if they get hold of any of this stuff.