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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder about women who claim to have had their periods throughout pregnancy

86 replies

Nordicrain · 25/05/2023 13:13

Something I read got me wondering...

It's clear you can't have a period in pregnancy biologically. And all online information say you might have some bleeding and spotting. But then, anecdontally, some women claim that they had regular bleeding that was just like their periods.

Did these women always have light/ irregular periods? Or is it possible? The contrast in what seems biologically possible and what women is experience has me a little confused!

OP posts:

Snugglemonkey · 26/05/2023 00:35

londonrach · 25/05/2023 13:31

I had a mum friend who bleed once a month like a period during her pregnancy...she spent the whole pregnancy in fear it was a miscarriage and had a scan every time. Baby is a healthy six year old now it can happen. Friend never got an answer for why and didnt have it for second pregnancy. .

This is quite similar to me!

Ineedcoffee2021 · 26/05/2023 01:19

I found out i was pregnant at 27 weeks
Had what seemed like a period whole way through - whether it was or not is irrelevant, i had no reason to assume i was pregnant, so to me, i still had a 'period' the whole time.
Plus its faster and easier to say and be understood by people over saying 'unknown random monthly bleed while pregnant"
I finished my last 'period' 1 week before i gave birth

I have never (to this day) tracked my periods, dont care too and at the time mine were very light and would vary every month or 2 anyway

allthecats1982 · 26/05/2023 02:22

FourTeaFallOut · 25/05/2023 13:53

I don't know, but my periods fired up again, back on a regular 5 days in 28day schedule, the moment he was born despite breastfeeding exclusively on demand and him gaining a gazillion pounds. 🤷 I had hoped for at least a ten week hiatus which is typically described as the accepted minimum. And this was true across all three of my children.

Exactly what happened to me with my son! EBF so I was promised by popular theory it would be fine . Plenty of people told me "oh it was nearly a year before my period returned" yet here's me running out to check if I can take painkillers too because my period was back with vengeance! It's like it had eight months off so saved up it's anger to punish me!

DarkForces · 26/05/2023 02:51

I had bleeding throughout my pregnancy that got heavier around my periods. I think there's a lot about hormones we don't understand. If I hadn't known I was pregnant it was like a period.

I knew I was pregnant so it was fucking terrifying as I thought I was losing the baby.

Hope that helps

Tinybrother · 26/05/2023 03:07

schnauzerbeard · 25/05/2023 14:43

But an egg hasn't been released so even though you're bleeding it's not a period

Show quote history

It’s completely normal to refer to the withdrawal bleeds women have on the pill as a period, even though it stops ovulation. So while I’m sure the distinction is made in eg medical literature, in normal everyday interactions no one is going to say “are you on the pill? If so you’re not having a period, it’s actually a withdrawal bleed”

Meixo · 26/05/2023 03:14

If you have irregular light periods it's possible. I'm jealous my tits hurt before the test nipples go darker and the nausea kicks in straightaway. How lovely to have no symptoms.

MintJulia · 26/05/2023 03:24

Is that so? In that case it would also be impossible to get pregnant while you are already pregnant, yet it happens. It's rare but possible. There was a UK lady this week who gave birth to twins, one at full gestation and one at seven months.

I didn't have periods for years. I wasn't anorexic or anything like that, and in theory couldn't get pregnant. Yet ds popped up on the ultrasound at 14 weeks (after my GP tested my thyroid because I was feeling v tired, and came back with the surprise news).

Not everyone has text book pregnancies.

Tinybrother · 26/05/2023 03:30

My friend who is completely anovulatory due to PCOS has regular periods, which is why it took a while to identify the PCOS for her. No one has disputed describing them as periods just because she didn’t release an egg. I think we’re on dodgy ground if we try to define “period” too strictly, I don’t think the odd anovulatory cycle is uncommon for women who typically ovulate either iirc

fliptopbin · 26/05/2023 03:50

I had not long come off the pill when I got pregnant, so when my 'periods" seemed a bit odd, I thought that it was my body just getting back to normal. Then, when I got a positive test, I started bleeding again when my period would have been due, and was sent to the EPU, where an ultrasound revealed that I was a good way through the second trimester!

FrozenGhost · 26/05/2023 04:09

I get why you are asking OP, so many women breezily say "yep I had periods the whole way through", as if no periods are just a possible symptom of pregnancy, that not everyone has, like nausea. When in fact it's the very definition of pregnancy. Some people definitely seem to think you can have a normal period, as in the uterus is shedding it's lining, and don't seem to realise this obviously isn't possible.

WiddlinDiddlin · 26/05/2023 04:36

I think it points to several things...

A poor understanding of biology amongst women - which shocks me but probably shouldn't.

Casual speak - they mean they bled regularly, but they say 'period'.

Women who don't share the gory details of their menstruation tendancies with billions of other women, and so do not know that their periods whilst normal for them are atypical.

Combine those factors and yes, you get tales of women 'having periods' during pregnancy.

I don't think its a particular mystery!

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