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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how on earth you poo with a menstrual cup

98 replies

Cazzovuoi · 05/09/2023 15:40

Without it being pushed out into the loo???

I swear I’m not the poo troll, I predate Penis Beaker.

I am on holidays and due to an absolute cracker of a brain fart totally forgot to bring my period kit with me.

I went to the pharmacy and bought a Mooncup. Whilst it was boiling I read the instructions and it said that you didn’t need to remove it to pee or poo.

I always remove it before I poo because the same muscles used to poo are the ones that also contract the vagina. Anyone who has given birth vaginally will have been told to “push like you’re trying to poo”.

I am genuinely perplexed. Have I not been pooing correctly my entire life? I tried to poo with it in but had to literally hold it in place!

YABU - You just can’t poo properly
YANBU - I take mine out to poo

OP posts:
JudgeJ · 05/09/2023 16:57

StanleyGoodspeed · 05/09/2023 15:43

is it not the same as a tampon? I used to poo with one in back in the day, there were no such things as Mooncups when I was young😁

Ditto about these mooncup thingies but I do recall 'delivering' a tampon on more than one occasion!

WomanOfSteel · 05/09/2023 16:57

Theredfoxfliesatmidnight · 05/09/2023 15:46

I can't poo with a tampon in, it pushes it out!! (Or pushes it down to the vaginal entrance so it's too uncomfortable to keep in)

Am I pooing wrong too???

Same. Thank god it’s not just me! I could leave them in pre-kids.

soberfabulous · 05/09/2023 17:00

I've used a moon cup for 10 years had love it. It has never emerged with a turd. They're kind of suctioned in.

floribunda18 · 05/09/2023 17:03

I didn't find mooncups at all comfortable when I tried them years ago but I have endometriosis and likely retrocele (after reading post above).

Seeing as the endometriosis was all over my bowel when I had an ovarian cyst removed in 2015 and it is just managed with the pill I'm lucky to not have had any symptoms since then.

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 05/09/2023 17:09

horseyhorsey17 · 05/09/2023 16:56

The pooey string. Which you then pull out with your fingers. Plus the risk of cross contamination from bum to vag while you are wiping with the string hanging out.

Just a lot cleaner to take it out first!

Show quote history

Ewww! I always used to tuck the strings in so I didn't get wee or poo on them. No way I'd change the tampon every time, I have (probably) IBS as I poo several times a day and taking dry tampons out is <shudder>

WomanOfSteel · 05/09/2023 17:10

WomanOfSteel · 05/09/2023 16:57

Same. Thank god it’s not just me! I could leave them in pre-kids.

Show quote history

I don’t fit the rectocele symptoms but I do have a tilted cervix like a pp. Got worried then.

cruisebaba1 · 05/09/2023 17:21

soberfabulous · 05/09/2023 17:00

I've used a moon cup for 10 years had love it. It has never emerged with a turd. They're kind of suctioned in.

💩💩🤣🤣🤣🤣

Original poster
Cazzovuoi · 05/09/2023 17:23

You lot have made me howl at the responses.

I went to the gyno for a full MOT two months ago and all bits are where they should be.

With reference to bearing down, I really don’t mean like giving birth. I mean a quick push 😁

OP posts:
Wherethecrawdadssingg · 05/09/2023 17:24

Hold it in

Iwanttobeanonymous · 05/09/2023 17:26

Theredfoxfliesatmidnight · 05/09/2023 15:46

I can't poo with a tampon in, it pushes it out!! (Or pushes it down to the vaginal entrance so it's too uncomfortable to keep in)

Am I pooing wrong too???

Me too. Although I get constipated when I have my period so maybe I am pushing too hard.

LookingForPurpose · 05/09/2023 17:37

I use a super Jenny cup, after 4 vaginal births. It's basically a flexible orange bucket . I struggle HUGELY to poo with it in. Honestly, it's easier to remove it and do your business and then just Reinsert.

Spiralout · 05/09/2023 18:06
  • more fibre in your diet
  • more water intake
  • bigger mooncup size
  • pelvic floor exercises
  • stool step to raise feet when on the toilet
MumGMT · 05/09/2023 18:08

horseyhorsey17 · 05/09/2023 16:56

The pooey string. Which you then pull out with your fingers. Plus the risk of cross contamination from bum to vag while you are wiping with the string hanging out.

Just a lot cleaner to take it out first!

Show quote history

Pooey string....what?
You just move the string out of the way.

Original poster
Cazzovuoi · 05/09/2023 18:11

Spiralout · 05/09/2023 18:06

  • more fibre in your diet
  • more water intake
  • bigger mooncup size
  • pelvic floor exercises
  • stool step to raise feet when on the toilet

Fibre bungs me up. I do far better without it. I have type 4 poo the majority of the time.

Im also a healthcare professional so I would know if something was amiss 😁

I have the right size Mooncup for 35+ and vaginal birth.

I do admit that I could do with extra pelvic floor exercises. I did the electric fanny chair with my gyno before lockdown. I should probably go back for some more sessions.

I will try to poo with it in and report back to see if my fears are unfounded 😂

OP posts:
WeeOrcadian · 05/09/2023 18:15

Electric fanny chair

Say, what now?

ChimChimeny · 05/09/2023 18:23

Mine does tend to slip down when i.poo but then it sucks back in once I've finished pushing it out

BertieBotts · 05/09/2023 19:03

The mooncup is too big IMO, I used to get this issue and I'd get UTIs when I used it due to pressure on my urethra. I swapped to a smaller cup and it doesn't leak but I don't have these issues.

I think also if you have weak muscles after childbirth then the wall between your colon and vagina can be a bit weak which causes the same problem. I've got an appointment to speak to my doctor about this. I have persistent hanging out mum tum as well even two years after my youngest. I think it might all be related.

BertieBotts · 05/09/2023 19:06

This definitely doesn't sound normal and maybe you should get checked in case you have fistula?

BertieBotts · 05/09/2023 19:07

Oh sorry that was meant be a reply to the lady who said she gets wee in her mooncup sometimes.

Chuffaluffa · 05/09/2023 19:09

Oh my goodness I always push mine out with a poo and now I have so many potential health conditions I need to google 😭

Sunsnet · 05/09/2023 19:10

You shouldn't push out a poo, or a baby for that matter! Really bad for your pelvic floor.

Mendingslowly · 05/09/2023 19:17

I've never given birth and I can't poo with a tampon in. When I have, 9 times out of ten it falleth out.

ohboohoo · 05/09/2023 19:22

honeyrain · 05/09/2023 15:44

Do you normally wear tampons? Do you remove them upon each poo?! They don't move either in the same way a cup won't.

I always removed a tampon with a poo. I found it sort of moved a little down when I pooped. The pushing of the poo pushed the tan on slightly out of place and I could then feel it when I stood up. I hated that feeling so I would always remove the tampon before pooping. It also made the poo come out easier.

rasellagirl · 05/09/2023 19:24

Why is pooing such an effort? Get some All Bran down you.

NerrSnerr · 05/09/2023 19:25

Itwasntmeguv · 05/09/2023 16:30

I'm such a dinosaur - the menopause had hit me way before moon thingies had arrived!

However, I have frequently shot a tampon out, or at least if not fully out, out enough to dislodge the bugger and start again, whilst dropping the kids off at the pool. So yes, I'm sure anything else could be expelled in the same manner.

But now I feel like a freak of nature, as not many other people appear to have the same ability as me and the OP!

Oh and this:

Anyone who has given birth vaginally will have been told to “push like you’re trying to poo”.

I didn't need telling, I pushed and pushed and the relief at what I thought must have been the first of my DT's heads emerging was short-lived - when they told me I'd only had 2 of the biggest shits the delivery midwife 'had seen for a long time' The disappointment was real. The disappointment took a back seat to mortification when another nurse said she was taking 'the other twins' away to the neonatal unit to settle them in, whilst I got on with the matter of trying to deliver actual human beings this time My now 28 year olds still laugh if this story pops up 😂😂

I'm so pleased I read this thread just for the sentence 'dropping the kids off at the pool'. That has made my day.