Is AF late?

[Hufflypuf]

Some help needed please!

Last month I had my 1st AF in 6 years after coming off the pill. It started off with very light spotting for 5 days followed by a heavier bleed for 5 days.

30 days later and AF hasn't arrived this month. I'm determined not to take a test until I know for certain that I'm late. My question is, would you count the start date of this cycle on the day I 1st noticed light spotting or when the heavy bleed started?

If its the former I am 2 days late, and if its the latter I'm not so I won't test until the weekend.

TIA

I've always been told the first day of a proper flow is CD1 but I'm sure others will say different

Technically your period is due relative to when you ovulated, not when CD1 was. Most people will have a fixed luteal phase (length of time between ovulation and your next period starting). On average a person's luteal phase is between 12-14 days long. So the variation people see in cycle length is normally as a result of ovulation day moving around month to month.

In your case it sounds like you're hoping to avoid the risk of a false negative, so I'd definitely go with the first day of full flow as CD1. But in theory if you ovulated later than predicted you could still be testing too early.

Good luck 🤞 fingers crossed that this month is your month.

Thanks for your responses, it looks like I'll be waiting til the weekend then!