Now that summer is officially here, moms everywhere are prepping for days spent poolside with their little ones. Yep, even those days when you’re bloaty, crampy, and dealing with your good ol’ period. After all, if you want to get in the pool while you’re menstruating, all you need to do is wear a tampon, right? Maybe, maybe not. Debate around that very question once popped up in a Mumsnet.com thread, and people had a lot of thoughts on the subject.
Mumsnet.com
A mom took to the message board to share that her sister told her it’s “vile” to swim while she has her period.
The anonymous mom explained that she swims weekly with her partner and child but when she told her sister she went in without a tampon, the two butted heads over what’s considered appropriate. The poster’s friend also weighed in and said it doesn’t matter. “I did go swimming as my period was pretty much over (day 5),” the poster clarified. “Would I swim whilst heavy? I would say no I wouldn’t … Are there actually any rules about it? Would a tampon be suitable if you did want to swim?”
In response, commenters said it’s NBD if this mom wants to swim, of course, but just wear a tampon…
“Swimming on your period is fine, but I don’t know why you’d be doing it without a tampon,” another person wrote.
This seems to be the universally accepted method of swimming while menstruating … so that might be why one commenter’s opinions totally came out of left field!
But one commenter jumped in to say that she doesn’t wear a tampon at all.
“I don’t use anything. It’s fine,” she said. “Cold water stops blood.”
If you’re a little confused by this, you’re not the only one. Another poster quickly pointed out that her belief is actually just a myth, writing that you don’t stop bleeding, you probably just don’t notice the bleeding in the pool.
Oh, boy.
The commenter was right — it is, in fact, a myth.
Sure, some women may feel like their period stops when they get in the water (be it a pool, bath, or the ocean), but Vice.com’s Tonic clarified the science: “It’s not that you stop bleeding,” Jessica Shepherd, professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and U by Kotex Partner, told the site. “It’s more that there’s pressure to stop blood from flowing out.”
All this debate prompted the original poster to pop back in and clarify that she was talking about going tampon-free toward the end of her period.
If she was in the middle of her period, contending with normal or heavy flow, she wouldn’t forgo the tampon, she explained.
That said, it’s understandable that she attracted eyebrow-raising with her original question. And hopefully she’ll consider the responses she got the next time she hits the pool!