A woman usually loses 40-80 ml (8-16 teaspoons) of blood over the course of a period.
***Remember, a TRUE menstrual bleed is a result of OVULATION***
According to the FEMM method of fertility awareness, a “light” period involves losing less than 40ml and a “heavy” period would involve losing more than 80ml.To record flow using a menstrual cup, you can estimate blood loss by the number of times changed and the volume emptied. These ranges are approximate based on the average cup holding 20-35mls.
🩸🩸🩸Heavy bleeding day = >25ml or having to change a full cup more than once in a day
🩸Medium bleeding day = 15-25ml or about 1/2 cup to almost full
🩸Light bleeding day = 5-10ml or 1/4 to 1/3 of the cup.
A regular size pad or tampon holds 5ml of blood on average. You can quantify blood loss *approximately* using the following:
🩸🩸🩸Heavy bleeding day = using 5+ regular pads or tampons & changing once at night.
🩸🩸Medium: 3-5 regular pads or tampons with consistent flow (regular pads become soaked after 4 hours)
🩸Light flow = 1-2 regular tampons or pads with some regular flow
Spotting: Using 1 pantyliner, irregular flow.
It’s important to note that mucus and cellular sloughing add volume to the menstrual flow. These ranges vary and are approximate. However, keeping track of flow paints a picture of hormonal activity over the course of a cycle.
Both bleeding and cervical mucus observations are your body’s way of communicating to you on a daily basis. You can learn more about this working with a #FEMM trained fertility awareness instructor!