Started my first ever full 7-day break week last Tuesday. Tomorrow is the last day of it. I only bled for about 3 days heavily, yesterday had spotting, and today nothing. I’m assuming that’s normal, right? I also know you’re protected the full break week as long as you took your last pack correctly and start the next one on time. Is that all I have to do to verify protection? I’ve seen people say they shorten their week to make sure they’re protected. Is that something I should be concerned about? 🍭💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭 Brand: Junel 1/20 (Hailey FE 1/20)

Last Wednesday* was the start of it, sorry.

I don’t know where the shortening of the break week to ensure protection idea came from but it’s not necessary. As long as you don’t have more than 7 days between your last active pill and the new pack, you’re protected.

@pug_lady That’s absolutely what I thought too. I just wanted to make sure I was correct 😅

@nicoanstic_ you can shorten it if you just want to, but you don’t have to in order to be protected. I like to keep everything on the same day so I don’t get confused and mess up.

the only reason people shorter their break week to “ensure protection” is because if they shorten it to four days break for example and then forget to start again for two days they’re not unprotected as it would be a 6 day break then- which is still under 7 days so would be remaining protected

^ shorter breaks do not increase the pill’s effectiveness, it can just help reduce the potential impact of human error ie missing pills. Bear in mind if you shorten your break weeks you will need more pills so ask your doctor to write that into your prescription so you don’t run out. And yes your bleeding during the break week is normal.

@seechell this is just one of the posts I remember where someone was told they needed to shorten their break week to make sure they’re protected. There were others. That’s why I commented because I kept seeing it.

@pug_lady the user was correct with @onthepillxo & @bluerose9 Not sure where user had seen that, just fyi!