How can you determine your menstrual flow?

Knowing your menstrual flow is essential to choose the right period protection. Understanding your body helps you anticipate its needs and, when it comes to your flow, avoid leaks and unpleasant surprises. 

However, it’s not always easy or obvious to know where you stand. It’s hard to compare, hard to have an accurate view of your body and your period. Plus, periods keep changing over time. It’s also a natural phenomenon that isn’t stable or set to the day.

Louloucup is here to help you get to know yourself better by discovering the nature of your menstrual flow. Here, there’s no taboo and no bad questions!

Every woman is different. Every period is different. Every flow is different. So it’s important not to compare yourself to others. Knowing your menstrual flow isn’t always easy. 

Additionally, throughout their lives, women experience different types of periods. Depending on their health, age, or certain events (like pregnancy), the nature of menstrual flow continually changes. This is normal and natural.

Learning about your menstrual flow helps you better understand your body, get to know yourself, anticipate certain health issues, and most importantly, have a better period experience. By knowing your flow, you can choose the protection that best fits your needs. Washable pads, menstrual cups, period panties, or even tampons—there’s no single ideal solution. There are several, and you should choose the one you’re most comfortable with!

Menstrual flow can be very watery or thicker, sticky, or contain clots—the nature of your period is highly variable. There’s no such thing as a good or bad flow. There are simply different types of flow.

Period flow is very liquid when the blood is low in oxygen. The blood hasn’t had time to clot at all. You could say it looks a lot like the blood flowing through the veins of a healthy person. It tends to flow very quickly, but is also absorbed fast.

Menstrual flow is thick when the blood has started to clot. As it becomes oxygenated, it gets thicker and may also become darker. Naturally, it will flow more slowly than a liquid flow.

Since the human body is an incredible machine, heavy periods tend to be thicker. The body oxygenates menstrual blood on purpose so it doesn’t flow too quickly. This way, the body prevents hemorrhage. 

Having a menstrual flow with clots shouldn’t be a major cause for concern. Clots indicate that the uterine lining, which thickens to prepare for a fertilized egg, is returning to its normal state. The sticky texture is due to the production of glycogen, which helps "nourish" the embryo to support its development.

If you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to consult a gynecologist, your doctor, or your midwife.

On average, blood loss during a menstrual cycle amounts to about 2 to 5 tablespoons. It’s surprising how little that actually is! Again, this is just an average to give you an idea of your menstrual flow.

A so-called normal cycle is one that is regular and stable. The one you have on a consistent basis. Other than that, there’s really no such thing as “normal” in this area. A medium flow is just as natural as a light or heavy flow.

It’s helpful to know your menstrual flow (light, moderate, heavy, very heavy) so you can choose your period protection accordingly.

A light menstrual flow averages about 30 ml per period. That’s about one tampon per day or just a few drops on a pad.

A medium menstrual flow is between 30 ml and 50 ml per cycle. Two to three tampons are enough for a day, or one pad every 3 hours.

A heavy menstrual flow means losing 50 ml to 70 ml. That means you’ll need to change protection more often: about one pad every 3 hours or 5 tampons a day.

A hemorrhagic menstrual flow can exceed 70 ml. Usually, this isn’t natural and is caused by an external factor (IUD, postpartum, medical conditions, certain medications, etc.) The copper IUD often causes very heavy and watery periods. While these may calm down a few months after starting this birth control, periods can remain intense and may feel overwhelming for some teens or women.

A woman with extremely heavy periods may need to change every two hours on average during the heaviest days.

Tampons fill up quickly and aren’t ideal. Period underwear for very heavy flow or a menstrual cup are the best alternatives for managing your period as smoothly as possible.

If you have heavy periods and don’t know why, it’s important to see a healthcare professional.

In general, we all have an irregular flow speed that more or less follows this pattern:

• slow flow on the first day,
• faster flow on days 2 and 3,
• speed that decreases over the following days until it stops.

Of course, flow rates vary between women.

The easiest way to measure your flow rate is to use a menstrual cup, which lets you see exactly how much you lose over a specific period.

It’s actually quite rare to have a consistent flow rate; regularity isn’t really the norm when it comes to the menstrual cycle. This would mean your flow is exactly the same speed from the first to the last day of your period.