Delaying your period with hormonal birth control

With hormonal birth control, regular monthly bleeding doesn’t provide any health benefits. Find out how you can have more control over your cycle.

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Do you want to have fewer periods? You can with hormonal birth control. Find out how and get answers to common questions about how birth control can delay or prevent periods.

How does it work?

Methods of birth control such as estrogen-progestin birth control pills, the contraceptive skin patch and the vaginal ring were made to be used in a way that acts like a menstrual cycle. For instance, most birth control pill packs holds four weeks of pills. But only the first three weeks have hormones that affect fertility. The pills for the fourth week are not active.

You bleed during the week you take the pills that aren’t active. This is called withdrawal bleeding. This is your body’s response to stopping the hormones.

Withdrawal bleeding isn’t the same as a regular period. And you need neither withdrawal bleeding nor regular periods for health. This is good news if you use birth control and want to have fewer periods, either for personal or medical reasons.

What is the difference between continuous-use and extended-use birth control?

Mainly, there are two types of hormonal birth control that cut the number of periods you have:

Continuous-use birth control. With these, you take active hormones for a year or longer with no breaks. You don’t stop taking active hormones, so you don’t have withdrawal bleeding.
Extended-use birth control. With these, you take active hormones for longer than the typical 21 days. During a year, you can take breaks from the hormones. That’s when you might have withdrawal bleeding.

Which types of hormonal birth control can be used to delay periods?

Several types of hormonal birth control can lower the number of periods you have. The best method for you depends on your goals, your health and what you prefer.

Do you want fewer or no periods? Do you want short- or long-term birth control? Talk to your healthcare professional about these choices.

Birth control pills

You can delay or prevent periods with extended or continuous use of estrogen and progestin or progestin-only birth control pills. Your healthcare professional can advise you on the best pill schedule for you. Most often, you skip the pills that aren’t active in your pill pack and start a new pack right away.

There also are birth control pills made to lengthen the time between your periods. Those you can get in the U.S. include:

Jolessa This is a version of Seasonale that doesn’t carry the brand name, called generic. You take active pills each day for 84 days, which is 12 weeks. Then you take pills that aren’t active for one week. You get your period during week 13, about once every three months.
Amethia, Camrese and Simpesse These are versions of Seasonique that don’t carry the brand name. You take active pills for 84 days, which is 12 weeks. Then you take pills that have a low dose of estrogen for one week. You get your period during week 13, about once every three months. Taking low-dose estrogen pills instead of pills that aren’t active helps ease bleeding, bloating and other side affects you can get when you don’t take hormones.
Rivelsa This is a version of Quartette that doesn’t carry the brand name. With this 91-day regimen, you take active pills for 84 days, which is 12 weeks. Each pill has the same amount of progestin, but the dose of estrogen goes up three times during the regimen.
The pills start with 20 micrograms (mcg), move up to 25 mcg and then move up again to 30 mcg. After that, you take one week of pills with very low estrogen. You get your period during week 13, about once every three months.
Amethyst. This pill has low doses of both progesterone and estrogen. You take it every day for one year. You have no times without hormones.

Vaginal ring (NuvaRing)

Like estrogen-progestin birth control pills, you can delay or prevent your period with extended or continuous use of the birth control vaginal ring. You change the ring once monthly without a ring-free interval. To minimize bleeding or spotting, some people remove the ring for one week every three months to have a withdrawal bleed.

Birth control patch

You can delay or prevent your period with extended or continuous use of the combined hormonal birth control skin patch. You put a small patch on your skin every week. To keep from having periods, you don’t skip a week.

Hormonal intrauterine device (Mirena, Liletta, Kyleena, others)

An intrauterine device, also called an IUD, is a form of long-term birth control. After a healthcare professional puts the IUD into your uterus, it keeps releasing a type of progestin into your body. It can stay in place for up to six years. But you might need to replace it sooner to keep from having periods.

You can get hormonal IUDs in varying doses. Over time, all hormonal IUDs cut how often and how long your period is. But a higher dose IUD that has 52 mg of levonorgestrel seems to work better at stopping periods.

For instance, one year after getting a 52-mg-dose IUD, 20% of users report having no periods. After two years, 30% to 50% of users report having no periods.

DMPA injection (Depo-Provera)

Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, also called Depo-Provera, is a type of progestin that you get as a shot, called an injection, every 90 days. It is a form of long-term birth control that also lessens or gets rid of monthly bleeding. After one year of DMPA injections, 50% to 75% of users report having no periods. The longer you use DMPA, the more likely it is to stop your periods..

What are the pros of delaying your period?

Delaying your period can help you manage some menstrual symptoms. It might be worth thinking about if you have:

A physical or mental disability that makes it hard to use sanitary napkins or tampons.
A condition that gets worse during periods, such as endometriosis or anemia.
Breast tenderness, bloating or mood swings in the 7 to 10 days before your period./li>
Headaches or other menstrual symptoms during the week you take birth control pills that aren’t active.
Periods that come often or are heavy, long or painful.

Also, sometimes your period gets in the way of other plans. You may want to postpone your period until after an exam, athletic event, vacation or special occasion, such as your wedding or honeymoon.

Is it safe for everyone to delay menstruation?

If your healthcare professional says it’s OK for you to take hormonal birth control, it’s most likely safe to use it to delay your period. But not all healthcare professionals will tell you about delaying periods unless you ask. If you want to try to delay your period, ask your healthcare professional which method might work for you.

What are the cons of delaying your period?

Bleeding or spotting between periods, called breakthrough bleeding, is common when you use hormonal birth control to delay or prevent periods. Breakthrough bleeding is most likely during the first few months of delaying your periods. But breakthrough bleeding most often lessens over time as your body adjusts to the birth control.

Another con of delaying your period is that it may be harder to tell if you’re pregnant. If you have morning sickness or breast tenderness or feel very tired, take a home pregnancy test or talk to your healthcare professional.

What can be done about breakthrough bleeding?

Breakthrough bleeding most often gets better with time. But there are some things you can do in the meantime:

Stay on schedule. You’re more likely to have breakthrough bleeding if you miss a pill, forget to replace your vaginal ring or get a DMPA injection late.
Track breakthrough bleeding in a calendar or diary. Tracking can show you when breakthrough bleeding gets better.
Go back to taking your birth control without trying to delay your period. You’ll likely have less breakthrough bleeding if you don’t try delaying your period by skipping the weeks of pills that aren’t active.
If you smoke, ask your healthcare professional to help you quit. People who smoke are more likely to have breakthrough bleeding than are people who don’t smoke.

If you use estrogen-progestin birth control pills or the vaginal ring, not taking the pills on some days may help manage bleeding. As long as you have been taking active hormones for at least 21 to 30 days, you can stop taking the pill or remove the ring when breakthrough bleeding becomes a problem. After three or four hormone-free days, restart your pills or put the ring back in. Over time, breakthrough bleeding should space out and then stop.

Breakthrough bleeding doesn’t mean that your birth control isn’t working. Be sure to keep using your birth control even if you bleed. Using your birth control lowers your risk of pregnancy that isn’t planned. If breakthrough bleeding becomes heavy or lasts more than seven days in a row, contact your healthcare professional.

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