Birth control pills can delay menstruation by skipping the placebo pills, but the bleeding that occurs is a withdrawal bleed, not a period. Some birth control pills don’t have inactive pills and can prevent period-like bleeding. It’s generally safe, but there is a risk of pregnancy.
In most cases, the use of birth control pills provides a reliable way to postpone menstruation. Many packs of birth control pills include a set number of pills that contain hormones used to prevent conception. They also include pills, often seven per package, that are placebos. This means they have no effect on conception and are not used to prevent pregnancy; you will usually start bleeding vaginally while taking the placebo pills. You can delay your period by skipping the placebo pills and switching to a new pack of pills the right way.
It’s important to note that you can use birth control pills to delay your period, but the bleeding that normally occurs while you’re taking inactive birth control pills isn’t really a period. In a normal cycle, your hormones stimulate ovulation and a nutrient-rich lining forms in your uterus. In the event that an egg is not fertilized and implanted in your uterus, your body begins to shed its uterine lining at the end of your monthly cycle; this is real menstruation. The bleeding you get when you take the placebo pills, however, is actually the body’s reaction to the absence of the hormones in the pills. As such, it’s actually a withdrawal bleed instead of menstruation.
While traditional birth control pill packages include 21 hormonal pills and seven that don’t contain the hormones used to prevent ovulation, some birth control pills don’t work that way. To delay your period, you may also want to consider a type of birth control that doesn’t involve any inactive pills. If so, each of the pills you take for a cycle will contain hormones that prevent ovulation and conception. Since you won’t be taking inactive pills, you shouldn’t have period-like bleeding.
You may prefer to use a traditional type of birth control pill if you only hope to delay your period for a month or two. That way, you can start taking your inactive pills again once you’re ready to go back to cycles that include the withdrawal bleed. If you want to delay your period for significantly longer, however, a type that doesn’t include inactive pills may be easier.
In general, using birth control pills to delay menstruation is believed to be safe. A potential problem with using this method is the fact that birth control pills aren’t 100% effective. It is possible that you could become pregnant while taking these pills. If so, you may not be aware that you are pregnant because you will not have missed period bleeding as an obvious symptom.
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