Midwife and Clinical Quality Advisor at Marie Stopes, Ghana, Mary Teye, has shared some feminine tips to maintaining hygiene while on a menstrual period.
In an interview with host, Mercy Bee on eTV Ghana, discussing Menstrual matters as part of the World Menstrual Hygiene Day commemoration, she educated that for women, it is most recommended to bath at least twice a day, while on periods.
Secondly, she educated on the need to change sanitary materials frequently.
“Some women can just keep one pad on the whole day and that is not good hygienically. If possible, change pads three times a day or immediately you realize that it’s soaked”, she said.
It is usually said that pads can be kept on for about five to seven hours before changing. Sharing her opinion on this, she stated that flow patterns in women vary. Some women have a heavy flow and others experience light flow, thus, the number of hours hygienically to keep on a pad is quite relative.
She noted again that it is important to change pads once it gets soaked and feels wet, regardless of how short a time it has been worn.
Mary, replying to whether it is a must to change as soon as the pad feels soaked, said, “It depends on your comfort level. For some people, they just can’t keep this there for a very long time. Some people also look at economics. They don’t have money to buy enough pads, hence, they would want to keep it on longer.
Also, it depends on your flow. If you don’t flow very heavily, then you can keep it on for a long time but ideally, you should change it at least morning and evening, if you’re trying to economize”, the specialist further advised.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye