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Mrs_WorkingMuggle t1_iwdg0ya wrote

folded cloth held in place by a strip of cloth, a narrow fabric pouch filled with moss. also especially in winter, many many layers were worn, so for poor women especially, i'd assume free-bleeding was the way.

Also, yeah. a large proportion of women were pregnant/nursing for a lot of their lives, so years could pass without menstruating.

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mit-mit t1_iwe128z wrote

Worth noting that even with pregnancy/breastfeeding, women will have had lochia, a heavy bleed lasting at least six weeks after birth. I never knew about that until I was pregnant so like to share a little knowledge! I would imagine it would have been harder to free bleed with that as it is really quite heavy.

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Apprehensive_Coat105 t1_iwe34s5 wrote

No they were bleeding but they were also terrible underfed and unhealthy. They probably were lucky to even have a decent period

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Mrs_WorkingMuggle t1_iwe4ts7 wrote

if you're pregnant all the time, that's 9 months of the year you aren't bleeding. Many women didn't have a break between pregnancies, and many don't menstruate during nursing, especially if underfed. So it's not outside the realm of possibility that women went years without a period but many pregnancies.

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MsCamillaMcCauley t1_iwekqaw wrote

Yeah I was pregnant or breast feeding (so no periods) for more than 5 years, so that comment is real

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