My First Time

I heard of Mooncups years ago – guess when you visit parenting forums it’s one of those things that come up. It was always something yukky – people don’t like change do they?! And so it was never something I had actually thought about using. When I think about it I’d not even looked at a picture of one, never mind actually giving it some consideration.

What changed my mind? Actually it wasn’t even that long ago and I don’t know what it was that got me thinking about them. What I do know is that I kept leaking (and at people’s houses and it was embarrassing). That tampons were getting increasingly expensive. That I hate waste. I never know which flow to buy, or end up running out of a certain type and using the wrong one just because it’s what’s available. That I can’t just reinsert tampons – so if I’d just put it in and then changed my mind and wanted a bath it would just be wasted. That if I sneeze, and every time I go to the toilet I have to change them – again a huge waste or forward planning is required.

Then I read a blog post (You can read it HERE) and basically it told me that if I tried it for 3 months and didn’t like it then I could get my money back – result! What did I have to lose! There was also a discount code as it was Christmas so it only cost me £17.99 – and over the 10 years it’s meant to last that would be nothing would it! (Never did check whether I’m entitled to my money back but everywhere does say give it 3 months.

It came in a pretty envelope – but it did have the senders address on the back which had the words Mooncup also on it – so if I was ashamed then it was too late now. Inside the envelope it had a nice bag to keep it in.

On first glance it seemed a bit big to me. But once it’s folded up it’s not too bad – and I reminded myself that actually compared to say the size of those babies that have come out of me it is actually very tiny! I read that it may be difficult to get used to but at first I had no trouble with it at all. I started using it at the end of my period (as suggested) and then I started the next month quiet lightly (unlike me), which meant I had time to get used to it. I started trimming the tail off as it sometimes was uncomfortable – but mainly it was psychological I feel.

Straight away I felt confident with it and the amount of blood coming out you could see in the measurement gage. I then looked up how much on average women lose – and thought this must be a shorter period because I could actually see that I’d lost nearly that amount already.

I thought about the difference between the cup and tampon in that the tampon kept the blood all stuck next to me, where as the cup collected it away from me. That it made sense that it would be quicker to collect in a cup rather than use a sponge type system.

I read about using it in the bath/shower and thought about going swimming – and yes it was like not being on a period. Just wore it in the bath and got out – no need to quickly get sanitary wear or have blood dripping down my leg!

I felt confident and even wore it out of the house.

But then on the school run, whilst carrying my 2 and half year old some distance, it sort of knocked out of place and leaked. It also leaked during the night.

I had started so well and the leaking really put me off.

It was actually only when I returned to my faithful tampons and they leaked that I really noticed the difference. When I say the Mooncup leaked it was literally just a bit in my knickers to be honest – and let’s say when the tampon leaked it was not at all pretty and I even had to have a bath!!

The situation with cutting the tail and that bit of it had made me feel a bit uncomfortable though so I thought that I’d leave it until next month now.

The Good Points

• You don’t need to take anything obvious into the toilet with you.
• No need to worry about how heavy your flow is.
• Can put in before your period is due so you don’t get caught out.
• No risk of TSS.
• No need to worry about the amount of sanitary protection you are carrying around with you – or running out.
• No need to find a bin to dispose of any packaging.
• No waste going to landfill.
• No string in the way.
• Leaking isn’t as bad as leaking with a string!