Birth control bleeding on active pill

[emilzewinter]

Hi!

I started taking birth control pills this past month and it has been great, no side effects at all. However, I am taking a low dose pill and the instructions say I should take it at the exact same time everyday but I have taken it late 3 times this cycle, an hour difference. I didn't know if an hour was a big deal so I ignored it. However, today I am on my last day of active pill and I bled a lot, just one time and when I wiped there was no blood but I clearly bled before taking my non active pills. My question is, is the pill still working although I bled on my active pill? Or did I bleed because I took it late causing it to not work? Or is it simply because it is a low dose and I need something stronger?
Thank you for always answering our questions

[Heather]

Combined oral contraceptives have a 12 hour grace period before a pill is late, so so far as taking your pill as directed goes, you've been all good with that.

Breakthrough bleeding and spotting are one of the most common side effects of hormonal methods, and when they happen, that doesn't impact effectiveness. That also doesn't mean you're on the wrong pill. As well, side effects -- all of them -- with the pill tend to happen far more often in the first few cycles of using the pill. So, what you're experiencing will most likely taper off or reduce after you've been using the pill a few months.

[emilzewinter]

Thank you