Vaginal discharge: what is normal in each cycle phase?
Short answer: discharge is normal and changes with your cycle. After your period there is little, around ovulation it gets more, clear and stretchy like raw egg white, and after ovulation it gets thicker and white or creamy. Watch out for a bad smell, itching, crumbly white discharge, green or yellow discharge, or pain: that can mean an infection.
Why do you have discharge?
Discharge comes from your cervix and vagina. It keeps your vagina moist and clean and protects against infections. How much you have and what it looks like depends on your hormones, which change every week of your cycle.
Discharge phase by phase
During and just after your period
During your period you mostly see blood. In the days after, it often feels dry with little discharge. A little brown discharge at the end of your period is old blood and normal. Read more about brown discharge.
Towards ovulation
Oestrogen rises and discharge gets more and wetter, at first a bit sticky or creamy.
Around ovulation: egg white
In the days before and around ovulation, discharge is often clear, slippery and stretchy, like raw egg white. This is your most fertile time: sperm move through it easily. Read how to recognise ovulation or work out your fertile days with the free ovulation calculator.
After ovulation
Progesterone takes over. Discharge gets thicker, whiter or creamy, and often less.
Just before your period
Often white and creamy, sometimes a bit more. A few days before your period it can be light brown or pink.
When is discharge not normal?
- A bad or fishy smell, often with thin greyish discharge: can be bacterial vaginosis.
- Itching and white, crumbly discharge like cottage cheese: can be thrush.
- Green or yellow, or discharge with pain when peeing or in your lower belly: can be an STI or another infection.
- Bloody discharge outside your period, after sex or after menopause.
If in doubt, or if you also have a fever or pain, call your GP. A sexual health clinic can test for STIs.
What affects your discharge?
Hormonal contraception (which stops ovulation), pregnancy, breastfeeding, perimenopause, some medicines and stress. On the pill you often do not see the typical egg white discharge, because you do not ovulate.
Tracking it in PERIOD.
In PERIOD. you log your discharge per day. After a few cycles you see when your egg white days come and how they line up with ovulation.
Sources: NHS, Vaginal discharge; Thuisarts.nl (NHG), Afscheiding uit de vagina. This article is general information, not medical advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is a lot of white discharge normal?
Usually yes, especially after ovulation and before your period. Watch out for itching, a bad smell or a crumbly texture.
What does discharge look like at ovulation?
Clear, slippery and stretchy, like raw egg white. You can stretch it between two fingers.
Is discharge before your period a sign of pregnancy?
Not necessarily. A bit more white discharge fits pregnancy, but also a normal cycle. Only a pregnancy test gives certainty. Work out when you can take a test.
Want to track your cycle and discharge in one place? Download PERIOD. on the App Store or Google Play.
