Quick answer
When can I pray after childbirth?
You resume prayer once nifās ends — that is, when the signs of purity appear and you perform ghusl, or when the 40-day maximum passes. Prayer does not resume merely because bleeding pauses briefly.
Prayer resumes when your nifās (postpartum bleeding) has ended and you have performed ghusl. Nifās ends in one of two ways: the signs of purity appear (the qaṣṣah bayḍāʾ or complete dryness) before 40 days, or the 40-day maximum is reached.
If bleeding stops and you observe a sign of purity — even at day 10 or day 20 — your nifās has ended. You perform ghusl and resume praying immediately; there is no obligation to wait the full 40 days.
A brief pause in bleeding is not by itself the end of nifās in the view of most scholars unless it is accompanied by a sign of purity. If you are unsure whether bleeding has truly stopped, the cautious practice in the Hanafi and Hanbali schools is to treat intermittent bleeding within the 40 days as continued nifās.
If bleeding continues past 40 days, you perform ghusl at the end of day 40 (or at the end of your habitual nifās if it was consistently shorter), resume prayer, and treat further bleeding as istiḥāḍah — praying with wuḍū before each prayer. Noor tracks this window so you know exactly when ṣalāh becomes due.
This summary draws on the established positions of the four Sunni madhhabs. For your specific situation, consult a qualified scholar.
Go deeper
Postpartum bleeding (nifās) in Islam