If you're more than 4 hours late taking it, especially during the first week, you need to use backup birth control for the rest of that cycle.

What is back-up birth control?

That means you should use a condom for the rest of the cycle.

On the topic: It depends on the pill, in the package leaflet of my pill it reads that I could make it up within 12 hours after the usual hour without an impact on its safety

If you have a super low dose pill you may have to take it even closer to the same time than 4 hours. some require it as close as an hour.

ask your doctor!

I am horrible on breaks about taking it at the same time everyday....oopsie!

I heard that within 1 or 2 hours you'll be fine... I had that concern during Day light savings time... But if ur overly paranoid just use a condom if you have sex within that week

This topic has already been addressed on DearSugar:

http://dearsugar.com/371911

Consult the pamphlet for your specific birth control or a doctor or pharmacist for this type of information. Comments on a social networking site are not appropriate sources for medical information.

Definitely be careful...me and my brother are both "miss-a-pill" babies:)

i am so bad at this. i "miss" my pill every day. i try to take it around noon but sometimes take it at 11, sometimes take it at 4. sometimes take it at 9. no, i'm usually not a gambler but i figure as long as i take it everyday, period, i'll be good.

O-M-G...I didn't know it had to be within hours!?!?! I'm so dumb! Being that my pills make me nauseous I take them at night and If I forget I double up the next night which means that I wait 24 hours for the late pill...I've done this every so often for about 3 and a half years (when my daughter was born) And I've never had scares or missed periods. And I'm VERY fertile...

Buy a watch that has an alarm or set your cell phone alarm to remind you to take it. That way even if you forget, your alarm won't.

The lower hormone pills have a very small window. Check with your doctor!!!! Set an alarm! Use back up protection if you "miss a day." Good luck!

Wow yeah I didn't know how vital it was to take it on the hour everyday. I used to set an alarm to help me remember, but now I don't bother because it's not very likely I will forget. HOWEVER... I don't always take it at the exact same time each night, maybe at 9 one night, at 1 a.m. the next night. But then again I use backup so I haven't had any problems.

i've never understood girls who can't remember to take the pill at the same time or forget a day completely. if you're that bad about it, you should consider another method of birth control like Depo or the implant. things that only need to be administered every few months. there are so many options out there for us now.

They make cases for the pill that you can buy that have built in alarms, so it makes it alot easier to remember to take it at the same time. I can't remember what the website that sells it is called, but I'm sure you can just google it

I've missed a pill before and tried to "double up" on pills when I remembered. This resulted in nausea and throwing up! I've found that if I forget that if I wait 12 hours to take the next one that I won't get sick....and technically I've taken them in the same day. Never used a back up method and I've been fine.

A friend of mine tried to tell me it didn't matter if you take the pill the same time every day. She laughed when I said I take mine every morning at 8am and have never missed one in 2 years. She went on about how she never remembers to take her's, blah blah blah, and really made me feel like I was being so silly and naive to think I actually had to take it every day at the same time. (She lost her virginity in her senior year of high school whereas I lost mine in our senior year of college so when it comes to sex she tends to have this attitude that she knows more what she's talking about than I do, and it's really annoying.) I don't know if she was trying to make me feel stupid, or if she really is that irresponsible with taking her pill. Could it be that she just has a higher hormone dose pill and so she can go longer when she misses one?