Contraception
Fertility Awareness Methods
Natural Family Planning
The Rhythm Method
Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs) are ways to track your menstrual cycle and fertile days so you can prevent pregnancy.
How does it prevent pregnancy?
Natural family planning involves identifying the signs and symptoms of fertility during your menstrual cycle so you can plan or avoid pregnancy.
There are 3 different fertility signals you can monitor and record for natural family planning.
These are:
- the length of your menstrual cycle.
- daily readings of your body temperature.
- changes to your cervical secretions (cervical mucus).
How effective is it?
- If natural family planning is followed consistently and correctly, it can be 77%–98% effective..
- That means 2–23 out of 100 couples who use FAMs will get pregnant each year, depending on which method(s) are used.
- The best way to use FAMs is to combine the temperature, cervical mucus, and calendar methods.
Advantages of natural family planning:
- Fertility awareness methods are free or cheap.
- It has no side effects.
- It can help you learn about your body and your fertility.
- It can be used in reverse when you are attempting to conceive.
Potential downsides of natural family planning:
- Does not prevent STDs.
Natural Family Planning isn’t for everyone.
It’s not recommended if:
- Your periods are irregular.
- You or your partner doesn’t want to avoid vaginal sex or use another form of birth control for a certain number of days each cycle.
- You can’t track your fertility signs daily and keep careful records.
- If all of your cycles are shorter than 27 days.
To use FAMs, you’ve got to learn a lot about your menstrual cycle.
You must know when you’re most likely to get pregnant, and when it’s safe for you to have sex without risking pregnancy.
The best way to use FAMs is to combine the temperature, cervical mucus, and calendar methods. Each of these methods relies on different signs to predict your fertile days, so using them together gives you the best picture of your fertility and makes FAMs more accurate.
The Temperature Method.
- Your body temperature naturally changes a tiny bit throughout your menstrual cycle.
- It’s lower in the first part of your cycle: 96°– 98° Fahrenheit is your typical temperature before ovulation.
- It rises when you ovulate: your temperature rises up to 97°–99°F, about four-tenths of one degree higher than your usual temperature.
- You must take your temperature the same way, at the same time, every single day as soon as you wake up, before you even get out of bed.
- The changes in your temperature will be really small — fractions of a degree — so get a special, large-scale basal thermometer.
- Chart your temperature on a fertility awareness chart or enter it into a fertility awareness app.
The Cervical Mucus Method
- You have to feel and look at your mucus (or discharge) every single day.
- You can start tracking your mucus the day after your period stops completely.
- You can check your cervical mucus 3 ways:
- Wipe the opening of your vagina (BEFORE you pee) with white toilet paper or tissue. Check the color and feel of the mucus.
- Look at the color and texture of the discharge on your underwear.
- Put clean fingers into your vagina, and then check the color and texture of the mucus on your fingers.
- The best way to feel the consistency of your mucus is to rub it and pull it between your thumb and index finger.
Right After Your Period
- You usually have 3-4 days without mucus and discharge.
- These are called “dry days,” and they may be safe days if your cycle is long.
The Days Before Ovulation
- Three to five days (3-5) before ovulation, your body makes more mucus as an egg starts to ripen.
- This mucus is usually yellow, white, or cloudy, and it feels sticky or tacky.
- You may notice it at the opening of your vagina for 3-5 days.
Right Before and During Ovulation
- This is when you will have the most mucus.
- It’s clear and it feels slippery — like raw egg whites — and can be stretched between your fingers.
After Ovulation
- You may suddenly have less mucus, and it’ll get cloudy and sticky again until it goes away and you have more dry days.
- This lasts for about 11–14 days.
SAFE days to have sex!
- Safe days start after ovulation when the most slippery mucus goes away and your discharge is cloudy and sticky and then goes away, leading up to your period.
- This lasts for about 11–14 days on average.
UNSAFE days to have sex!
- The days during your period are unsafe, especially if you have a short cycle.
- The few days after your period ends but 2 or 3 days before the first signs of slippery mucus are unsafe.
- These “slippery days” are your fertile days, when you’re the most likely to get pregnant.
- Slippery days last about 4 days.
- They end about 4 days after slippery mucus peaks.
The Calendar Method
- Mark the first day of your period (this is day 1).
- Then mark the first day of your next period.
- Count the total number of days between each cycle (the number of days between the first days of each period).
To predict the first fertile day (when you can get pregnant) in your current cycle:
- Find the shortest cycle in your past record.
- Subtract 18 from the total number of days in that cycle.
- Count that number from day 1 of your current cycle, and mark that day with an X. (Include day 1 when you count.)
- The day marked X is your first fertile day.
To predict the last fertile day in your current cycle:
- Find the longest cycle in your record.
- Subtract 11 from the total number of days in that cycle.
- Count that number from day 1 (the first day of your period) of your current cycle, and mark that day with an X. (Include day 1 when you count.)
- The day marked X is your last fertile day.