Natural Family Planning Methods

Knowing your body

• There are many signs that can indicate an impending ovulation and increased chance of conceiving. They include a pattern in your waking temperature, increased cervical fluid and a lower cervix. The trick, however, is knowing the timing between the onset of the symptoms and ovulation. If you are using natural family planning to avoid pregnancy, it is best to learn your cycles prior to discontinuing other forms of birth control. Although you may know the day that you typically ovulate, sperm can live up to 48 to 72 hours. This means if you have intercourse three days prior to ovulation, there is still a potential for conception. However, if you are using natural family planning in order to conceive, having intercourse at least every other day around your expected time of ovulation, can increase your chances of conception.

Waking temperature

• Taking your temperature is a relatively error-free way to get to know your cycles. The key, however, is to look at the big picture. No single temperature reading is likely to give you much information. It is your temperature chart as a whole that can be telling. In general, women have lower body temperatures prior to ovulation, they increase on the day of ovulation and stay at a higher lever until they take a dramatic dip when menstruation begins. If you are pregnant, though, your temperatures will remain in the higher register and will likely increase even more. Keeping track of your daily waking temperature, at the same time every day with at least three hours of steady sleep prior to the reading, can help you identify how long your cycles are and when you are potentially most fertile. Keeping track of your temperatures can also help you determine whether you even have "regular" cycles. Some women will discover they are actually anovulatory--meaning they don't ovulate every month--just by charting their temperatures. It takes a few cycles of charting temperatures to identify a distinct pattern, as every cycle may vary slightly from the one before.

Cervical mucous

• Just prior to ovulation, women get an increased amount of egg-white-like cervical discharge. Cervical mucous increases at the time of ovulation to help the sperm survive in order to fertilize the egg. Increased cervical mucous also helps to act as a natural lubricant to help with intercourse and for sperm to travel more easily.