Natural Fertility Awareness is the best way to time your baby-dance!
I’ve known it forever, but finally some actual research – According to the BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health journal there’s little evidence that fertility apps work. After all, the majority have been developed by a skilled developer and follow rather than a fertility specialist with accurate knowledge on how hormones actually work. From a getting pregnant perspective, I see my patients blindly follow their fertility app when TTC when most times it has ovulation so far-off track – pregnancy is impossible.
Natural family planning or fertility awareness can give hope to couples who have struggled with infertility and it is an invaluable tool for life. It will teach you how to read your body’s natural cues and know when you are fertile. Only then can you make proper decisions on when to have sex to get pregnant, or once you have your baby, to avoid getting pregnant too soon after with their sibling.
The basics of Natural Family Planning
NFP is a non-invasive, scientific approach to fertility management which enables you to:
• Learn how your body works
• Confirm ovulation without sticks or tests (think of the money you will save!). It can even tell you when you are pregnant
• Plan or avoid pregnancy with confidence
• Enjoy a method with no health risks or side effects
• Use a method that works throughout your reproductive years, including during breastfeeding and pre-menopause
Fertility facts and contraception
Did you know that:
– The average man is fertile all the time?
– The average woman is fertile for about nine days during each monthly cycle?
– Even though a woman is infertile for most of her cycle, most methods of contraception are designed to be used continuously.
A different approach to family planning
An alternative choice to traditional birth control is for a couple to learn to recognise the fertile days in the woman’s cycle, then simply avoid intercourse at this time to avoid pregnancy. This also works in reverse – couples wishing to conceive naturally can use the same method to identify the woman’s fertile phase in order to achieve pregnancy.
This is called Fertility Awareness / Natural Family Planning, or NFP!
Does it work?
When used correctly, yes! In fact, for those avoiding pregnancy, the NFP method has a 98% success rate when used correctly, which is a rate comparable to other methods of contraception. (Of course, if couples disregard the rules of the method, the pregnancy rate rises sharply – for obvious reasons.)
The NFP method is also very useful for identifying a woman’s fertile phase in very long or irregular cycles.
For those planning pregnancy, it is the only method that helps couples time intercourse accurately to aid conception. The NFP method boasts a 33% pregnancy success rate in sub-fertile couples when the rules of the method are correctly followed.
How does a woman know she’s fertile?
In the past women used calendar “rhythm” calculations to try and work out their fertile times. This is not reliable, especially if your cycles are irregular. Natural Family Planning (NFP) is very different. There is no guesswork; instead, you learn to recognise the signs of fertility which are universal in all fertile women.
There are two important signs to become familiar with when starting to use NFP:
• A special secretion that appears only in fertile women can be felt and seen in the vagina for about six days before ovulation. This secretion originates in the neck of the womb (the cervix), and its purpose is to transport and nourish the sperm, enabling them to live for up to several days until the egg is released at ovulation. (The egg itself has a fertile life-span of less than a day after release.) The fertile secretion dries up and disappears after ovulation.
• A dependable body temperature increase is the second sign by which you can track fertility. When the secretion dries up and ovulation takes place, a woman’s body temperature will rise thanks to the release of the hormone progesterone. The body temperature will remain high for 10 to 16 days, at which point (if conception has not occurred) menstruation begins.
NFP teaches how to become aware of and easily identify both the secretion and the rise in body temperature, and to record the results each day upon waking in a simple chart. Charting both signs and checking them against each-other allows you to recognise your pattern month by month, in order to either use it for family planning purposes or to track changes in your fertility.
Using NFP to avoid pregnancy
After three genuinely raised temperatures (which allow for release and life span of the egg) the rest of the cycle is infertile. Studies have shown that this temperature method even when used alone by well-motivated couples has a failure rate (in the phase after ovulation) comparable to sterilisation. So,NFP really does work!
Using NFP to plan pregnancy
The most fertile time to conceive is just before the first temperature rise when the fertile mucus secretion is at its best. If pregnancy is achieved, no period arrives and the temperature remains up for the duration of the pregnancy.
Is it easy to learn NFP?
NFP can be very easy to learn, especially under the tutelage of a qualified teacher. I can explain the rules, answer any questions you may have, and help guide you through the learning stage. Once learned, the NFP method can be utilised for the rest of your reproductive life!
What are the disadvantages of NFP?
• NFP requires communication, cooperation, motivation, commitment and self-control from both partners. For many, abstinence during the woman’s fertile times can become a positive experience of the growth in mature relationships. For those who find it harder to accept, alternate forms of intimacy can be pursued.
• People with classic cycles find NFP very easy, but others with more difficult cycles may have to work a bit harder at the charts and may face longer periods of abstinence due to uncertainty about the chance of fertility.
What are the advantages of NFP?
• NFP is easily learned with the help of a qualified teacher.
• It is a method based on education not intervention. It has no health risks or side effects since no devices or drugs are used.
• It appeals to health conscious and environmentally responsible individuals as no chemicals are used.
• Once learnt, NFP costs nothing and can be used for life. It is not doctor or prescription dependent.
• The couple become autonomous users who can later teach their children about their own fertility, encouraging the understanding of their bodies.
• It enables couples to plan for as well as space and eventually limit family size.
• It appeals to people of all religious faiths since it respects and does not interfere with a couple’s capacity for procreation.
• It becomes a way of life that can enrich a couple’s relationship by its shared values and responsibility.
• Most couples find the charting interesting and very informative about other aspects of their body, such as breast symptoms, mood swings and PMT, which are all related to the fertility cycle.
• Finally, NFP can be invaluable to couples having difficulty conceiving. Knowing when to start and stop baby-making sex can help couples keep passion in their relationship when sometimes it wanes during the TTC process.
I firmly believe in the value of NFP both for those who seek to wait to have children and those who are trying hard to fall pregnant. Contact me to learn how to make fertility awareness a way of life!