Does it work? It depends...
Fertility awareness, also known as natural family planning, is an unforgiving method. It can fail as many as one in three women (BMJ).
But those fails are not generally random bolts from the blue. So long as you use the right method consistently and correctly it can be up to 99% effective (NHS).
The right method doesn’t mean a period tracking app, no matter how confidently it announces when you're fertile and when your period is due.
It means you either trust the algorithm on a contraception app like Natural Cycles, or to you learn how to interpret your own data.
The NHS website, and the BMJ, says the most effective approach is to learn how to interpret your own data with support from someone like me. Algorithms are good, but we’re better, or can be.
Whatever you do, fertility awareness works best if you take your waking temperature, also known as basal body temperature. This helps you know if illness, medication or some kind of event has disrupted your cycle.
Potentially disruptive events include sudden weight loss, grief, moving house or even going on holiday or getting a new job. Our bodies can be very sensitive.
It’s also important to use condoms or other precautions for at least eleven days a cycle. There’s no avoiding that.
Women are not machines. We might only be fertile for 6 to 9 days a cycle but, those days aren't fixed. We need a buffer.
Getting support makes fertility awareness more effective but this isn’t always funded by the NHS.
Check the Fertility UK practitioner list to see if you're covered. If not there’s several practitioners, including me, who provide support by Zoom and have a sliding scale.
But those fails are not generally random bolts from the blue. So long as you use the right method consistently and correctly it can be up to 99% effective (NHS).
The right method doesn’t mean a period tracking app, no matter how confidently it announces when you're fertile and when your period is due.
It means you either trust the algorithm on a contraception app like Natural Cycles, or to you learn how to interpret your own data.
The NHS website, and the BMJ, says the most effective approach is to learn how to interpret your own data with support from someone like me. Algorithms are good, but we’re better, or can be.
Whatever you do, fertility awareness works best if you take your waking temperature, also known as basal body temperature. This helps you know if illness, medication or some kind of event has disrupted your cycle.
Potentially disruptive events include sudden weight loss, grief, moving house or even going on holiday or getting a new job. Our bodies can be very sensitive.
It’s also important to use condoms or other precautions for at least eleven days a cycle. There’s no avoiding that.
Women are not machines. We might only be fertile for 6 to 9 days a cycle but, those days aren't fixed. We need a buffer.
Getting support makes fertility awareness more effective but this isn’t always funded by the NHS.
Check the Fertility UK practitioner list to see if you're covered. If not there’s several practitioners, including me, who provide support by Zoom and have a sliding scale.