The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed the failure rate for fertility awareness as contraception. It used to be 24%, which meant it failed one in four women, and is now between 2% and 23%, depending on the method used.
 
This change means the CDC advice is now closer to that of the NHS website which says "If natural family planning (fertility awareness) instructions are carefully followed, this method can be up to 99% effective. This means that 1 out of 100 women using natural family planning correctly will get pregnant."

Of course this does not mean that fertility awareness suits everyone. Find out if it's right for you here.

I loved the start of this film from the Victoria Derbyshire programme. At last, women with terrible experiences with hormonal contraception getting a hearing!

Of course it would be even better if women didn’t have a horrific time with side effects – or get “laughed out of the room” if they ask for help with the diaphragm – but at least they were being listened to. 

If you want to get pregnant, the NICE Fertility guidance recommends vaginal sexual intercourse every two to three days.

You might think this is great news. At last – freedom from birth control! Woo Hoo!

Or you might not. Maybe your patience is limited, or you want to know how to improve your chances.

So you download an app. But which app should you use, how much data should you record, and how much can you trust them?

If you want to use fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy, you and your partner need to be happy with how you handle your fertile days.

That generally means about ten days a month when you use condoms or other precautions.

It's only possible to get pregnant for about six days but your fertile time can change so you add some extra days, especially while you're learning.

This might be no big deal, especially if you're already using

Using condoms might be an alarming prospect if it's a while since you last used them.

Or your most vivid memory is sniggering while you rolled one onto a banana at school...

They can work very well, but you need to know what you're doing - a bit like fertility awareness.

Here's some tips:

I wrote this letter [Free link] with Emma Pickett after reading this research about improving access to postpartum contraception.
 
We suggest that breastfeeding, and so child health, could be supported more effectively if those providing postpartum contraception:

1. Routinely offered the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) as a contraceptive option. LAM can be over 98% effective so long as a woman meets all three lam rules: fully breastfeeding, her child being less than six months old, and her periods not returning. The "fully  breastfeeding" rule means it supports good practice in terms of breastfeeding.  LAM is not always communicated effectively, but that seems like grounds for research into effective communication, not a reason to dismiss it.

2. Adopted a more cautious approach to prescribing hormonal postpartum contraception. There is substantial anecdotal evidence that this can cause breastfeeding problems for some women. Problems are less likely if women who want to use hormonal contraception start with the progestogen-only pill before moving on to the injection or implant. 
 
Please see this web page for further information.