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8 ways to condom confidence

3/10/2016

 
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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:


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Postpartum contraception - are we missing something?

18/7/2016

 
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.

Can postpartum contraception do more to support breastfeeding? [Full text of letter to Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare]

18/6/2016

 
As mentioned in the above post, I wrote this letter with Emma Pickett after reading this research about how to improve postnatal contraception. The full text is here, in case the other link doesn't work:

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Planning to breastfeed and want some support? Read this...

8/1/2016

 
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Reading this book made me realise how lucky I was with my breastfeeding experience. Thanks to absorbing information from friends and ante-natal classes, I expected breastfeeding to be a doddle and it was. Time-consuming but a doddle. There's worse things than having to sit around for hours at a time with a baby attached to your boob.

Unfortunately, not everyone has it so easy. We might be designed to breastfeed but we are also from the generation that was most likely to be fed formula ourselves. What was once routine can now seem mysterious and intimidating.

We hear the glib message “breast is best” but that doesn’t always help. "Best" is all very well but who achieves that? Women need support not just slogans. That's what this book is all about.


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My Champion of Choice post for BPAS

9/12/2015

 
BPAS kindly nominated me a Champion of Choice for my fertility awareness work so I wrote this:

Fertility awareness (natural family planning) is not a contraceptive choice for the faint-hearted.

This isn’t because the method is difficult or ineffective. You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to be able to handle your fertile time, but it’s not rocket science.

The hardest part is probably telling your doctor (and your friends) that you’re relying on it to avoid pregnancy.

I’ve heard reports of eye-rolling and angry sighs from some doctors, or more dramatically “Well, don’t come back to me if you need an abortion”. [Not all doctors are like this, mine was lovely]

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Podcast: Fertility awareness chat with Lisa from Fertility Friday

7/12/2015

 
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Listen to Lisa (Fertility Friday) and myself talk about all sorts of things relating to fertility awareness, including:
  • what kind of person can use fertility awareness;
  • the magic (and horror!) of cervical fluid;
  • the joy of digital thermometers;
  • the calendar calculations conundrum;
  • handling the fertile and potentially fertile time;
  • different ways of learning about fertility awareness;
  • getting ready for pregnancy. 

Listen here and find out more about Lisa's podcasts here

Is Ricki Lake scaremongering?

16/7/2015

 
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At the beginning of the campaign to fund this film about the pill I tweeted “Help out if you can. This is important stuff and I’m sure that Ricki Lake will do a great job.”  I put my money where my mouth is and became a backer, and then didn’t quite get round to writing a blog.

The main reason for my hesitation was I was nervous about the approach that might be taken. The film is based on the

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Miscontraceptions: what a beautiful film!

18/5/2015

 
Funny, clear and wonderfully well made, this film has a freshness and honesty that makes it compelling viewing whether you’re new to fertility awareness as contraception or you've been using it for years.

The tone is steady, measured and not overly evangelical, which I found a relief. I love fertility awareness but I don't want anyone to feel like they don't have options. 
Those interviewed talk briefly about how profit affects healthcare but this doesn’t overwhelm the main messages, and the film is sympathetic to healthcare providers wanting to do the right thing by their patients.

That said, there’s a few things it's worth knowing:
  1. Stay in bed to take your waking temperature!! The film shows the director standing up with a thermometer in her mouth. I'm sure there were reasons for this but can almost hear fertility awareness/natural family planning users crying “Nooo!!” when they see this. Your temperature changes once you get up and about. One of the advantage of fertility awareness is it means you have an official reason to stay in bed for a few more minutes. And you don't have to use a BBT thermometer. Here's more about taking your temperature.
  2. Be wary of the “infertile – fertile – infertile” graphic. It’s nice and clear (and very commonly used) but I’d rather see one with “low fertility – fertile – infertile”. Basically the first bit of the cycle can be safe, but it’s easier to identify the later infertile part of your cycle - there's more about this here.
  3. Not all fertility awareness folk use almonds or felt vulva cushions. All power to those that do (great for body literacy etc) but this is not standard, at least not in the UK. When I’m working with someone/a couple I mainly answer lots of questions and point at things in this book and this leaflet.  
Even so, this is a brilliant film and beautifully done. I'd be delighted if I'd made something half as good. Massive congratulations to everyone in the team.   

An extra safe way to use fertility awareness as contraception.

4/3/2015

 
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I love simplicity – especially when it comes to using fertility awareness as contraception - but sometimes things can be made too simple.

For example, some will say that the risk of pregnancy at the beginning of the menstrual cycle is the same as the risk at the end of your cycle.

It's safer to think of the early days (which start with day one of your period) as low fertility or
relatively infertile, at least while you're learning.

John Guillebaud (contraception guru) says to think of the early days as "amber" and only the late postovulatory days as "green for go".

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Contraception: give  choice a chance!

9/12/2014

 
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I cycle round London and I love it – the views, being in the open air, knowing how long a journey’s going to take, feeling my blood pumping a little bit faster.

You might think cycling is way too risky and that’s fine by me.  I’m not going to tell anyone to cycle if they don’t feel comfortable with it.

Nor am I going to claim that cycling works for every journey.


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Is your fertility clock ticking?

29/10/2014

 
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If you want a baby (it’s not compulsory) you are probably  all too aware of your fertility, and how it declines with age.

You might just want to sort a few things first. Like a suitable partner, a decent job, affordable housing, affordable childcare and while we're at it how about flexible working practices?


Once you are ready - or if you have decided to go for it anyway - you
have the small matter of getting pregnant to attend to. Well-meaning, but oversimplified messages about the importance of contraception might 


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The Holy Grail of Fertility Awareness: A Bride’s Tale by J Rose

20/10/2014

1 Comment

 
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One summer morning I took a short trip which changed my life.

I had little time. Trying to plan a wedding in a handful of months, I figured a 45 minute train ride to London was squeezable, between doubts about heel heights and emails about chair sashes.

From Kings Cross I hopped over to Camden. The pavements shimmered in the heat of June. Everything slows down in London under the sun’s gaze. The fruit stands waft scent as though each item is waking from a slumber. Strangers find their smiles, become casually conversational.

I went to see Sarah in London because of a chat at a clinic in Cambridge.

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Periods: Bloody Hell or Surfing the Crimson Tide?

16/9/2014

 
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One of the first things you’ll be asked if you're choosing contraception is whether you’d like to have periods.

Many  methods of contraception have "no periods"* as a selling point - even the pill can be taken more or less continuously, with just a few pill free days every so often to stop irregular bleeding.

If you’re using fertility awareness as contraception there isn't a "no periods"


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When should you have sex if you want to get pregnant?

8/7/2014

 
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If you want to get pregnant, the NICE Fertility guidance recommends that you have vaginal sexual intercourse every 2 to 3 days.

For many this is great news. At last – freedom from contraception! Woo Hoo!

Others will find that their hearts sink.  

Maybe you don’t have sex that often (which is fine - you're not alone*), or your patience is limited, or you have a slightly more varied approach to sex (which is fine as well - just so long as everyone is happy).

If that any of that sounds like you, then you might benefit from having some




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Bump: how to make, grow and birth a baby by Kate Evans  (Book Review)

18/6/2014

 
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I love almost everything about this book. The cartoons are brilliant: the switch from “contented cow” to “psycho bitch”, and the way they show how fallopian tubes sift sperm (though the tail should have come off the sperm once it entered the egg) and the “flames of creation” cartoon about stretch marks.

The writing style is funny, friendly and informative. The “adventure moments” do a neat job of acknowledging people’s different circumstances and preferences.

Kate Evans is very sympathetic to those wanting a baby and experiencing fertility problems. How it hurts to want a baby.

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    Author

    Fertility awareness (natural family planning) practitioner and advocate working in London. Wants to see fertility awareness become a routine contraceptive option, not the only option. read more...

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  Kentish Town, London, UK
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