Is FAM right for you?
To use the fertility awareness method of contraception (FAM), you need to:
- Use condoms or other precautions for at least ten days a month, probably more, especially while you are learning.
- Record a few things on an app or a paper chart. Mainly day one of your period, your waking temperature and your maximum fluid days (usually two or three a month). There's a limit to how much you need to record.
- Interpret those things correctly. This is something you learn as you go, which is why condoms or other precautions are so important.
You also need true periods, not pill periods. They don't have to be every 28 days, you just need to get them - preferably every 21 to 35 days.
If you stop taking the pill, use condoms or other precautions till you have a true period and know what you're doing.
Absent periods can often be fixed by looking after your overall health, check out Lara Briden, and use condoms or other precautions till they return.
You can learn FAM on your own, but the NHS website recommends you get support from a Fertility UK practitioner (like me).