When I explain to people what I do, I often hear the question, “What is fertility awareness?” Well, the short answer is it’s a way to chart and interpret your body’s natural biomarkers indicating your fertility status. You can use it to become pregnant, avoid pregnancy, or even keep track of your health. But there’s also a longer, more comprehensive answer, and I’d love to go over that with you today!
What do I have to do to practice fertility awareness?
There are really a few steps to practicing fertility awareness:
- Choose a method. I teach a symptothermal double-check method, with optional added protocols with LH and PdG urine tests.
- Find a way to learn your method. There are plenty of ways to learn a method:
- through an instructor,
- in a self-study online course, or
- self-teaching through a manual.
**Please note all method efficacies and studies are based on being taught by a qualified instructor, but there are some high-quality online courses out there.
- Gather your materials. For most methods, this means
- a basal body temperature (traditional or Tempdrop)
- a paper chart or an app
- Start charting! For some, this is a hard step. But working with an instructor or even finding a charting accountability partner can make it so much easier! Your accountability partner could even be your partner.
How can I use fertility awareness?
As I said above, there are three main uses of fertility awareness. While two of them are exclusive (you can’t optimize conception and avoid pregnancy at the same time), the third – charting your health – can be done in conjunction with either of the other two, or on its own.
Optimize Conception
Studies have found that couples who understand how to time intercourse correctly for their specific cycles are up to 3 times more likely to conceive in any given cycle. Using fertility awareness can be a good tool if it’s been a few months of trying but you can’t get in to see a doctor yet – to help you understand what’s going on. It’s also great data to bring to your doctor, and it can give them a better idea of where to start if you are struggling.
Avoid Pregnancy
Different methods of fertility awareness provide different efficacy (success) rates of avoiding pregnancy. The one I teach is almost identical to Sensiplan, which has a long-term observational study indicating 99.4% efficacy with perfect use. Note: this doesn’t include the use of barrier methods during the fertile window, which is also effective, though slightly less so than perfect use.
Chart Your Health
Many people who start using fertility awareness for another reason also find themselves charting their health. This is especially true of those with more common health issues, such as PCOS, that make cycles more irregular. It gives you the chance to make diet, lifestyle, and medication changes and watch the effects those changes have. If you still have a period but have had a tubal ligation, you can still chart to see what your hormones are doing!
About the Author
Hi! I’m Liza, the owner and founder of Cache Valley Baby & Family. I do a lot of different things, including postpartum doula support, fertility awareness instruction (with a focus on conception), infant feeding support, and perinatal class instruction. I have a passion for working with families and women.
In my perinatal classes and postpartum support, I’ve worked with families from all walks of life, supporting them through their unique journeys. I particularly enjoy watching people become more confident in their own abilities as they go through my classes.
I love teaching fertility awareness. Because of the rest of my services, my focus is mainly on charting for conception, but I’m also experienced and happy to teach those charting to avoid pregnancy or to track their health. I have experience helping people chart with PCOS, thyroid disease, and more. I trained as an instructor through NFPTA.
All of my classes can be taken online from anywhere around the world, and I also hold local classes in Cache Valley, Utah. If you’d like to work with me, go ahead and reach out!
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