Fertility Awareness/natural family planning

skybluesarah:

Thanks ladies, this is all great stuff. As for the Duggars (not that I watch the programme much, honest...) they don't use NFP - they simply leave it up to God/fate as to whether they conceive or not.  I think the idea is called the quiverfull approach but I could be wrong.  It's pretty hardcore, trusting the size of your family to God.  Can't say I could afford to do it myself...

 

"Quiverfull"

God was very generous with the Duggars! We trusted our family size to him too, and he held back a bit. I would have loved a shed load.

Poor MrsDuggar is coming under pressure not to have any more because she's had to have a few c sections and they don't like to do too many. I love her. I think she's fab, and that she should dictate a book on logistics and military strategy to be that organised. Mind you, my Granny had 10 children in 14 years (then Grandad went and died so she was on her own) and they all turned out beautifully. No NFP for her, clearly!

having spent 2 years ttcing with very regular periods, ov-ing each month etc - i just didn't get any CM, never have really so i couldn't 'monitor' it either to try and get pregnant or to avoid it. How would you deal with that situation?

Goldfish - lack of CM can cause issues in conceiving, as for charting, we look at sensation too, i.e. how it feels when you wipe.  If you haven't already I'd encourage investigations into hormone levels to address the lack of CM.  Any situations I see like that I refer to doctors as I'm not medically qualified - I can see issues from charting that might indicate something but not qualified to remedy them myself!  I can't really say much more as it would not be appropriate for me to "diagnose" a non-client if you see what I mean!

Holly Bags...know what you mean re: family size.  I've not been to impressed with what God had planned for me, but goodness me, Colette is such a blessing.  I'm already itching to get started on number 2 (can't until a year is up because of my c-section scar) but if number 2 takes as long as Colette I will be 38 when he/she arrives.  I always thought I would have a big family, but it's not looking likely now.

Goldfish:

having spent 2 years ttcing with very regular periods, ov-ing each month etc - i just didn't get any CM, never have really so i couldn't 'monitor' it either to try and get pregnant or to avoid it. How would you deal with that situation?

For me, the temp, dip then spike was very obvious. Of course, that is easier to see after ovulation but with fairly regular cycles (25-29 days iirc) it was fairly predictable from temp alone for me.

skybluesarah:

Goldfish - lack of CM can cause issues in conceiving, as for charting, we look at sensation too, i.e. how it feels when you wipe.  If you haven't already I'd encourage investigations into hormone levels to address the lack of CM.  Any situations I see like that I refer to doctors as I'm not medically qualified - I can see issues from charting that might indicate something but not qualified to remedy them myself!  I can't really say much more as it would not be appropriate for me to "diagnose" a non-client if you see what I mean!

thanks though i should have made clear that after blood tests etc and 2 cycles after having a hsg i got a bfp - the results of which is currently waving his hands around demanding boob!!

was just interested in the focus being on CM....

Ah, congratulations!!

I think that the issues I have with natural family planning methods are

1. failure rate - perhaps you might sell it better as fertility reducing measures rather than contraception?

2. alternative options and their failure rates, contraindications, risks and noncontraceptive benefits

3. the effort involved to monitor temp/cm/document and analyse the data

4. the biological increase in sexual desire at more fertile points in the cycle

Bottom line for me is that either I want to prevent a pregnancy as effectively as possible or I want to be pregnant as soon as possible. So I use contraceptive measures with the lowest failure rate until I want to be pregnant, then look for fertile signs and try the JK method.

I can see advantages of NFP but it's not for me

It's a recognised method of contraception but its typical use failure rate is about 25% IIRC, which is far too high for most. With perfect use its better (?97%), but most people aren't perfect. If the Catholic Church could just get over themselves, Catholic women would have better options.

I think it would be great if it were not pushed as a method of contraception but more as a tool to understand your own body. I used temps, charting and CM to help me to conceive but like Goldfish I had very little CM and in the end I was diagnosed with PCO and PCOS, which wasn't a surprise to me after a year of charting. I conceived my little girl after 3 cycles of Clomid but I do think charting helped me to really understand how my body was working (or not working) and also put me in a much stronger position to argue for treatment with the doctors.

My friend conceived first month of trying with both her children and yet remains incredibly ignorant about how it happens! She told me that she and her friend had come up with a theory that if you conceived in the first half of your cycle, it would be a boy, and if in the second half it would be a girl. I looked at her blankly and said, 'but that's impossible, there are only about two days in the month where you can get pregnant at all, and it's always at roughly the same time'. She hadn't a CLUE about ovulation or anything - and she's 34 and definitely not stupid!

I found charting and CM very helpful to help me to conceive but I would not use it as a method of contraception for the same reasons others have offered. I also (because of the PCOS) have extremely irregular cycles when I'm not on the pill, so even identifying my fertile window is a bit of a nightmare!

Thanks ladies.  Mrs aspiring, I love your friend's ideas...blimey.  We do offer extra support to women with irregular cycles to help identify fertile times.

Rache - I've dug out my stats: the effectiveness of this method to avoid a pregnancy is 94.6% - and that's use effectiveness.  Method effectiveness is much higher.  Stats here if you are interested: http://www.creightonmodel.com/effectiveness.htm

Surely this natural method is useful for those who for whatever reason beleive that artificail contraception isn't for them.  For me its not realiable enough as i wouldn't want to take any real risk of a baby, but if, say, you are a practicing catholic who doesn't believe in contraception, then this is better than nothing and might mean you end up with a more manageable number of children than the duggers!

Its not for me i'm afriad, but i can see that their would be a market.  I know a few "we won't use contraception" families, and i reckon they must do something like this

Zez:

Surely this natural method is useful for those who for whatever reason beleive that artificail contraception isn't for them.  For me its not realiable enough as i wouldn't want to take any real risk of a baby, but if, say, you are a practicing catholic who doesn't believe in contraception, then this is better than nothing and might mean you end up with a more manageable number of children than the duggers!

 

Its not for me i'm afriad, but i can see that their would be a market.  I know a few "we won't use contraception" families, and i reckon they must do something like this

 

I think it's rather short sighted to assume that this method is most suited to Catholic families.

Look at this machine - it's sold in Boots across the country, and given that there aren't very many Catholics who practice their religion to the point of not using contraception, their market must include other groups!

http://www.persona.info/uk/

I think persona, and Fertility Awareness are a great fallback for those who just haaate hormonal contraception, and if you really want ti DTD during the fertile bit, then get out the condoms/cap, but the rest of the time you could not bother! Genius!

Holly Bags:

 but the rest of the time you could not bother! Genius!

 

Now THAT is a good selling point, beats a headache any day

sn-itchit:

Holly Bags:

 but the rest of the time you could not bother! Genius!

 

 

 

 

Now THAT is a good selling point, beats a headache any day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I meant not bother with contraception, rather than not bother with 'having it off' !