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In this post, we are going to be talking about the pros and cons of the fertility awareness method or natural family planning. I’ll be sharing what I use and my experience using this ‘natural birth control’ and if i’d recommend it to others!
The fertility awareness methods (FAMs) or natural family planning (NFP), can help you to determine your daily fertility by tracking your daily primary and secondary biomarkers. This can be used to prevent a pregnancy or to plan one with an effectiveness of up to 98% with perfect use, depending on the FAM used.
Let’s Discuss the Pros and the Cons of the Fertility Awareness Method
Pros of Fertility Awareness
- No hormones and non-invasive – yay for natural cycling benefits
- Don’t have to remember to take a pill or switch a ring or patch
- No symptoms from hormones or IUD!
- Learn more and get familiar with your body
- You’ll know when your period is coming
- Understand your personal emotional and physical fluctuations during each phase
- Create a health history record by tracking symptoms and cycle — you’ll know if something needs medical attention.
- Can be used to avoid pregnancy or plan a pregnancy
- Partner typically understands you on another level
- You’ll have a head start on family planning if want to start trying
Cons of Fertility Awareness
- Avoid intercourse during fertile days or use alternative protection like a condom (defaults to condom protection rating, not FAMs).
- You must learn the “rules” of chosen FAM — which I think is a pro because you learn SO much about your body
- Be consistent with tracking biomarkers
- Be disciplined to follow the “rules”
- Partner needs to be on an level of understanding
- More difficult to use if you have an irregular cycle – although I successfully use this method, it just may mean you have more fertile days in a given cycle than someone with a regular cycle.
The Symptothermal Method (The Method I Use)
I chose to use the symptothermal method, where I track my cervical mucus along with my basal body temperature each morning.
With these two biomarkers, I can confidently track and understand my daily fertility, the beginning and end of my fertile window and know exactly when I will get my period. For someone with a history of irregular cycles, I’m never surprised anymore!
These two biomarkers help to identify fertility because they give us clues about the hormone fluctuations that occur throughout our cycle.
A little reminder, we have four phases during our menstrual cycles, and our hormones have a different rhythm for each. First the menstrual phase—where hormones are at there lowest—the follicular phase—where hormones (particularly estrogen) are building leading up to ovulation. Then theres the ovulatory phase—where hormones peak—and lastly the luteal phase—where progesterone dominates and hormones fall at the end of the cycle.
Our tracking and biomarkers can help us indicate what phase we are in. The “discharge” we see, mainly our Cervical mucus, changes throughout the cycle. Our fertile window starts when we start to notice a moistness down there, which develops into a more abundant, slippery, clear, stretchy or watery mucus the closer we approach ovulation. Once ovulated this mucus will dry up due to the hormone progesterone.
Progesterone also increases our body temperature, which we can pick up by tracking our basal body temperature each morning. You’ll notice an increase of about .5-1 degree once you have ovulated, once this rise in temperature stays elevated for three days you can confirm you are in your luteal phase and out of your fertile window — aka no risk of pregnancy! You can use a thermometer to two decimal places, sometimes referred to as an ovulation thermometer or you can use a tracking tool like tempdrop, natural cycles, apple watch— I use my Oura ring to track my temperature.
Another option as a primary biomarker is cervical position. When you get closer to ovulation your cervix rises and becomes more soft. Outside of this time unless pregnant it will be lower and harder like the tip of your nose.
A common secondary biomarker, that many use, is tracking LH using ovulation test strips. This can help you determine if you are about to ovulate, but does NOT confirm if you actually did ovulate.
My Experience Using the Fertility Awareness Method
I learned about the various forms of fertility awareness methods months after being off the hormonal birth control pill. I had various symptoms on the pill and IUD and didn’t want to go back on it. I was at my wit’s end trying to figure out my fertility and avoid pregnancy when I came across the use of temperature to confirm ovulation.
I was using the Flo app to predict my cycle’s ovulation day, but this was notoriously wrong—especially for my irregular cycles. I always tell people NOT to rely on an app to tell you if your fertile or not.
I didn’t want to take my temperature each morning and enjoy taking advantage of new toys so I immediately ordered the Oura Ring to start my journey—it was pricy especailly because they weren’t in Canada yet, but this felt like it was my golden ticket (I hadn’t yet heard about Tempdrop, plus I really wanted an Oura Ring to track sleep qaulity) The ring takes a little bit to adjust to your baseline so I avoided fertility judgements I made from the ring for the first few months.
The first book I read that changed my outlook on my menstrual health was ‘The Fifth Vital Sign’ by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack. This expanded my perspective on the role hormone fluctuations play in our everyday lives and the biomarkers we see physically. This book single-handedly prompted me to invest in so many other amazing books and the Fertility Education and Medical Management certificate, which allowed me to learn the ins and outs of the FEMM method and teach to others world wide— I have an opportunity coming soon where you can learn this method from the comfort of your home!
I finally feel like my fertility is in my own hands, I commonly ask myself “Why this information isn’t taught in schools” or more “well-known”, and I tell everyone about how “cool their cervical mucus is” — if it makes sense to the convo.
The symptothermal method I use is easy to learn and easy to use. It becomes second nature once you get the hang of it. I check my temperature in the morning and chart my cervical mucus in the evening or when notice it and any other symptoms.
I am so happy I came across FAM and for right now this is working for me and my partner and I see myself utilizing this method for the foreseeable future.
The FEMM App
The FEMM app can be used to track cervical mucus and other symptoms along with your period. This is the app I use to chart my biomarkers and what I teach others to use. You can add in your temperature on the app, although it does not make a pretty graph like alternative apps or paper charts do. I find this isn’t necessary though.
I love the way the app is set up and is very intuitive and easy to use. If cycles are irregular they have a dedicated FEMM medical team that can do a workup with you to figure next steps and the root cause. You can reach out to them directly on the app if this is something you want to do (this feature is extra).
Many others love the “Read Your Body” app as well. This is a paid app, although not super pricy at $15 for a yearly subscription. However, a great feature is the connection it has with the Tempdrop (armband temperature tracker) if you’d like to opt for an automatic temperature tracker similar to the Oura ring.
Would I Recommend the Fertility Awareness Method?
I would recommend this method to anyone who wants to learn more about their body, who wants a natural way to monitor their daily fertility to prevent or plan a pregnancy, and who has the desire to learn and the discipline to stick with it.
It can be a very rewarding experience and give you a leg up on your health and future fertility. One of the best ways FAM proves itself useful is by allowing you to understand your cycles and your norms. By tracking our cycles we can see potential health complications through out charting and symptoms. If you’ve been tracking your menstrual cycle a while you can compare these to your older charts, if something new arises. You can also compare your data to what a ‘”normal” period or hormone fluctuations look like and if yours has any red-flags that could present a medical issue.
Overall becoming more in-tune with your cycle, whether it is from using a FAM or just paying attention to your cycles more can be one of the most informative things you do for your health and fertility.
Additional Trackers, Methods and Info
I have written a full blog post on the additional tools and various forms of hormone-free “birth control” and the 7 different types of Fertility Awareness Methods. See which one is best for you!
Conclusion
Do you think you’d give it a try? Everyone has their reasons for choosing what is best for them. Sometimes the pill or an IUD can be the right choice for you. Some make their choice from past experiences, medical conditions, religion or simply would rather use a non-invasive and non-hormonal option.
I love that FAM has helped me learn more about my body along with my fertility. I am more in tune and aware of the physical and mental shifts reflecting each phase. I am more compassionate towards my body and mental health during these shifts and understand the reflection they play off my hormones.
