How To Do Natural Family Planning

Natural family planning or pregnancy planning refers to methods used to space out pregnancies by determining when the woman's fertile days are. Below are some of the most widely used and well-researched natural family planning methods.

1. Standard Days Method. The Standard Days Method is based on the woman's menstrual cycle and identifies a fixed window of days of fertility, which helps a woman to know which days to have intercourse and which days to avoid unprotected intercourse. In order to get pregnant, a woman whose menstrual cycles last 26-32 days should have unprotected sex on days 8-19, their fertile days. To help women in keeping track of their fertile or infertile days, they are given a colored string of beads called Cycle Beads. The Standard Days Method is very simple and involves no calculations, making it easy to teach and learn.
2. Two Day Method. This easy approach to natural family planning is based on a single algorithm that will help women in identifying fertile days based on secretions from the cervix. If the women notice stringy secretions and liquids on the current day or the previous day, they are probably fertile on the current day and should avoid intercourse.
3. Cervical Mucus Method. The Cervical Mucus Method is a more complex version of the Two Day Method and involves a deeper understanding of different cervical secretions. During fertile days, cervical secretions are clear, slippery, and stretchy. Couples who would not like to be pregnant should refrain from having intercourse from the first day of cervical mucus until the last day of fertile secretions from the cervix.
4. Basal Body Temperature. The Basal Body Temperature method identifies fertile days by taking body temperatures upon waking each morning. The temperature of a woman's body is usually lower before her ovulation and generally rises 0.2 degrees Celsius after ovulating. Couples who would like to avoid pregnancy should refrain from having intercourse from the start of menstruation until 3 days from the time the woman's basal body temperature rises 0.2 degrees Celsius.
5. Symptothermal Method. This method combines the Cervical Mucus Method and the Basal Body Temperature Method. Signs of fertility include observing basal temperature of the body, the feel of the cervix's opening, and cervical secretions. Other signs of fertility are spotting and mid-cycle pain.
6. Lactational Amenorrhea Method. Scientists have discovered that women become infertile during exclusive breastfeeding or full lactation. Full lactation refers to breastfeeding when the infant feeds night and day from his mother without regular supplemental feeding. In other words, it is okay to have unprotected intercourse during lactation, so long as menses have not resumed, the baby is exclusively breastfed and not bottle-fed, and the baby is six months old or younger.

The success of natural family planning methods depends on the ability to accurately identify a woman's fertile days and the couple's ability to adhere to the guidelines of the natural method they choose. Unintended pregnancies are usually the result of errors, when they have sex on days when the women are fertile. There is around a 1-9% chance that a woman can get pregnant while using natural family planning.