Guide to the Fertility Awareness Method

Whether you are looking for a more natural way to avoid pregnancy or you and your partner are trying to conceive, fertility awareness method is about to become your new best friend.

When used properly, fertility awarenessss method, is just as effective as the pill and it empowers you to get to know your cycle inside and out while avoiding massive disruptions to our body’s hormonal balance.

Unfortunately, many physicians don’t support FAM because of outdated beliefs that it isn’t effective. They are likely confusing it with the “rhythm method”. And luckily for us, with technology available to us now, it is a viable option for women to prevent pregnancy or track ovulation to give you the best odds of becoming pregnant if/when you would like to do so.

In today’s post, well will be covering:

What Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is
What signs you will track with FAM
Who this form of birth control is appropriate for
Best tools to use for FAM

What is Fertility Awareness Method (FAM)?

Let's set the record straight: As a woman (or menstruating individuals) with a regular/typical cycle, you are only able to get pregnant 5-6 days out of your cycle. The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is all about tracking signs of ovulation and avoiding unprotected sex during that time. Not only is it a wonderful way to get in touch with your body and more intimately learn about your cycle, but it also is a great option for hormone-free birth control.

The main sign that is tracked in FAM is the Basal Body Temperature, or BBT. It is taken in the morning, immediately upon waking up (before you get out of bed, before going to the bathroom, before your feet touch the ground, before you do literally anything) and is taken while laying down, underneath the tongue.

Essentially, BBT tracks changes in progesterone in the body, which rises after ovulation. Progesterone raises the body’s temperature, which means you can track those changes in temperature to be able to determine when your body has ovulated.

For example: BBT before you ovulate may run between 97 F to 97.7 F and after ovulation your BBT will typically increase by about 0.5 F and will stay raised until you start your period.

The tricky part is that when your temperature has spiked, that is an indication that you have already ovulated, so it’s a little trickier to determine when you are about to ovulate. Again with today’s technology, there are different resources that you can utilize to help you with this that use algorithms and your temperature to predict your ovulation window. This way you can use barrier methods such as condoms or avoid sex on those days!

*Note: You will need to track your temperatures for 2-3 cycles before these apps will be able to accurately predict when you’re ovulating. This means using a barrier method for birth control.

Other Signs to Track with FAM

Cervical Mucus/Fluid

Have you ever noticed that your discharge changes throughout the month? Sometimes it’s white and creamy consistency, other times it resembles an egg white and is thick and stretchy. It is the thick, egg-white consistency that is a sign of fertility and a sign that you’re ovulating. This discharge typically is seen 2-3 days before you ovulate* and helps sperm to swim more rapidly to your egg to be fertilized. If you’re trying to prevent pregnancy, this is a sign you want to either abstain or have protected sex. See the next section for more information on what your discharge might look like throughout the month and what it means.
*However, this type of mucus is seen anytime you have high estrogen (compared to progesterone). So, if you are estrogen dominant you could see this mucus during other times of the month. Therefore, it’s essential to track this symptom along with temperature.

Cervical Position

Lastly, you can track your cervical position, by physically feeling your cervix. Your cervix is the opening to your uterus and is usually low inside the vagina (about one finger length). It also has a harder texture, similar to the tip of your nose. However, just before ovulation your cervix will be higher and softer. It is common to just go by temperature and cervical mucus, but if you're comfortable with it, cervical position is another good indication of ovulation.

Other Ways to Track Ovulation:

Ovulation test strips: Test strips track luteinizing hormone, which peaks 36-40 hours before ovulation. If you begin tracking 7-9 days after your period until you see a positive test strip, you will know you will ovulate within the next 1-2 days. This shouldn't be used on it's own, as LH can rise for other reasons, but used in conjunction with FAM can be a great indicator if you've ovulated
Other signs of ovulation (not a reliable indication of FAM): mid cycle cramping (you may experience a sharp pain in one side), mid cycle spotting, bloating, water retention, and breast tenderness.

Types of Cervical Mucus/Fluid

Lowest fertility (usually right after your period)

Appearance: nothing seen
Sensation: dry, rough and itchy, nothing felt

Low Fertility

Appearance: yellow, white, cloudy. Sticky, tacky almost glue-like
Sensation: damp

Low fertility

Appearance: mucus is thick, creamy, whitish, yellowish, not stretchy/elastic
Sensation: damp

High fertility

Appearance: clear, stretchy, watery, and slippery transparent mucus, like raw egg white
Sensation: wet, slippery

Who this Method is Appropriate For?

Fertility Awareness Method isn’t right for everyone, here are a few reasons you may want to find other forms of birth control:

Irregular cycles or cycles lasting longer than 35 days or less than 20 days every single cycle (this could be a sign of a hormonal imbalance, which can be corrected)
If you’re still on hormonal birth control (this will impact your temperature)
If you consume alcohol excessively on a daily basis
If you no longer have a period (post-menopause)
Some medications might impact your temperature

Best Tool for Fertility Awareness Method:

There are a variety of options on the market today. I have used Daysy and Tempdrop in the past, but my favorite system has been Natural Cycles.

Natural Cycles ($89.99 with free thermometer): Natural Cycles is an app where you pay a subscription fee and you can either choose to get their thermometer or purchase one (but it must have at least one decimal place). The thing I like most about Natural Cycles is it shows you the temperature on their thermometer and you have to manually put in the temperature. This way you are able to see where it falls on your temperature chart. I think it helps with knowing the trend and helps the user better understand their specific cycle. The other nice thing is that within the app it asks you about different factors that may impact your temperature such as if you’re unwell, hungover, or have slept >2 hours more or less than usual.

Note: DO NOT USE “estimated ovulation windows” from apps that don’t require your daily temperature.

Fertility Awareness Method is a cheaper and more accurate option (when used correctly), that allows women to become beautifully in sync with their body's. You will begin to notice signs that you may not have been in tune with before. I hope you found this post about the Fertility Awareness Method helpful! If you have any questions or want to share your experience, comment down below.

Fertility Awareness Method