Natural Family Planning

Natural Family Planning

What is natural family planning

Natural family planning, i.e. without the use of drugs or contraceptives, can be achieved by abstaining from intercourse during the fertile period. There are many methods that help in determining the woman's fertile period (ovulating phase). The two popular methods are: the Temperature method; and the Calendar method.

What is the Temperature method

A woman's basal body temperature (BBT) drops briefly and then rises half a degree following ovulation, and remains elevated until the start of the next period. Normal BBT is between 96 and 98 degrees, and after ovulation rises to 97 to 98 degrees. A rise in temperature that persists for at least 3 days indicates that ovulation has occurred. The safe period begins from the fourth day to the last day of your next period. In order for this method to be effective, a chart of your daily temperature reading needs to be kept.

What is the Calendar method ('rhythm' method)

Regardless of the length of your cycle, ovulation always occurs 14 days before the start of your next period. The safe period is generally three days after ovulation has occurred. For a woman with a 28-day cycle, the first 2-3 days after menses are also safe. Note, however, that using this as a sole method of contraception is unreliable for women with longer or unpredictable cycles. This method works best for women with regular cycles, and has an average success rate of 80%.

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