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Worldwide, the basal body temperature method is the oldest and most widely practiced of the fertility awareness methods. Every woman is different, so your temperature pattern may vary from the example below. The woman should assume that body temperature will increase noticeably (0.4-0.8° Fahrenheit) at ovulation. Most women ovulate (release an egg from the ovary) at about day 14 of their menstrual cycle, plus or minus 2 days. The egg is viable for about one day, and sperm can live for 2-3 days.
HOW
Make a calendar like the one below, but without the example line. Keep a daily calendar record of the temperature using a regular thermometer (or digital) under your tongue for 3 minutes. Take your temperature after you wake up in the morning but before you get out of bed. On the same record, chart your menstrual cycle, beginning with day 1 as the first day that you begin your period. If possible, chart your temperature pattern for a few months before relying on it (NOTE: Temperature may not be accurate if a woman is sick and has a fever).
WHEN
If you don’t want to get pregnant, it is safe to have sex after your temperature rises above your normal temperature for three days in a row. After ovulation, when the egg has already passed, a woman's waking temperature should rise for 12-16 days. If you want to get pregnant, then you are most fertile (your egg likely to receive sperm) on those days just before your temperature begins to rise during ovulation. It’s difficult to predict this, so practice the temperature method until you know your pattern, and you know when you are most likely to ovulate.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?
You and your partner rely on each other for mutual support and commitment to make this method work, and if used correctly every time, the failure rate of this birth control method is 1%-9%.
WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES?
WHAT IF I HAVE SEX AND DON’T USE BIRTH CONTROL?
Did you know that for 72 hours after sex, you can take emergency contraceptive pills to avoid becoming pregnant? AND for 5 to 7 days after sex, you can have an IUD put in, so you won’t become pregnant? Not all clinicians know about this. If you want more information or would like the phone numbers of clinicians near you that prescribe emergency birth control, call the toll-free number: (1-888) NOT-2-LATE or (1-800) 584-9911. Some of these sources of help are free. PLAN B is the emergency contraceptive pill that causes the least nausea, the least vomiting, and has the lowest failure rate.
The Pill | The
Mini-Pill | Birth
Control Shot | Abstinence | Cervical
Cap
Breastfeeding | Vasectomy | Female/Male Condom Choices
Contraceptive Film (VCF) | Natural Family Planning | IUD's
Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECP) | Vaginal Spermicides
Tubal
Sterilization | The
Ring | The
Patch
