Natural Family Planning

[LightHearted]

I've been doing quite a bit of research on NFP, and am pretty overwhelmed.

Sympto-Thermal Method, Billings Method, Couple to Couple League, Creighton Model, and Ovulation Method

These are the different types of NFP that my diocese promotes, but it seems that sometimes the differences are miniscule.

I'd like to learn from other people's experiences.

Would anyone care to share why you prefer one method over another, and drawbacks that you've found a particular method to have?

 

[lavenderbees]

I've found, from experience, that it is best to combine as many methods as possible. I have used the calendar method, combined with the Billings method, combined with the method where you wait until the last week of your cycle (not sure what that one is called).

 

[helenofbritain]

I think it really depends on how your body works. Certain couples have great difficulties with any methods, because the woman's fertile signs are not clear enough. They just don't know where they are at and end up frustrated - or pregnant when they weren't ready for another baby.

Personally, we use Billings, and it is excellent for us, because my body is nice and obvious about it. I recommend looking into all your options, and experimenting - or deciding what is going to work best for you. (I know I'd never remember to take my temperature first thing every morning!) Because this method uses discharge to determine fertility, there are some additional rules about when you can and can't have sex pre-ovulation (basically one day on and one day off) which again, can be hard to deal with. But no one said it was going to be easy, right?

For more info about Billings, check out woomb.org (the site design is awful, but the info is great.)

Of course, the other hard thing about NFP which makes it hard is the not having sex when all your hormones are telling you to if you're trying to avoid pregnancy.

Finally, consider what it is you want in a family. How many children is God calling you to have? When do you plan to start a family?(trust me, you'll never be "ready" ) If you're ready now and plan to have 4 kids, NFP doesn't really need to be on your agenda for 10 years! If you catch my drift.

Pray about your decisions, whatever they are, and ask God to guide your family towards Him in all that you do.

HofB

 

[EllenMoran]

I would recommend learning ONE method thoroughly and using that. I like the objectivity of STM with the temps and live where CCL is headquartered, so I have a lot of access to live classes & teachers.

STM drawbacks - sometimes the mucus & temp signs don't line up, which can be frustrating. I have a fallback temp rise pattern every month (my temp does go up after ovulation, but usually it's up 1 day, down the next, then back up for the balance of my cycle). Now that I'm used to it it's no problem, but at first I would get annoyed with that temp falling back down every month.

All NFP methods have rules like the 1 day on/1 day off rule mentioned above pre-ovulation, so that restriction (if you are TTA) won't differentiate the methods. I quite liked the help that I got from STM once we did start TTC - being able to show my OB the charts, track any concerning patterns, knowing when I'd conceived, etc. was all a really nice benefit for me of using STM.

 

[LightHearted]

Finally, consider what it is you want in a family. How many children is God calling you to have? When do you plan to start a family?(trust me, you'll never be "ready" ) If you're ready now and plan to have 4 kids, NFP doesn't really need to be on your agenda for 10 years! If you catch my drift.

Pray about your decisions, whatever they are, and ask God to guide your family towards Him in all that you do.

Thanks for all of the great pointers - especially the reminder to pray about the decision.

I would recommend learning ONE method thoroughly and using that. I like the objectivity of STM with the temps and live where CCL is headquartered, so I have a lot of access to live classes & teachers.

STM drawbacks - sometimes the mucus & temp signs don't line up, which can be frustrating. I have a fallback temp rise pattern every month (my temp does go up after ovulation, but usually it's up 1 day, down the next, then back up for the balance of my cycle). Now that I'm used to it it's no problem, but at first I would get annoyed with that temp falling back down every month.

All NFP methods have rules like the 1 day on/1 day off rule mentioned above pre-ovulation, so that restriction (if you are TTA) won't differentiate the methods. I quite liked the help that I got from STM once we did start TTC - being able to show my OB the charts, track any concerning patterns, knowing when I'd conceived, etc. was all a really nice benefit for me of using STM.

I know what TTC means - but what does TTA mean?

 

[LightHearted]

Trying to Abstain?

 

[helenofbritain]

Trying To Avoid (a pregnancy).

And you're welcome

 

[Assisi]

We've used Billings too and it's great for us, my cycles are wacky but with Billings everything becomes really clear.

It's really important to look for the right method for the individual cycle. Creighton and Sympto-Thermal both give more information than Billings. We don't use Sympto-Thermal because I would be hopeless about taking my temp, not to mention it has to be taken at the same time every day and after at least 4 hours sleep....um, yeah. I only started getting four hours in a row overnight when my son got to about 11 months, and it's not every night. So that definitely wouldn't be reliable for us. We don't use Creighton because the last time the course was offered we were ttc and we fall really easily, plus, like I said, Billings give us enough information for us.

I don't know the other methods you mention. But I know of people who use ovulation predictor kits or the 'maybe baby' in conjunction with one of the above methods just for more information.

Good luck!