Natural Family Planning (NFP) and the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) are pregnancy prevention methods based on:
If you choose NFP or FAM, you will need to take a special class to learn more about how to use them correctly. The information given here will give you a basic idea of what to expect.
NFP and FAM help prevent pregnancy, but they do not protect you from HIV or other STDs. Use a condom every time you have sex to help protect yourself from these diseases.
The instructor teaches you how to check your cervical mucus a few days during each cycle. By checking it and learning how your mucus changes, you will know when you can and cannot get pregnant. If you don't want to become pregnant, you don't have sex during the days you could get pregnant.
About 3 women out of 100 who use this method perfectly may get pregnant in a year.
Your instructor will teach you how to take your Basal Body Temperature and write your temperature on a special chart. You will learn when, after your BBT rises, you can safely have sex.
Using the BBT method tells you only when your fertile days end after the egg leaves the ovary. It cannot tell you when your fertile days start. So you don't have sex at all during the first part of the cycle.
About 1 woman out of 100 who use this method perfectly may get pregnant in a year.
With this method, you use two signs to know when your fertile days may be: cervical mucus and basal body temperature. Like the other methods, your instructor will teach you what to do to use this method the right way. This method tells you when your fertile days begin and end.
About 2 women out of 100 who use this method perfectly may get pregnant in a year.
This method uses a formula to tell you which days you could be fertile. When you use this method, there may be more days each month when you can't have sex than with other NFP methods.
The calendar method works well for women who use it the right way. However, with this method, you will not know if you are going to ovulate earlier or later than usual each month. That increases your chances of getting pregnant. Your instructor will teach you how to use this method.
About 9 women out of 100 who use this method perfectly may get pregnant in a year.
This method helps you keep track of the days of your menstrual cycle. If you have regular 26- to 32-day cycles, you can use a set of small plastic beads to help you know what days you could safely have sex and which days you could get pregnant. Each day of your cycle is marked by either a brown or white bead, indicating which days you should either abstain or use another method, like condoms.
About 5 women out of 100 who use this method perfectly may get pregnant in a year, according to one study.
Perfect user: A person that uses their method of pregnancy prevention correctly all of the time.
Typical user: A person who does not use their method of pregnancy prevention correctly.
For couples who chart the signs carefully and follow all the rules taught in class, these methods can work very well.
With perfect use, these methods are 91% to 99% effective.
This means that if 100 women use NFP or FAM perfectly, as few as 1 or as many as 9 of those women may get pregnant in a year. It depends on which method they are using.
With typical use, these methods are 75% effective.
For women who don't use the methods perfectly, 25 women out of 100 may get pregnant in a year.
Things that some people like about NFP and FAM:
NFP is safe for anyone. There are no side effects. It does not cause any health problems, so there are no warning signs.
FAM is also safe and does not cause health problems. There are no side effects, complications, or precautions other than those caused by whatever birth control method clients use during the woman's fertile days.
Not everyone can always use these methods the right way. If a woman has irregular periods, or her cycles are longer than 35 days, it may be hard for her to use these methods.
For more information about Natural Family Planning Methods: