Fertility Awareness

Yes! Regularity and predictability is NOT an important part of this method. Instead, you check in with your own body daily to see what's going on. If you want to use FAM for birth control, know that irregular cycles may have more days that are unsafe for unprotected intercourse - meaning more days that you will need to abstain, use a barrier method/withdrawal, or have non-penetrative sex - but you are still covered by the FAM Rules. A great benefit of practicing FAM is you may even see the cause of your irregular cycles on your charts, and take steps to smooth things out for better cycle health. 

It does! (I have personally used FAM since 2011 to avoid pregnancy). Many studies abound that demonstrate the effectiveness of identifying the fertile window via fertility signs, and following standardized rules to make sure that sperm and egg never meet. A 2007 20-year study from Germany found that the symptothermal method (using similar but not identical protocols as the ones that Cycle Wise teaches) revealed a perfect use rate of 99.6% (how well the method works when people follow all the rules), and 98.2% with imperfect use (how well the method works when people make mistakes). These exceedingly high numbers are based on the fact that the study participants learned with a certified educator, and received follow-up support with their educator, as well as followed standardized rules.

Most people agree that once you learn it, FAM is as easy as tying your shoes. Like any other skill in life, such as learning to ride a bike or drive a car, FAM requires an investment of time and energy to master. Checking your fertility signs every day is a habit that takes a bit of time to establish, but it's really just a matter of adding on to things you already do every day: taking your temperature when you're already laying in bed in the morning, and checking cervical fluid when you use the bathroom. 

FAM is the most scientifically advanced, modern technique to know what's happening in your cycle. Our fertility signs have been studied for nearly 150 years. We know that:

• The absence of cervical fluid means that sperm cannot survive more than a few hours, and that ovulation is not impending

• The presence of cervical fluid indicates increasing levels of estrogen and that ovulation is getting close

• Ovulation is an event that occurs once per cycle (with two eggs occasionally released within 24 hours of each other)

• A sustained shift in temperature means that progesterone is present, indicating that ovulation has passed

• We are unable to get pregnant once we confirm, via the temperature shift and change in cervical fluid, that the  fertile window is closed and no more fertility will occur this cycle

Fertility Awareness is not a new thing. Amazingly, temperature and cervical fluid were verified by scientists in the 1950s-60s at the exact time that the Pill made its world debut! Guess which method got more recognition? There are a few different reasons that FAM is still relatively unknown: 

• This method has been taught and practiced largely in a Catholic context since the 1960s, leading to the perception that FAM is only for those who have large families, who don't mind an unplanned pregnancy, or who hold certain morals

• Since FAM does not offer much profit to pharmaceutical companies, it has never found the same footing as hormonal and device methods of contraception

• The public, the medical community, and large health institutions still believe FAM to be the ineffective Rhythm Method

Most apps that call themselves "fertility trackers" or "period trackers" are nothing more than the Rhythm Method since they don't require you to observe cervical fluid in conjunction with basal body temperature. FAM is also not the same as temperature-based apps like Natural Cycles, which attempt to tell you when you are fertile by only temps and an algorithm. This is risky, as cervical fluid is what opens the fertile window, and temps cannot tell you when you are fertile, only that you HAVE ovulated.

Anyone from menarche to menopause can use FAM and can benefit from knowing how to understand their cycles and fertility. Unlike NFP, the non-secular branch of this method, you don't have to be heterosexual, engaged, married, in a traditional relationship, or adhere to a specific gender role to use FAM. You do NOT need to have regular cycles.