Practicing Fertility Awareness Safely
As we have covered over the last 5 articles, Fertility Awareness can be used to manage your fertility right throughout your reproductive life. Practicing fertility awareness safely is important for your health and wellbeing (especially if you are not wanting to get pregnant).
Choosing an effective method of Fertility Awareness
The first step to practicing Fertility Awareness safely is choosing a method that is evidence based and effective. Both the Sympto-thermal Method (STM) and the Lactational Amenorrhoea Method (LAM) are backed by research, and can be trusted as a viable alternative to hormonal contraception.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s guidance on Contraception Consultation Paper June 2020 rated the STM as having a 99% efficacy. They recommended that:
- The STM is much more effective at preventing a pregnancy than other forms of Fertility Awareness. With correct and consistent use, there is less that 1 pregnancy for every 100 individuals using the method over the course of a year.
- Combining fertility signs (like cervical mucus, sensation, and basal body temperature) is much more effective than relying on only one sign of fertility.
- It is important to learn how to use the STM from a trained Fertility Educator for the best effectiveness rate.
The STM is endorsed by the World Health Organisation, and state the effectiveness of the STM is 99%. Pregnancy rate is 2 pregnancies per 100 women per year.
Petra Frank-Herrmann’s research states that the reliability of the STM is 99.4%, with 1.8 per 100 women having an unintended pregnancy.
Learn from an NFNZ Accredited Fertility Educator
One of the key components to practicing Fertility Awareness safely is learning a reliable method like the STM from an Accredited Fertility Educator. An educator will be able to provide standardised teaching and ongoing support.
We encourage both partners to be present while learning Fertility Awareness, this allows for a shared approach when it comes to making choices around unprotected sex during the cycle, and fosters understanding between both partners.
Safer Sex – STI’s and Contraception
Even if you use Fertility Awareness, practicing safe sex is still important:
- Discuss safer sex with your partner, whether that is protection from infections, or preventing pregnancy
- For protection against sexually transmissible infections (STI’s), always use a barrier – like a condom, until you have both been tested for STI’s
While learning the Sympto-thermal Method:
- It is important that you either abstain or use a condom – this is until you understand how to apply the method
- Sperm can be present in pre-ejaculate, therefore DO NOT use the ‘withdrawal’ or ‘pull out’ method, as it is likely to result in a pregnancy
- You are not safe to use the method until your Educator has checked that you are able to confidently recognise, record, and interpret your fertility.
Unplanned Pregnancies
We take unplanned pregnancies very seriously at Natural Fertility NZ, so we take extra care when teaching to explain the risk, and also have a process to review these if they occur in order to find the cause. Unplanned pregnancies are normally traced back to intercourse that occurred during the fertile window, or insufficient recording of signs of fertility – which increases the risk. When a cause can be found, it can provide the couple with reassurance if they are wanting to continue using the method at a later date.