Fertility awareness methods

If you’re not 100% sure you’ll avoid sex on all of your fertile days, you should definitely be using another method in addition to fertility awareness-based methods. If you prefer to avoid hormones, you can use condoms (male or female), a diaphragm or cervical cap with spermicide, or the sponge.

If it’s been 5 days or less since you had sex on the wrong day, take EC. If it was more than 5 days ago, you might want to take a pregnancy test if your next period is late. Either way, if you’re having unprotected sex on unsafe days, you might want to consider a lower maintenance method.

Fertility awareness methods only work if you’re dedicated to using them correctly and consistently. There are lots of tools such as apps, thermometers, and cycle beads that can help with cycle tracking.

Yes, but they can be tricky to track. The fertility awareness methods use different techniques for tracking your cycle—ideally you’ll use a combination of them to help with accuracy and success. They all involve observing changes in your body and calculating where you are in your menstrual cycle. This takes effort and commitment, so before you decide this is the method for you, be sure you really understand what you’ll need to do. Be prepared not to have sex for at least seven days out of every month, or to use a backup method like condoms.

Because cycles can be irregular during this time, this method is not recommended while breastfeeding. However, there is a way to use breastfeeding as a method of birth control for up to six months after your baby is born. Get more info about breastfeeding as birth control (or - and this is a long one - lactational amenorrhea method).

If you are using the Cervical Mucus Method or the TwoDay Method, maybe not—some of the symptoms of these infections may affect the signs of fertility you need to look for (like mucus). You won’t be able to tell what’s due to your cycle and what’s due to the infection.

Calculation-based methods like the Calendar Method and the Standard Days Method won’t work to prevent pregnancy if you have irregular periods.

Amenorrhea is when you don’t get your period. It could be because you’re pregnant or just had a baby and are breastfeeding. In fact, lactational amenorrhea is a birth control method! Amenorrhea can also be a sign of problems with your hormone levels caused by stress or extremely low body weight.