Anyone Tried Natural Family Planning?

Just a quick response to another poster...breastfeeding is NOT birth-control...AT ALL. This is such a myth. ARGH!! You CAN and probably WILL ovulate without getting a period!! You don't have to get a period to ovulate. Look at the dozens of questions on mampedia about woman who got pregnant while they were breastfeeding and didn't have a period. My best friend just had a baby and a family friend is about to. Their children will be 11 and 10 months apart. Both never had a period. My sister didn't ovulate for over a year, because of fertility problems and got pregnant. you do NOT have to be on your period to ovulate. I am only saying all this, because you are getting very bad, inaccurate advice.

I suggest getting to book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" It's a great resource. We personally do not use NFP, simply because we don't want to get pregnant again...ever. My husband is getting a vasectomy instead. This does still carry a slight chance, but way less the NFP. If you do NFP perfectly, it is pretty good. I have known a few people who have tried, but they had irregular cycles, so it was very difficult for them. You might wait until your period is regular, to start this method.

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People who use natural family planning -- are naturally planning a large family. I used the Today Sponges, loved them and they are back on the market.

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I absolutely do NOT agree with Ruby. There are thousands of people who use NFP that don't have big families. We are one of them. We use NFP and have two kids with a 3.5 year gap between them, and our youngest is now 4 years old. We are not "naturally planning to have a big family". It's kind of insulting, actually, because that comment implies that it's not an intelligent form of birthcontrol.

I also agree that breastfeeding, no matter what the time frame, is NOT an accurate form of birthcontrol. I know so many people who have failed at that one! Lol! You ovulate before having a period, so you can definitely get pregnant BEFORE you have your first period after giving birth.

Another vote for "Taking Charge of Your Fertility"! :)

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I used it to prevent pregnancy for 4 years. It's great if you do it right. Using condoms during your fertile phase is a great idea. We tried abstaining during those times but it was too hard (but we survived LOL). I bought the book and read it and made sure I understood it perfectly first. But it was a lot easier than I thought. =)

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I think it's great if neither you or your husband mind an unexpected surprise. My parents used NFP for years just fine, but she did unexpectedly become pregnant at 45, when I was 23 and my brother was 20- and she had a regular cycle and was very careful. I guess anyone can unexpectedly ovulate some time in their life :) If your cycle isn't regular, I wouldn't recommend it.
Also for Laura J.- a warning!! We did the exact same thing, and it worked great between our 1st and 2nd children (who were planned) but then we were surprised with #3 . Don't know what possessed us to go back to that method, but NOW we have FOUR. Now I'm on the pill :) Condoms or the sponge are good alternatives though.

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I have used it....and never a fail. I agree with Jessin and the Taking Care of Your Fertility book. I has all the information, and more, that you need.

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Well you have to be strict and stick to it. We got pregnant w/in two weeks of being married. We didn't put the condom on when I was in my prime ovulation zone. (Now that my son is 3, we are very strict and use a condom when in doubt).

So I suggest getting the book "Taking Charge of your Fertility" http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Annive...

Start charting your cycle after baby is born. (Difficult perhaps, as some women don't get their period for the whole time they nurse. Also, my son is almost 3 yrs old and I am JUST NOW getting to see a regular pattern in my cycle).
Once you get a good cycle set and can predict when you will ovulate, then you will know when it's safe for unprotected sex and when you must use a condom.

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Look into the book Taking Control of Your Fertility. It will answer a lot of questions. There's a different name, although I'm not remembering it at the moment. This system is a lot more involved than traditional natural family planning. You need to track your waking body temperature each morning to see when you actually ovulated rather than just guessing based on when your period is. I used this system to get pregnant with my first daughter, and you can use it to avoid pregnancy as well.

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I used this after my second daughter was born and I was waiting for my now ex husband to work up the courage to get a vasectomy. Guess what? Another baby! My advice is not to do this unless you use the condom every single time otherwise you may get a little surprise also.

P.S. I have no regrets truly, but I'm really grateful that my current husband already had a vasectomy! Good luck with whatever you decide!

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Yikes, Laura G. is certainly way off. Just because you may not have your period while you're breast feeding DOES NOT mean you aren't ovulating. My best friend got pregnant with her daughter while breast feeding her son. Her cycles were always irregular so she didn't think anything of it anyway and was considerably shocked when she was informed she had a little surprise on the way. I really wish you'd not perpetuate the myth that breast feeding is an effective birth control. If it was, I wouldn't have number three. In both of our cases, our nurslings were less than the 6 months of age quoted in the article linked. While I'm not saying it hasn't worked for other women, you can't expect it to work for everyone and to say that it will is just ridiculous.

With my oldest son, we were practicing NFP. No, we weren't planning the pregnancy. I had charted my cycle very well, and I was very regular. I didn't know the time but I was always knew the day I was going to start. What I didn't take into account though was that my cycle was just slightly longer than average so that skewed my calculations for ovulation. o.O Hey, it worked for 6 months! LOL

I always wanted to try that again with the others but my cycles weren't as regular after my second son (in between 1 & 2 hubby didn't trust NFP so we used condoms AND the pill and look where it got us?), I hadn't even had a period yet when I got pregnant with #3 and after her section I was never regular and developed a type of endometriosis so that skewed everything. Sigh.... I think #4 is the only one I planned for! LOL

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I like to say that our first baby was our "abstinence" baby (we tried the pulling-out method but it didn't work, either) and our second baby was our natural family planning baby. Both unexpected, but both very welcome. I tried to learn NFP after my daughter was born, but with breastfeeding and my irregular cycles, it was difficult for me to get it quite right. I love the idea of NFP, but the only problem is that if you make a mistake and miscalculate, then hello another baby! :-) We couldn't afford another one after my son, so I have to be on the pill right now (I'm allergic to condoms, so they are very unpleasant for me). But when we are able to have another one, I'm planning to get off the pill and see if I can try NFP again, since having a baby would be in the picture.

I definitely say that NFP is worth a try if you use condoms during your fertile periods (if you have a hard time abstaining during those times-which I do :-) and if you don't mind the possibility of having another baby (just in case of a mistake or miscalculation). Good luck!

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So this is not a sure bet thing and I am sure that I am going to get a zillion people telling me I am wrong, but whatever....

I've been married 7 yrs. I have a 2 and half yr old and I am pregnant. Both were planned. About 1 yr and half before I got pregnant with my 1st daughter was born, I decided to get off birth control pills cuz I heard that they could make it hard to get pregnant. Plus I had been on them for SO long. Getting off of them was "yucky" for me and I swore I would never take them again. So literally for at LEAST 1 1/2 yrs the ONLY birth control we practiced was the err......"pull out method." If you are dead set against more kids and your husband doesn't have the ability to do this, then don't. But for years before I got pregnant AND in between babies THIS IS ALL WE DID (no condoms, no pills no nothing). The secret is ....You can never miss ever!!! haha

Anyway, I also have a somewhat regular schedule so if I was concerned about it, I would also avoid the time when I knew I was ovulating. I never bothered with that cuz I figured, I fi had another, I had another.

i will never get back on pills etc. I don't think its worth the risk. So ....we pull out...did it for years and its always worked for us. :P

PS (I am editing this because of another poster) if you are ONLY breastfeeding you ARE on natural birthcontrol... for 6 mths- 1 yr..You will know this because you won't get your period. No period = no pregnant.
http://www.epigee.org/fetal/contraception.html
Not saying that site is the answer from god or anything, but there is truth to that. There's a saying that goes like "some people could eff up a wet dream" which applies to most everything in life. It's like the fat person who says they "just can't lose weight" and eats twinkies and taco bell at every meal.

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That was my birth control.... I kept track of ovulation, and during the 'danger' time we were super-strict about using condoms. We usually used them anyway, but if they weren't handy during the 'safe' times it wasn't a big deal. I now have a 10 month DD. :P

p.s. I agree that breastfeeding definitely IS NOT birth control. I started my period during month 3 of exclusively breastfeeding. (NO formula, not on solids yet. ONLY breastfeeding, and it was on-demand...) Definitely don't rely on that!!!

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I've used the Creighton Model of natural family planning (you can Google it) for 7.5 years now. We've only got the two kids we tried to make. I've had friends who've gotten pregnant using NFP, but the only ones I know well enough to ask both admitted to thinking that the method had to be wrong and they weren't really fertile at the time (one was still on birth control pills put planning on switching and the other thought the timing was wrong). The others, I don't know what the story is. I like the Creighton Model as it is based on medical research (I tried basal body temperature but found that wasn't reliable for me). It does require the discipline of finding "other ways" to express love and satisfy physical desires, but we've managed that okay. It's not for everyone, but I also had a negative experience with birth control pills and didn't like many of the other methods and found that I liked NFP. Good luck with whatever choice you make!

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My husband and I used NFP for 4 years before we tried and became pregnant with #1. Then we tried for #2. But, I'll be honest with you we used the same method after #2 and 10 months later we were again pregnant with #3. To this day I still don't see how I could have gotten pregnant with #3 and swear it had to be some devine intervention!! Just kidding!
After that he got a vascetomy. We just didn't want anymore surprises.

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I used it to get pregnant, but my cycle is way to irregular after baby and nursing to use it now. Maybe when I'm done nursing.

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My husband and I have used the Billings Method (where you monitor your mucous) for five and a half years, now. We use condoms during the first half of the month until my mucous changes and indicates that we are "safe". We have two planned children (we got pregnant almost immediately both times, so we know that the effectiveness of the method is not due to lack of fertility!) and no surprises (yet). I like the mucous method because I don't have to take my temperature or try to figure out complicated charting systems and if my cycle varies a little bit from month to month, I'm aware of what my body is doing and can respond appropriately. Of course, my husband and I are also in agreement that if a "surprise" did happen, we would welcome it with joy--we recognize that this may not be the most fail-safe method of family planning, but it has worked for us. Also, we used condoms the entire time I was breastfeeding after both babies were born, until my period returned (at about five months, each time). As many others have said, breastfeeding is not a reliable form of birth control--you have to ovulate once before your first period (the period is a response to ovulation), so unless you know in advance when your period will return (which nobody does!), you can't expect to be protected from pregnancy while nursing.

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Go to Planned Parenthood. They can give you a full schedule of what is available from the lastest to the tried and true.
If you are very fertile you need a barrier method. I've talked to lots of women who claim they were successful using all kinds of methods but in the end it turns out that they are not such a fertile couple.
Some things that influence fertility: Age...fertility drops as you get older (yes in your 30's) moon in Taurus .....thyroid disease, general health, being 20% underweight hampers your ability to become pregnant.
We used a moon phase method that always worked or so I thought until I learned that my horoscope contained all six aspects for miscarriage of which I had many.

Diaphragm & Instead soft cups.