Anyone Use Fertility Awarenes Method for Contraception?

I went off the pill in January 2009, trying to help get me off blood pressure meds, and started FAM. We were very familiar with it, since we had used it to get pregnant in 2003. We were using condoms on my fertile days. I got pregnant in March :-0.
[He's a perfect little 12-month-old now, and I'm glad this method "failed" for us.]
I think it is a great way to get to know your physiology and avoid hormones, but unless you are able to very accurately chart (including temps--that messed me up because I have a weird work schedule), then it may not be effective.
I agree with above posters. An IUD is effective and nearly immediately reversible if you decide to have more kids.

I could never get an accurate read on my CM. That "slippery" fertile CM was never something that I saw, despite 2 pregnancies. So for me, it would've been really hard to use realiably.

If you don't want to be on the pill, why don't you do an IUC instead? Paraguard is non-hormonal, good for 12 years, and over 99% effective. Best part, is if you want to have more kids, you can start tyring immediately after it's taken out.

I use FAM and it is reliable for me, but you have to get the hang of it first before you go totally FAM. Meaning I would not take the pill, but I would use condoms every time until you have charted for a couple months and have a true understanding of your fertility cycle and awareness signs. FAM is all about establishing a pattern that is unique to you. You can't really do this if hormones from the pill are regulating your cycle. I would recommend a good 6 months of charting and then you can look back and most likely see a true pattern. I know this may sound daunting, but please don't let it scare you off the method. 6 months in the grand scheme of life is a drop in the bucket. Once you get the hang of it and truly know your body, you can depend on it. I have used it for over four years and have only gotten pregnant twice and both times were planned. It also allowed me to see that there was actually an issue of a short luteal phase which most likely caused my last miscarriage. I was able to address that and now I am preggo with #2 =) I hate what the pill, patch, and nuvaring all made me feel like and am so happy that I chose to research FAM. There are times when learning, that I would get frustrated with using condoms during fertile times, but for me it is worth not having the side effects of birth control. Most times we will just abstain or do other "things" when I know I am ovulating. The temping when you have a little one is a bit tricky, but just try and be as consistent as you can and it will all come together. Honestly just checking my CM and CP pretty much tells me what is going on and the temps just back it up. I hope you are able to work this out and decide what is right for you and yours!

I was only on the pill twice. Then I found out I have a genetic predisposition to have blood clots called Factor V (five) Liden. So I couldn't take the pill even if I wanted to, which I didn't.

My husband and I used condoms and never got pregnant unplanned. I hated being on the pill. I always gained weight and felt bad. The implantation method or the depo-shot are the same. If the pill makes you feel bad/weird then these other hormone-based birth control methods will do the same thing. Condoms are very effective against pregnancy and don't cause your body to get messed up by hormones. If your husband wants a happy wife and no baby he might want to consider using a condom for birth control.

I had my tubes tied with my last and fifth baby because I ended up with my first (and last) C-section, but my husband had his appointment for his vasectomy all scheduled. Fortunately, for him he didn't have to go through with it, but he was willing. He said that with all I've gone through to have the babies it was the least he could do.

Well I didn't use this method to not get pregnant but to track my ovulation TO get pregnant. And if you are regular then it works really well. Even if you temp is a little funny. So let me ask you are you regular...like have your period every single month and about the same length in cycles? Like every 28 days or every 30 days etc? Cause if you are then even without taking your temp you can narrow down your ovulation to a few days. Most woman ovulate about 14 days before their period. So if you are taking and charting your temp every day then yeah you might a few crazy days in there but the majority of the month you should notice a pattern and a spike once you've ovulated. Once you do that for a few months and you see your pattern then yeah you'll know. And then just avoid having unprotected sex during that time. And if I were you i would just keep some condoms on hand so if you do have a few crazy nights in a row and your not sure if your ovulating then just use those for a few days just to be safe. Also once you see your pattern you could by an ovulation kit for one month just to make sure you are on track and that your charting is correct for when you're ovulating. That will help take the doubt out of your mind and then you know your charting correctly.