Fertility awareness methods , which people may also know as natural family planning or the rhythm method, may help people plan their sexual activity around their ovulation so that there is less of a chance they will get pregnant. However, a person who does not want to get pregnant should consider using birth control , which is much more effective at preventing pregnancy.
There are several ways in which people can track their ovulation to determine when they are at their most fertile:. In contrast, for individuals who do not wish to conceive, various methods of birth control are much more effective.
Some health conditions that may prevent ovulation include :. There are four stages of the menstrual cycle:. This phase typically occurs from days 0—14 of the menstrual cycle. If a person has a menstrual cycle that is not 28 days, it is because the follicular phase is either longer or shorter than 14 days. During this phase, the hormone that the body produces the most is estrogen. This helps thicken the uterine lining, making it possible for a fertilized egg to implant itself there.
The higher amount of estrogen also makes it easier for sperm to enter the reproductive system. The estrogen changes the cervical mucus, making it easier for sperm to gain entry.
Ovulation occurs 14 days before the start of menses, the blood that comes out during a period. If a person has a day cycle, this means that ovulation occurs on day People with a varied cycle will experience ovulation at different times.
During ovulation, the amount of estrogen the body produces is at its highest. This surge in estrogen triggers a surge in LH, which then stimulates the ovary to release an egg. The cervix also produces more watery mucus to better accommodate sperm. In a day cycle, this phase starts on day 14 , and ends on day Instead of mainly producing estrogen, the body produces more of a different hormone, progesterone.
During the luteal phase, progesterone triggers the uterine lining to secrete substances that support a pregnancy. The progesterone also decreases the amount of cervical mucus the body produces.
It thickens after ovulation. In a day cycle the following represents the timing of mucus changes. All cycles are unique and yours may not match this exactly. Some women find it difficult to track their menstrual cycle.
Yet, monitoring your discharge can provide clues about your most fertile days. In most cases, your discharge will become egg white in appearance about 2 to 3 days before ovulation. You might be able to detect ovulation by simply observing the consistency of your cervical mucus. After washing your hands, gently place one finger inside of your vagina and gently remove a sample.
Or, use toilet paper to retrieve a sample — wiping from front to back. Along with checking for egg white cervical mucus, other factors can help track ovulation, too. One of the easiest ways is to track your menstrual cycle , which will be easier if you have regular periods. So you may notice egg white cervical mucus between days 11 and 15 of your cycle. These kits are designed to detect the luteinizing hormone which your body releases 24 to 48 hours before ovulation.
You can also use these test kits if you have an irregular period. You can also track ovulation by monitoring your basal body temperature. Body temperature increases by a few degrees right before ovulation. Keep in mind that some medications and conditions can affect the quality of your cervical mucus.
Egg white cervical mucus differs from other types of vaginal discharge. Normal discharge is usually clear to white and watery to thick. Be mindful of the following factors that could affect the amount and consistency of your vaginal secretions:. According to Planned Parenthood, the following factors might also influence your vaginal secretions:.
By The Editors of Parents. Save Pin FB More. Credit: Shutterstock. So, here we go. Here are the most common observable symptoms that can indicate ovulation:.
Vaginal infection or sexually transmitted disease Sexual excitement Use of lubricants during intercourse. Douching Breastfeeding Perimenopause Surgery performed on the cervix. Comments 1. If a discharge exhibited mixed characteristics, or if a woman observed multiple types of mucus through the course of the day, the highest matching category was chosen to assign the score. A primary goal of this study is to assess directly the extent to which the different levels of the mucus score predict a real difference in the conception probability.
In a previous analysis of these data, Dunson et al. Cycles were excluded from the analysis if there were insufficient BBT data to determine the ovulation day, if there were no reported intercourse acts during the fertile interval, or if there was a day within the fertile interval on which intercourse occurred but mucus information was missing.
Out of menstrual cycles of data with pregnancies, cycles remained in the analysis, with pregnancies. For the purposes of this study, pregnancy is defined as either an ongoing pregnancy of at least 60 days from the last menses or a clinically identified spontaneous abortion within 60 days of the last menses.
Modelling and estimation of pregnancy probabilities were carried out using a Bayesian hierarchical modelling approach Dunson, This involves choosing prior distributions for unknown parameters in a statistical model based on previous information and updating this information with the data in the study to obtain posterior distributions, which represent the current state of knowledge about the unknown parameters.
In a cycle where intercourse occurred on more than one day during the fertile period, it is impossible to determine which act resulted in the pregnancy. Following Barrett and Marshall , Wilcox et al. The analyses presented in this article are based on the methods of Dunson and Stanford The significant trend was attributable to a steady increase in the pregnancy probability with each unit increase in the mucus score.
Specifically, the posterior probability of an increase in the pregnancy probability in going from a mucus score of 1 to 2 was 0. The day of lowest fertility was 5 days before ovulation, and the day of highest fertility was 3 days before ovulation. The difference in pregnancy probability between these two days ranged from 0. Thus the gain in pregnancy probability attributable to an increase from the lowest to highest mucus score is generally higher than the gain attributable to having intercourse 3 days before ovulation instead of 5 days before ovulation.
Within the fertile window, the type of mucus observed on the day of intercourse is more predictive of conception than the timing relative to ovulation. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the reported mucus scores according to timing within the fertile interval.
On each day, type 4 mucus is the most common, with the largest proportion occurring 2 days before ovulation, which is also the day on which the smallest proportion of cycles had no vaginal discharge type 1 mucus. It is important to note that each of the days had a substantial proportion of women in each of the mucus categories.
Although fewer women reported type 2 mucus and that proportion remained essentially constant across the fertile window, there was a significant difference in the pregnancy probabilities between type 2 mucus and the other categories.
These results provide direct evidence that mucus plays a role in fertility that is more important than its previously identified role as a marker of the fertile window of the menstrual cycle.
Previous estimates of pregnancy probabilities on days relative to ovulation did not account for daily observations of the quality of mucus, though researchers have identified increased conception probabilities on days when secretions were observed compared with no secretions Dunson et al. Our study demonstrates that the quality of mucus explains most of the relationship between the pregnancy probability and the timing of intercourse relative to ovulation.
Our results have important clinical implications. Because vulvar observations of cervical mucus predict not only the fertile days of the cycle but also the probabilities of conception within the fertile interval, monitoring of mucus provides additional information not provided by other methods for identifying the fertile interval.
In addition, such monitoring is expensive and inconvenient and can miss the beginning of the fertile interval and even the most fertile days. Many women already rely on their own calculations to predict ovulation, often obtaining estimates different from results of ultrasound or LH detection Gnoth et al.
Hence, monitoring of mucus provides a useful clinical marker of days with high conception probabilities. Thanks also to Allen Wilcox and Donna Baird for their insightful comments. Figure 1. Estimated probability of pregnancy with a single act of intercourse in the fertile interval conditional on mucus observations.
Figure 2. Proportion of cycles with each mucus score on each day in the fertile interval. Pop Stud 23 , — Lancet 1 , —
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