Verified answer

"Natural birth control doesn't work," says the MAN who never tried it. Yeah, that's really reliable information.

Actually, Man with a Plan, sympto-thermal charting is documented to have effectiveness levels in the very high 90 percents, just like other forms of birth control. There are six main reasons the public at large doesn't think it will work:

1) It's not encouraged for teens, so it's not taught to teens with other birth control forms, so those teens grow into adults falsely thinking it's not legit. But we just don't want TEENS to try it. There's just not a good way to get the word out to adults, because even doctors are under-educated on natural methods.

2) We also tell teens you can get pregnant ANYWHERE in the menstrual cycle to try to make sure teens don't have unprotected sex. So this means adults also grow up believing that as well, which further makes us believe there's no possible way to avoid pregnancy without hormonal birth control.

3) Flat out ignorance. Adults claim natural methods don't work, but they've never researched or tried any and are really just spewing unfounded opinions.

4) Historically, we know that there was no really reliable way to prevent pregnancies until the pill came along. So there couldn't possibly be a non-hormonal way to prevent pregnancy now, right? Actually, the scientific understanding of women's fertility, basal temperature charting, and cervical fluid is relatively NEW. Most of the modern natural methods are just a few decades old, just like the birth control pill. That's why historically, they weren't an option-- the scientific understanding wasn't there yet.

5) Most adults these days believe that "natural family planning" is the same thing as "rhythm method." We all know rhythm method isn't reliable. Therefore, natural methods suck. Right? WRONG! Rhythm method is not recommended by ANYONE who supports natural family planning methods. It's totally not the same thing. Rhythm method is about counting out days on a calendar, while all modern natural family planning methods are about ignoring the calendar and day-counting and instead using daily data collection to analyze what's going on in your body right now in this unique cycle. Rhythm method assumes that all your cycles will be identical, but all other NFP methods allow you to have varying cycles and still be successful.

6) Most adults know someone who CLAIMS they were using "natural family planning" that ended up with an oopsie (or two or three). To be perfectly clear, there are lots of women who CLAIM they are using NFP methods but then when I ask them what method or what rules they're following, they say, "Rules?" It's people who are untrained, ignorant, and/or hopelessly undisciplined in following rules that end up pregnant. Perfect use of NFP methods have a very low failure rate.

So anyway, Marisa, yes, it's very doable. You just need to make sure you are properly educated and trained. Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler is an excellent manual to get you started. Example charts (my own personal ones) are available on the link below. Please note that the website where I keep my charts is not geared toward pregnancy avoidance, so you might not want to use that website. There is also charting software and strong charting-to-avoid forum community on tcoyf.com, associated with that book I mentioned above. If the book doesn't explain things well enough for you, or if just want more training, you can find classes around you. Start googling for "Fertility Awareness Method" workshops and such like.

I have charted for 5 years so far. My husband and I went for 3.5 years of charting with no pregnancies. My skeptical gynecologist suggested we probably have some kind of fertility issue, that being the only reason we hadn't conceived in all that time. HA! When we were ready to start our family, we conceived quickly and easily. Fertility problem? Nope. I just chart carefully and follow rules carefully. After my son was born, I've continued charting as birth control until we are ready to try for #2.

I have had many friends in the NFP community who have charted as family planning for well in excess of 20 years with never an oops-- and also with no fertility problems, conceiving easily whenever they want to.

Again, just make sure you understand what you're doing before you start having any unprotected sex. The usual recommendations are usual to chart for 3 full cycles before you risk going bareback at all.

Excellent response from dragonsilver.

I have also used the method for over three years and never been pregnant, but obviously, that's all anecdotal. The sympto-thermal method (which is the one you will want to use) is over 99% effective as long as you are trained well and use it correctly and consistently.

Taking Charge of Your Fertility is definitely a great book, you can also get online classes if you don't have any locally (they are kind of hard to find by a trained teacher, and you want to make sure you work with someone who is trained!). Most people end up wanting to take a class (I did) when they learn, and you will especially want to take a class if you are still breastfeeding and coming off of hormones, which can be a bit trickier to navigate.

http://holistichormonalhealth.com/ offers online classes.

No natural method is going to be as effective as a birth control pill, since they all have wide margins of error. Beyond that, they take a lot of dedication and work. Depending on how long you want to be on birth control, a long acting solution like Mirena or Depo-provera might be better for you since they have a steady amount over time.