Natural Birth Control

Birth control can be confusing and misinformed from many angles. My hope is that by the end of this article, you have a foundational understanding of how you can avoid synthetic hormones and still live in confidence that your choice to be or not to be pregnant is yours.

For a variety of reasons, mainstream society is uneducated in this natural practice. And since the female reproductive system is complex, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with information.

So this is the SparkNotes version.

Important Information

Most resources refer to this birth control as the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). It’s called fertility awareness because the main idea of this method is that you are aware of when you are capable of conceiving and avoiding unprotected intercourse during those few days.

Fun fact: Women are only able to conceive 5–6 days of their menstrual cycle.

The female body gives us signals when these fertile days are approaching and when they are over. When we know how to spot these signals, we know when to avoid making babies.

This is not an all inclusive teaching of how to avoid pregnancy naturally. It is a foundational introduction into something that any woman can practice.

Benefits of natural birth control

No Synthetic Hormones
It’s no secret synthetic birth control has side effects. Depression, weight gain, acne, headaches, decreased libido, and infertility (should you decide you want to have kids) are all common side effects. Sounds like a bad time.

No Monthly Costs
FAM costs one small upfront payment to learn about your body and its information you will use for the rest of your time not getting pregnancy as well as any time that you might decide you do want to get pregnant.

Stress Free Sex
Knowing exactly when you are fertile tells you by default when you are not. You can enjoy the rest of your cycle however you want with confidence knowing that there are zero chances of life altering biology rapidly multiplying inside of you.

Acute Awareness of an Off Balanced Body
You will understand what should be happening and notice red flags when things are off.
Becoming aware of off-balanced systems give you insight into how to fix those issues and live a more harmonious life.
You will know your body better than ever before.
You’ll be able to tell when you are getting sick.
You’ll know when your hormones are not functioning correctly.
You’ll become aware of monthly mental, emotional, physical patterns in your body. This helps you learn how to take care of yourself in each phase of your menstrual cycle instead of putting high demands on your body that leave you exhausted and in poor mental standing.

Menstrual Alarm Clock
Regardless of whether or not you have a regular menstrual cycle, your body has a build in tornado watch warning about 24 hours before you start your period. This method teaches you how to pay attention and not get caught off guard in the storm.

99% effective
So long as you follow the rules, this method’s success rate compares well to any other form of birth control.

What you will need and how much it costs

This is an exhaustive list of what you need. And even one thing that you don’t need.

Pen and Notebook for recording cycle cues. You probably have these in your house, but if you don’t, let’s say you spent $10.

Basal Temp Thermometer for accurate reading of your bodies temperature when it is at rest. I spent $10.

“Taking Charge of Your Fertility” by Toni Weschler. Any edition will do. Online used book stores sell this for under $5.

That’s a total of $25 in upfront costs and no repeating costs.

Maybe one day you’ll need to replace your thermometer if it breaks. I’ve been using mine for over 2 years, accidentally ran it through the washer a few times and it shows no signs of dying.

So don’t expect too much of a financial investment in this.

There are courses that you can take if you prefer to learn from a video program instead of a book. They also give you access to a well researched or trained professional to ask questions if you have them. These courses are unnecessary and cost a bit more money. But again, they are an upfront cost with no additional costs, ever.

How FAM actually works

There are many Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM) practiced. The methods are simply the signs in your body’s natural occurrences to pay attention to.

FAM researchers widely encourage the use of multiple methods combined. This increases your confidence that you’re reading your body’s signals correctly. It also helps to eliminate any misreadings of bodily changes due to life changes, such as travel, stress levels, and lifestyle changes.

The three most reliable methods, combined in use are as follows:

Your Basal Body Temperature shifts throughout your cycle (the term “cycle” is referring from the first day of your menses to the last day before your next menses). This is recorded first thing in the morning and various shifts indicate changes in your fertility.

You have various consistencies of Cervical Mucus that tell you when ovulation is approaching/occurring. This is your fertile window when you want to avoid intercourse. Being well acquainted with this sign of fertility helps to confirm your reading of your body temperature by how they correlate with one another.

Your Cervical Position indicates what hormones are at play in allowing the passage of semen into your uterus. This being how conception occurs, it’s a really useful sign to pay attention to.

When you record all of these signs together, there’s a very slim margin for error, creating a fail proof, natural birth control method.

There are a lot of specific details to pay attention to in each of these methods. The book previously mentioned gives you all the details you need to safely practice this birth control method.

It’s fairly straightforward once you get the idea of it. Hopefully this encourages you to choose to work with your body instead masking its natural processes with a synthetic option.

Advisory Note: Do not take any information laid out in this article as medical advice. I am not a doctor, health advisor, scientist, or even a dedicated environmentalist. I am not suggesting that you will not get pregnant if you follow the information I’ve laid out here in this blog post.

Check out my blog at thevanessabarnett.wordpress.com