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If you want to conceive, knowing when you’re fertile can help. That period lasts about a week and includes the days before, during, and after ovulation. Tracking when you ovulate can also help you avoid becoming pregnant.

Here is what to know about natural family planning, the rhythm method, and NaProTechnology.

Natural Family Planning: What You Need to Know About Natural Cycles

If you want to use natural family planning, brushing up on how the female reproductive cycle works can help.

In a typical natural cycle, around the time your period starts, the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) triggers your follicles to grow. Over the next two weeks, many of these fluid-filled sacs in the ovaries will grow, each containing an egg. (This timeline can vary depending on the person.)

However, one follicle grows faster than the others. Often, only one dominant follicle remains, and the others die off.

About midway through a cycle, a sudden increase in luteinizing hormone (LH) triggers the dominant follicle to mature and release the egg. This is ovulation.

After the follicle releases the egg, the egg travels down the fallopian tube, where fertilization happens. After ovulation, progesterone stimulates the uterus lining to thicken.

If sperm doesn’t fertilize the egg, it dissolves, and hormones trigger the uterus to shed its lining (a menstrual period). But if fertilization occurs, the fertilized egg (blastocyst) implants in the uterus and releases a hormone that causes the uterine lining to thicken, rather than shed.

Your Fertile Window: When Is the Best Time to Have or Avoid Sex?

After the follicle releases the egg, it only survives for about 12 to 24 hours, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG).

However, sperm survives for up to five days. This means sex that occurs anywhere from five days before ovulation to one day after ovulation can lead to pregnancy.

You can increase your chances of getting pregnant if you have sex every day or every other day during this window, according to ACOG.

How to Figure Out When You Ovulate

Natural family planning involves tracking how long your cycles last and when you ovulate.

Start by counting how many days are between the first day of your period and the day before your next period. This is one cycle.

Most people have regular cycles, meaning each cycle lasts about the same number of days. But some people have irregular cycles, such as a three-week cycle followed by a five-week cycle. This makes natural family planning challenging because ovulation occurs at different times from one cycle to the next.

Irregular cycles may result from a hormonal problem, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which can reduce fertility. If you’re trying to conceive and you have irregular cycles, your doctor can test your hormone levels and ovarian function.

Regular cycles suggest you ovulate at the same time every month. Most people have a 26- to 32-day cycle, with ovulation occurring on days 12 to 21 (with day 1 as the first day of the period).

Ways of finding out when you ovulate include:

• Checking your temperature — Use a thermometer to check your temperature every morning at around the same time, before you get out of bed. (Food and movement can affect your temperature.) Write it down so you can see the pattern. For many people, body temperature rises by 0.5 degrees within a day of ovulation and stays higher for several days.
• Monitoring your cervical mucus — A few days before you ovulate, you may notice vaginal discharge change from a creamy texture to a slippery, egg-white texture. This makes it easier for the sperm to swim to the fallopian tube. After ovulation, most people notice less discharge.
• Home ovulation test kits — These over-the-counter (OTC) tests measure LH in the urine and become “positive” when the LH level is high. You can use the test strips daily, beginning a few days before you think you might ovulate, to help ensure you don’t miss ovulation.

Can You Use the Rhythm Method for Birth Control?

The rhythm method is a natural birth control method where you avoid having sex or use a condom during your fertile period. As you may ovulate earlier or later than expected, it’s good to have a buffer. You may want to take measures to avoid pregnancy a full week before you expect to ovulate, for example.

Natural birth control methods are far less effective than other birth control methods, like oral contraceptives or condoms. This is because you may make a mistake about when your fertile window is. Or, you might forget to use a birth control method every time you have sex in your fertile window.

According to ACOG, the rhythm method is 95% to 99% effective with “perfect use” but only 76% to 88% effective at preventing pregnancy with “typical use.” In other words, up to 24% of women using the rhythm method may become pregnant in the first year.

Is NaProTechnology the Same as Natural Family Planning?

NaProtechnology (NaProTech) is a method developed by a Catholic obstetrician who had a religious objection to some fertility treatments. NaProTech health care providers teach you how to monitor your temperature and cervical mucus. They also provide tracking tools.

Doctors trained in this method may also take blood samples at different times in your cycle to measure your hormones, including LH and FSH. They may also perform transvaginal ultrasounds to monitor follicle growth.

Checking hormone levels and monitoring ovulation via ultrasound can also help a NaProTech doctor diagnose problems impeding fertility. They may recommend hormonal treatments, medications to stimulate ovulation, supplements, or other treatments.

However, fertility doctors offer more advanced tests and treatments compared to NaProTech doctors. For this reason, you may get more effective fertility treatments from a fertility doctor who offers the full range of fertility care.

If you’re trying to conceive, and natural family planning methods don’t work within a year, you should see a fertility doctor. If you’re over 35, ACOG recommends you see a fertility doctor after six months of trying. If you’re over 40, you should see a fertility doctor right away to assess whether you need fertility support.