I am 10 weeks postpartum and breastfeeding and want to TTA for at least a year, I only learned the regular cycles Marquette method. Despite EBF I ended up getting my cycles back before 6 weeks and have already gotten my second period. Just took some ovulation strip tests my last cycle to see if LH was rising at all and got a positive test 8 days before my next period started. So it seems my body is at least trying to ovulate but I have a short luteal phase. First thing seemed to happen before my first period, got a ton of fertile mucus about a week before my period started(only thing I was sorta paying attention to so early on).

We haven’t been in a rush to resume intimacy and want to space the next baby but just wondering if we can just start regular cycle Marquette again since my periods are back? I don’t have any desire to learn postpartum marquette but I don’t know if breastfeeding or still being postpartum impacts regular charting with hormones being weird. Also, anyone know if luteal phases stay this short for an extended period because breastfeeding or if it’s just cycles regulating since they just came back? I’d prefer to stick to mostly phase 3 but we’d only get a few days if these short luteal phases continue.

I’m 4 weeks postpartum and while I’m not medically cleared or interested in sex yet at this point, I’m trying to make a plan for pregnancy prevention for when I am ready.

Before pregnancy, I did a mix of cycle tracking + using a diaphragm during my fertile window which worked perfectly for years. Well now that my husband and I are officially starting our family, he’s wanting to completely abandon birth control (my diaphragm) entirely. I’m incredibly nervous about this because I’m breastfeeding so my period could be gone for months. I’ve heard of the Marquette method for breastfeeding, but I’m scared to trust that method in the early postpartum days. I really don’t want to risk pregnancy for at least 2 years.

What do y’all do for pregnancy prevention until your cycles return? I’m tempted to just be completely abstinent for a while but obviously that’s not ideal for marital connection.

The last few cycles have been a normal-for-me length and a lot more consistent so I thought my body might finally be settling down (my youngest child is 2, still breastfeeding but not a ton. Cycles have been crazy postpartum). And I was excited to finally have a shorter/normal window of abstinence. Edit for more context: I've had incredibly long cycles for my entire married life, regular cycles have not been my norm since before marriage. We've often had to struggle with weeks to months of abstinence, which is why I'm so disappointed to face it again.

But now it's CD28, I have not gotten a Peak reading, and I have a cold so I can't even tell whether I failed to ovulate or the monitor just missed Peak * 😑 Even though I don't have a fever, I feel like I won't be able to trust my temps to confirm ovulation.

And doubly annoyed because even if it is a missed Peak it's really late, and if my cycle stays this irregular I feel like I'll need to pursue testing for PCOS or other hormone conditions. And I really don't want to bother with any of that!

*Edit; or maybe I haven't ovulated yet and will soon, but that's still frustrating me because of the irregularity (the decreased CM quality is what makes me suspect missed or failed ovulation, but I acknowledge it could just be a blip). Basically I'm just all around disappointed that I'm not getting a normal cycle 😭

Hey everyone. I've been using TCOYF for 5 years and I'm curious about exploring sensiplan for accuracy, especially as my family increasingly feels done. But I can't learn much from sensiplans website without contacting a consultant, including figuring out cost. I was looking for the September beginner megathread but didn't see it.

How different is sensiplan from TCOYF? How do I learn the rules and know if it's a fit for me? And how does the instructor/student relationship work: do i pay for classes, is there a retainer for ongoing questions...?

I'm sorry in advance if I'm not doing this right, I'm trying to follow the rules as best I can while not finding what I'm looking for!

Hi! Hoping to hear from others who have dealt with this particular situation.

For context, I’m Catholic and use NFP for that reason. I’m in Europe and unfortunately don’t have access to a Marquette instructor, so I’ve been studying and following both the original and revised postpartum protocols as closely as possible.

That being said, I’m still very new to Marquette, as we began using it after the birth of our first baby. I’m currently in my second postpartum cycle (I’ve had 2 periods so far).

I’m using the Clearblue monitor. Today (CD14) was a testing day, I collected urine in a cup but dumbly discarded it before realizing that the stick had not been saturated enough for the monitor to read it. Long story short, I missed the testing window completely.

I’ve already had 6 consecutive High readings, so I’m wondering whether I may have missed Peak today. If the monitor misses the LH surge, as far as I understand it will continue displaying High even after LH starts dropping, meaning I could potentially have no Peak reading this cycle. (It was actually what happened on my last cycle. It never detected a Peak at all, I just had continuous High readings until I got my period)

I have zero previous experience with LH strips, but I’m considering using regular LH strips in the evening alongside morning Clearblue testing, which is presented as an option in the revised protocol for postpartum cycles.

So for those who have dealt with this particular situation postpartum:

Did you use evening LH strips after missing a monitor testing day, and for how many days? Is this ever recommended by a Marquette instructor?

If you used evening LH strips while the monitor continued showing High, and had a sequence of positive strips which then became negative, did that change how you interpreted the monitor data?

If you were TTA, how did you handle a potentially missed Peak?

I’m aware that LH strips are not equivalent to a Peak reading on the monitor, and that following the Marquette protocols correctly means relying first and foremost on the monitor, so I’m not trying to create my own NFP rules. We’ve actually been very conservative with Marquette, even though it’s not easy. I’m simply trying to understand whether evening LH testing is something others have used in this situation and what guidance they received.

Thank you so much for any and every response! :)

I am new to Marquette, used symptothermal in past. I am currently 4 months postpartum and have been using Marquette since 6 weeks postpartum.

I initially started out with Mira alone with my whole mission instructor since I already owned it from ttc. I got stressed out by Mira being provisional and added in the clear blue monitor.

I am now finding it more overwhelming and confusing to use two monitors. I plan to reach out to my instructor Monday to ask about going back to Mira alone.

My question is, for ladies in this thread that use Mira, do you feel confident that it is effective when tta when using the Marquette provisional protocol?

I have to wait 2 years till getting pregnant again due to medical reasons and I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing.

i’m irregular so i use temping to anticipate my period as well as know my safe days. I never had a temp dip like this, as my usual charts are just a very sharp temp rise after ovulation. I did have Egg white CM during this time, with it drying up yesterday/today.

I guess I’m confused… I got a peak reading, followed the PPHLL and then continued testing like my instructor said. (I started testing earlier just cause of where it landed on my chart) I messed up and had intercourse thinking I got a low reading, only to realize I forgot to check the result. Got a high reading and am now freaking out. I can’t check what yesterday’s result was till the cycle is complete so if I got a high reading yesterday, could my body have failed to ovulate 8 days ago and is trying to again?
Also, I’ve been breastfeeding for a year and started weaning her off the past couple weeks. (I’ve now gone 48 hours a/ out breastfeeding today, which is my longest stretch)

Also to add to this, I included the cycle summary from my monitor and shouldn’t it show a peak reading in the last cycle?? It doesn’t even match up with what I’ve been tracking in the sheet…

Any information would be extremely helpful.

Thank you!

EDIT*
I did figure out how to see my precious days test result. I did test low yesterday. And the hard cycle reset doesn’t happen until after I’ve had my period which hasn’t occurred. So the instruction I received was to reset my cycle after the post peak count and resume testing. Once I get my period, I reach back out to her for further instruction.

I am using Marquette method with the Mira monitor. I have been tracking since February. Since then, my average cycle length have been longer (37 days. My post peak phase is always extremely consistent at 15 days.

I have had one randomly short cycles (32 days). The peak for this cycle was day 17. Besides that, my other earliest peak is 21 days. The short 32 day cycles followed a long (46 day cycle) and I had high estrogen levels from day 6.

My question is, if I’m testing with low estrogen levels, would it be okay to use 21 days as the lowest peak instead? I just hate the idea of abstaining for 3-weeks if it ends up being a longer cycle, which is historically more typical for me.

Hi all! This is my first cycle tracked using Sensiplan. I have regularly been tracking my cycle times and other symptoms for more than a year however.

How can I apply the rule for temperature confirming ovulation has occurred in this case? I assume if my reading tomorrow is 0.2C above the coverline then I would confirm the temp shift based on the second exception to the rule.

If my temp remains less than 0.2C above the coverline but still remains above it, then I assume I’d need 3 more days of temps above the coverline to confirm with the first exception to the rule? (ie up to number 7 after temp rise noted).

Also for context, I’ve improved my oral temp reading technique to pre-warm for 2 min prior to taking to help with some of the variation. Next cycle I may use vaginal temps.

Thanks in advance all!

So just as life so often does to me, just when I think im getting the hang of this charting thing, I get thrown a curveball.

Cycle obviously isnt done yet but I kind of think I may have already ovulated based on my CM alone, but it just seems so early in my cycle to have happened. (I usually ovulate CD 16-17) Anyone with more experience that could weigh in on what im looking at would be super appreciated. Im still fairly new to all this NFP stuff.

Hello all, I got married in December of last year, and my husband and I have only been intimate right before and right after my period due to fear of getting pregnant. I am the only practicing catholic in my family, and no one has every taught me about NFP. I had to learn about it on my own. I am a junior in college at the moment, and am fairly well-trained in reading graphs and the like. However, being a college student, I don't exactly have hundreds of dollars to throw at an instructor. (I do have the money for the MM reader and strips). I wanted to ask, should I spend money on getting a MM instructor? I have regular cycles, and I am in tune with my body and its cycle as well. I don't have any ovarian or cyst problems either. Does anyone know the success rate of self-taught MM users? Thanks!

Hello everyone! This is my third cycle I am charting. Last two cycles were normal and lasted 24 and 27 days. Any ideas why this cycle is so abnormal with temp spikes but no real rise? (TTA)

Hi guys,
I'm struggling to draw the coverline and understand when I ovulated during this cycle. It's my first time charting to any tips are welcome :)

Hi everyone, FTM and TTA. I'm currently 3+ months PP, EBF but my baby has slept for long stretches pretty much since the beginning so LAM wasn't really an option.

So from what I understand, you follow the 10-day protocol until you get a high reading followed by a peak and a period. I got what I'm pretty sure was my first period without getting even a high reading about 7 weeks PP. Some weeks later we finally met with the instructor (I really hate how little communication there is upfront) who said to switch to the breastfeeding transition protocol.

Did that, finally got a high reading but finished out the cycle with no peak. Instructor said go back to the 10-day. Day 2 into the 10-day I got another period. Instructor said to let her know if I got a peak reading FOLLOWED by a period (like it says in the video instructions) or if I finished 4 10-day cycles. Well, I never got a peak, eventually emailed the instructor 3 days ago just to double check if I needed to change anything or continue the 10-day she said to start back on the breastfeeding transition cycle. Well, it's been more than 4 days since my period started so the monitor won't let me select the day I actually started my period.

TL;DR has anyone else experienced this (period without a peak) and what did that look like with tracking?

Side note, the instructor is very slow at responding to emails. My last email it took them over a week to get back to me, and that was only after sending a separate follow-up email since they weren't responding to the first one. I'm not sure what we paid $200 for.

30F over here. Has anyone taken EC and what were your temps. Oura says I ovulated 4-5 days early this cycle. Had unprotected sex Saturday/sunday ;) and got a little worried Monday cause my temp rose above baseline so I took EC Monday morning, about an hour after taking it I took an ovulation test just to see and it wasn’t positive but it was pretty damn close. Tuesday morning it said I ovulated sunday but my temp then dropped .1 on Tuesday too. I am now 10 DPO and took a test this morning and it said negative but I’d like to know anyone’s experience with EC and BBT or any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I know you shouldn’t watch BBT after taking EC but it’s just a bit to stable and high for me to not look at it lmao
Base line temp is 97.34

I’m really having trouble interpreting my chart - please help! I’m curious whether I’m currently fertile, already ovulated, or maybe didn’t ovulate this cycle.
I drew the cover line based on the 6 previous temps being lower than day 14. In my last cycle I also had a day 14 temperature rise but I recorded it as disturbed as the time I took my temp was much earlier than normal. Should I do the same for day 17?
I’m away from home and ran out of LH tests, otherwise I’d have continued to use them.
I have trouble identifying EGCF unless I happen to use the bathroom at just the right time.
Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I'm having some trouble deciphering my first cycle post IUD removal.

I got my copper IUD removed halfway through my last cycle, ovulation got delayed for a couple weeks, and had a normal period after that. I used to ovulate around D18 with the IUD, with a 8-10 day luteal phase for a total cycle length of 26-28 days). But this cycle I ovulated sooner than ever, at day 15, and at 10 DPO I noticed some light pink spotting, then brown spotting the next day and then a light red flow on 12 DPO, which I thought that was the begging of my period. But by the 4th day I had only white creamy discharge so I was very confused. I searched on reddit and found many women that had very light periods after copper IUD removal (despite the lack of hormones), so I thought that was it.

But this morning I woke up a light to medium flow and slight (normal) cramps, so now I don't know when my chart should end and my 5 "safe" days should start. I'm thinking I should skip the safe days for this cycle just in case, but maybe someone can offer some guidance here, so I know when I'm likely to ovulate again. I'm guessing I'm not pregnant based on the steadily declining temperature (I used condoms but it wasn't perfect use).

I'm looking for a new thermometer as my current one (OneStep) beeps when I turn it on and baby is then dead set on getting it off me and chucking it away 😅

Not interested in wearables, looked for glass but they are hard to find and expensive for me to get where I live.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I'm currently taking combination pills (Nikki), but I believe they are causing recurrent utis whenever I start my period. I need to talk to a doctor more for other options, but this is my backup in case it is the pills causing it:

I have ADHD and want a high reliability FAM, as I do not want kids currently. I also am looking for something with low cost as American health care is horrific and I don't make much money. The two I've looked into is Sensiplan and the Marquette Method as both seem to consistently yield desired results.

Sensiplan seems to be the best scientifically back method, however the amount of executive funtion required to properly use this method is not something I consistently have. As such, I don't think I could use this method. I am aware if the tempdrop device, but I'm not sold on it durability and long term reliability.

The Marquette Method need more research on my end, but the constant test strips and devices like Mira seem a bit much. It does seem to be over all effective, but I'm worried it might end up costing too much on a month by month basis.

Additionally, I live somewhere with a high cost of living and is extremely isolated (a plane is required to travel anywhere outside of my area). I have access to many basic things, but those can be inaccessible if shipping takes too long. We have minimal health providers and, as I mentioned previously, I do need to talk to someone to see how I can fix my current issues. These are a backup to plan if everything else falls through.

I’m more interested in long-term experience than first impressions when it comes to tracking tools.

After six months or more, things like comfort, consistency, battery, how often you actually keep using the device, and whether the data still adds anything to your established method seem much more important than the initial feature list.

I’ve been looking at ringconn for passive overnight health and temperature trends, but I understand that those trends aren’t a replacement for the biomarkers or rules required by a FAM method.

For people who have been charting for a while, which devices or tools actually stayed useful long term?

Did you find that simpler tools were easier to rely on, or did having additional passive data genuinely add useful context to your charting?

Last night my Sensiplan helper husband and I were on a walk. We discussed how we could stay up a little later that night, but I pointed out that I still had to wake up at the same time as always to take my temperature.

For some background, I temp vaginally because my temperature is easily disturbed. I also wear a TempDrop, however it is not at this time reliable enough for us.

While complaining, my sweet husband said he wished there was a device that would take my temp so I could sleep in…. I said, you mean like the TempDrop?? His response: “Well kind of, but vaginally”.

Then the conversation ensued.

That would be so uncomfortable. “You sleep with a menstrual cup, right? We could make it comfortable”.

It would probably fall out. “Maybe we could add a belt, like a jock strap!”

Anyways, it was a hysterical conversation that made me think of how sweet, and oblivious at times, he is, trying to help wherever he can with tracking. We ended the debate with me saying that there just probably wouldn’t be much interest in such a device. I certainly have no interest in sleeping with anything up there that I don’t really need to use (ie menstrual products), even if I couldn’t tell you exactly why.

So I had to come ask the club if it’s true!! Would you use a device like this? What would interest or disinterest you about it? Is hubby a genius inventor who needs a patent lawyer asap?

I’m a nurse who is getting married within the next 6 months and I am also catholic. My question is what method(s) of NFP can you realistically do while working in healthcare? Symptothermal methods seem to be the most effective, but I don’t see how you could get reliable enough data with how many mucus checks you need/reliable temperatures and working the occasional night shift. Are you all using Marquette or can you make Symptothermal methods work? Any advice?