Does anybody use Natural Family Planning (NFP) ?

Question

We're seriously considering it and could use some constructive input.

I know how great it is when TTC, but when using it to prevent conception...
for those who ended up pregnant...was it becasue you goofed? Or did you go ahead and have sex on a day you knew was a fertile one?

Answer 1

natural family planning takes a lot of discipline and self control to be done correctly. If it is your aniversary and you know it is a fertile day no sex for you. Personally i would never trust it to me it is like a dice shoot. Condoms, have a higher success rate than NFP

Answer 2

I have used it before, and I think it's great!! It helps us understand our body more, how it works and how we can tell different things that are happening at different times, and it's very simple really. Just lots of keeping track. I believe I was doing this for about 2 years and i ended up pregnant with my 3rd...but to be honest, I prefer it over the pill. I used to take the pill, and I would never do that again. Hubby and I use condoms now, but I actually had forgotten about NFP!! Anyway, I think it's a great way to go because I did it for so long and learned a lot about how my body works. It amazes me that we can tell ourselves, when we ovulate, when we can make love with our husbands or when we shouldn't if we want to prevent pregnancy....it's pretty cool. You have nothing to lose anyway, and if you aren't in the best of financial situations, it doesn't cost anything. At least it didn't back when I was doing it. Good luck and God Bless.

Answer 3

Natural family planning (NFP) is a term referring to the family planning methods approved by the Roman Catholic Church. In accordance with the requirements for sexual behavior maintained by this church, NFP forbids the use of contraception, as well as all orgasmic acts outside of those achieved through unprotected vaginal intercourse with the user's spouse. There are only two methods permitted by the Catholic church for avoiding pregnancy. The primary method is periodic abstinence during the fertile period of each menstrual cycle. Methods used to identify the fertile period may rely either on a woman's records of cycle length or observation of fertility signs. These methods may also be used to help achieve pregnancy. The other method permitted is intentionally extending the natural period of infertility caused by breastfeeding. The Catholic church permits sex during pregnancy, and after the woman goes through menopause. If she is on a regular 28 day cycle, and you do not want to have children, the do not have sex on the 12-15 days after she has had her cycle. Most women ovulate on day 14, from the first day that she started her cycle.

Answer 4

My husband and I use NFP. We have been married a year now, we love it and it works. I was skeptical myself so I went to my doctor before we were married and she told me it didn't work and tried to push birth control pills! We specifically didn't want to use birth control because of the potential lasting negative effects. Needless to say I found another doctor who explained that of course it works if you know your basic biology.

If you are going to use NFP, you should definately take a class from another couple using it who are trained teachers as they can answer all of your questions and help you interpret your first few charts. As you likely already know and for anyone else reading this, the Sympto-Thermal method of NFP is NOT the Rhythm Method and does not count days (this does NOT work and people get confused). The Sympto-Thermal method includes temperature charting as well as other signs to determine the fertile and in-fertile periods.

Yes as a couple you do practice abstinence during the fertile time (if you are avoiding pregnancy) and you have to be consistent in keeping records, however it is not time consuming and we have found that this brings us closer together as a couple, helps the husband feel more involved in the woman's fertility and helps me as a woman feel more in control of my fertility.

The benefits far outweigh the small inconvenience of charting and taking your temperature daily. We certainly recommend NFP.

There are all sorts of other benefits, but this post is already getting long, so you can also try this website for more info.
http://www.ccli.org/

Good Luck!

Answer 5

We tried it for a couple of months, but we ended up pregnant.

I think we had sex on a day that we were fertile but we thought it wasn't a fertile day. It is just so hard to know when you are ovulating and if you have sex a few days before you ovulate you can still get pregnant.

Answer 6

Yes, my husband and I didnt like the idea of me using bc. so when we got married we used the family planning method. i got something called cycle beads..ordered them offline..it is a string of beads with different colored beads on them that you move a ring on each day so you can see the days when you should have protected sex when you are most fertile, and when it is ok to have unprotected sex. if your cycle is very regular as mine is i would say this is a fine method..but i wouldnt recommend if you have an irregular cycle because it would be very hard to keep track of your fertile and non fertile days.
i wound up getting prego a month after getting married/starting this method, but honestly it was because we "goofed" and had unprotected sex on a day that we shouldnt have...:)

Answer 7

Yes, just ask my six month old and my newest baby that is 7 1/2 weeks along!

Seriously though - check out a book called "taking charge of your fertility" by Toni Weschler. It will really help you. I think every woman whether they want to conceive or not should read this book.

Answer 8

Natural Family Planning is only barely more effective than the Rhythm Method (and that's because it allows for women with longer and shorter cycles). Many women have regular cycles for years and then suddenly, it's off. Oops. There's a new baby! I know one gal who got pregnant the same month her cat died using that method. Stress can screw up your cycle.

If you don't mind getting pregnant, it's a cheap, non-hormonal method to attempt to space pregnancies. If you can't get pregnant, then you need to look at better methods. Keep in mind that this method was developed to HELP women get pregnant, not prevent pregnancy.

Answer 9

I did it for 3 months, then got pregnant the first month that I tried. I It takes a lot of work, and I don't know if I could it do it all the time.

Answer 10

We do, and we've never gotten pregnant unless we've wanted to. Its best instead of going by a calendar to learn the ovulation signs and what your body is doing during ovulation. You can ovulate a few days different than what the calendar says...its best to know how to watch for the signs and to remember that sperm lives for a few days too.