NFP provides a medically safe, healthy, highly effective and very low cost
method of planning your family. It is convenient (no birth control devices to
use), and it's immediately reversible for achieving or avoiding pregnancy. It
is increasingly available throughout the world, it tells you when you have
achieved pregnancy, and it's morally acceptable.
It is scientfically established that during each menstrual cycle a woman
normally becomes fertile and then naturally infertile. The fertile time is the
part of her cycle when sexual intercourse can result in pregnancy. Her body
provides certain physical signs to indicate her fertile and infertile times.
The primary signs are a normal discharge of cervical mucus and changes in a
woman's waking temperature. Secondary signs include changes in her cervix and
a feeling called "ovulation pain."
Cervical mucus is nature's way of helping a man's sperm to reach a woman's
egg. Her flow of cervical mucus generally starts in a small way several days
before she ovulates (releases an egg); it is a very positive sign that her
fertile time has started. About the time she ovulates, her mucus may be
abundant and have a consistency something like raw egg-white. After ovulation,
her mucus normally disappears.
A woman's waking temperature is lower before ovulation and rises slightly but
distinctly after ovulation. After it has been well elevated for several days
(while her mucus has been disappearing), it is a very positive sign that she
is infertile.
What is the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning?
The Sympto-Thermal Method is a system of using the mucus and temperature signs
in a crosschecking way for the highest confidence and reliability in family
planning. The secondary signs are also used by many women.
Is this what used to be called"the Rhythm Method"?
No. The Rhythm Method was the Calendar Rhythm Method developed in 1930. It was
based on some biological averages, but it did not work well for women who had
irregular cycles. It was the 1930's model of NFP, and great progress has been
made since then.
Yes. Modern NFP assumes that every woman is irregular at least some of the
time. In general, if her fertile time comes earlier or later than usual, she
knows about it because the start of her cervical mucus comes earlier or later.
No. With NFP's Sympto-Thermal Method, a woman needs just a few minutes to take
her temperature when she wakes up each morning. During the day she takes a
moment now and then to become aware of her cervical mucus. Her husband records
a dot for the temperature on a chart, and at night she records a symbol to
describe her mucus. This simple process gives them an accurate, day to day
picture of her fertility.
Yes. Natural Family Planning uses no birth control devices or drugs. Every
drug has potential side effects and should be taken only when necessary to
cure or relieve an illness, etc. But fertility is a normal process, not a
disease. Birth control pills and implants are unnecessary drugs, and most
intrauterine devices (IUDs) were taken off the American market because of
health-related lawsuits; some physicians have linked spermicides with birth
defects.
NFP is health enhancing. Through NFP charting, a woman becomes aware of her
normal fertility-menstrual cycle. Some kinds of cycle irregularities can alert
her to possible underlying problems, and she can seek early health-care
assistance.
Numerous studies including one by the U.S. government, have shown that the
Sympto-Thermal Method of NFP can be used at the 99% level of effectiveness for
AVOIDING pregnancy. That's equal to the birth control pill and better than all
the barrier methods.
Yes. With NFP you will become aware of the most fertile days in your overall
fertile time, and you will learn certain practices to maximize your mutual
fertility. In addition, your charted cycles may reveal certain patterns that
can contribute to infertility and which sometimes can be corrected simply by
better nutrition. Many couples of marginal fertility are helped by NFP
training to achieve much wanted pregnancies, and the charts of those who may
need medical help can assist the knowledgeable physician.
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Can breastfeeding space babies?
Yes, but only when a mother practices a very natural form of baby care
characterized by mother-baby closeness. This is called "ecological
breastfeeding" to distinguish it from "cultural breastfeeding" which does not
space babies.
In addition, the ecological breastfeeding taught by the Couple to Couple
League helps you to keep your baby healthy and contributes greatly to the
emotional enrichment of both mother and baby.
Yes. All the major religions including the Catholic Church accept the use of
natural family planning when couples have a sufficiently serious reason for
spacing babies or family limitation.
On the other hand, the teachings of the Catholic Church, some Orthodox
churches, some parts of Judaism, and an increasing number of Protestants are
opposed to sterilization and the use of contraceptive or abortifacient drugs
and devices. It should be noted that intrauterine devices and birth control
drugs (both the pill and implants) can cause very early abortions.
In other words, is it natural for a married couple to practice sexual self-
control? Yes. No one denies that at times this is difficult, but such
difficulties do not make periodic continence "unnatural." "Natural" means
living up to the demands of our human nature, a nature "created in the image
and likeness of God." All of the Ten Commandments are sometimes difficult to
follow, but all of them spell out the challenge of being true to our own
nature.
Sexual self-control can help build the marital relationship, and therefore
most couples report that NFP has a positive effect on their marriages. They
find that periodic abstinence helps keep their sexual relationship fresh,
improves their communication, and gives them a deeper respect for each other.
In addition, the practice of NFP helps to develop the same strength of
character that is necessary for marital fidelity and lifelong marriage. NFP
couples have an extremely low divorce rate.
This makes sense because couples who respect the natural moral law, God's
order of creation, can expect to enjoy its benefits.
Yes, but not automatically. Couples rarely begin to practice Natural Family
Planning out of a desire to improve their marital relationship. However, if
they are going to practice NFP harmoniously, they soon find that they have to
communicate more fully with each other and practice continence creatively.
(Many are helped by a CCL brochure, Creative Continence.) Couples do not
ignore each other at times when they choose to avoid sexual relations; rather
they develop non-genital ways of expressing their love and affection, which is
the art of marital courtship.
The best way to learn NFP is to attend the classes of the Couple to Couple
League (CCL) -- four classes spaced a month apart. If you cannot attend
classes, the next best way is through the CCL Home Study Course.
Please note: This information has NOT taught you how to practice NFP. In the
classes and the Home Study Course, you will learn how to interpret all the
signs of fertility; you will learn how to use them in a crosschecking way or
individually; and you will learn how to apply this knowledge to your own cycle
pattern with professionally trained guidance. And much more.
For referral to CCL classes in your vicinity or for information about the Home
Study Course, contact the international office listed below.
The Couple to Couple League
P.O. Box 111184
Cincinnati, OH 45211, USA
1-513-661-7612
CompuServe Address: 73311,256
The Couple to Couple League International, Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt
organization founded in 1971 to provide quality natural family planning
services throughout the world in order to strengthen the family, the basic
unit of society.
This information is from a brochure titled "NFP: Safe, Healthy, Effective".
The brochure and related material may be ordered from Couple to Couple League
direct or through Catholic Resource Network's MarketPlace on CompuServe.
