For those of you who are just beginning your fertility journey, one of the first places you may start before even going to a doctor is to chart your Basal Body Temperature (BBT).  Women chart their BBTs for many reasons.  Some chart it to do natural family planning so that they know when they have ovulated and when it is safe to have intercourse.  Others chart it to get to know their cycle so they know when is the best time to try to get pregnant.  If you are having problems getting pregnant, charting your BBT can sometimes be helpful in determining what the problem is.

Basal Body Temperature essentially means your body’s core temperature.  In order to get the most accurate reading, it should be measured first thing in the morning as soon as you wake up.  A woman’s BBT is usually right around 97ºF during the first half of your cycle.  When a woman ovulates, their BBT typically rises one degree or more, indicating that ovulation has occurred.  This elevation in the BBT lasts until right around the time menstruation begins.

When charting your BBT as part of the fertility process, your BBT can sometimes key you in on reasons that you might not have gotten pregnant up to this point.  Charting your BBT can help those of you who have unusually long cycles or shorter cycles to determine the best time of the cycle to try to get pregnant.  For instance, if you have a long cycle, your fertile days might not be until later in your cycle, so you would need to try at different times than someone who has a “normal” 28 day cycle.  BBT can also indicate if you are not ovulating or ovulating very early or very late in your cycle which can indicate problems.

In order to get the most accurate temperature, it is best to use a BBT thermometer that is specifically designed to show even the slightest change in your temperature.  They can be found in drug stores or pharmacies in grocery stores and discount department stores such as Wal-Mart.  They will specifically state that they are basal body temperature thermometers.  They used to be available in both mercury and digital thermometers, but the mercury thermometers are harder to find.  The digital thermometers are easier to read and give a much faster reading.

When charting your BBT, it is also helpful to chart your cervical mucus and cervical position to better understand your cycle and predict your most fertile days.  Since your BBT indicates when ovulation has already occurred, it is best to chart these other things so that you can begin to know how your body changes right before ovulation or during your most fertile times.

Charting your BBT is an excellent place to start if you are having fertility problems.  Many clinics or doctors will actually require that you chart your BBT for 3-5 months before they start treatments so that they can identify anything that is out of the ordinary in your ovulation cycle.  Therefore, if you can begin charting early on in the process, you can bring your BBT charts with you on your first visit to the fertility clinic.  By looking at your charts, your doctor may be able to determine the next course of action in your fertility process such as clomid to help induce ovulation.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 13th, 2006 at 1:23 am and is filed under Fertility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.