Learn to manage your fertility consistently: How can FAM help you?
As a Registered Nurse and Advanced Natural Fertility Practitioner, I talk about the benefits of Fertility Awareness Methods a lot and my passion for the subject was actually a large reason why I set up the Natural Fertility Nurse Clinic - a private practice that teaches women around the world about Natural Fertility Awarenss.
But one of my favourite things about FAM that I don’t often talk about is the flexibility and consistency it offers women.
Learning a Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) gives you the power to manage your fertility naturally through all of your fertile years.
To put it simply, I’d describe FAM as a health choice that allows you to avoid pregnancy, encourage pregancy, track the return of your fertility post birth/ through breast feeding and it even allows you to monitor your progression through menopause.
It’s a consistent way to manage your fertility no matter your goals and it has the added benefit of being 100% natural.
And do you know what the most common reaction I get from women who are new to naturally fertility awareness?
'“Why didn't I know about FAM years ago?”
I wish Fertility Awareness Methods were publicised more as viable and natural ways to manage your fertility - especially in schools and to young/ professional women so a lot of the work I do as the Director of Natural Fertility Nurse is to educate and raise awareness.
And as it’s important for women wanting to know more about Fertility Awareness Methods to have accurate and reliable resources, this Be Naturally You Blog is a big part of my education work.
So let’s get started and dig into why women choose to use Fertility Awareness Methods and how Natural Fertiliy Awareness can help you consistently manage your fertility no matter your goals.
Let’s start with the basics…
Why do women use Fertility Awareness Methods?
There can be a number of different reasons why women choose to start using Fertility Awareness Methods such as:
They are trying to pregnant and want to pinpoint their fertile window
They are trying to avoid pregnancy naturally
Hormonal contraception doesnt agree with them
They want to learn more about their cycle
They struggle with irregular periods
But what I really love about Fertility Awareness Methods, specifically the sympto-thermal method, is that whatever your reason for starting the method, you can use it throughout your fertile years, even as your goals change it allows you to manage your fertility.
If a women starts using FAM to keep track of their cycle for health and well being reasons and because they want to know how their body is working then that’s great. But the great thing about FAM is that while they may start for educational reasons, it prepares women brilliantly for when they are sexually active and they reach a time when they wish to try to conceive a baby or avoid pregnancy.
FAM can also help manage the change again after a baby is born and women need to track to see the return of fertility - this is especially important when breastfeeding.
Women who have tracked their cycles can also use the information to monitor the later phases of perimenopause and menopause.
So yes, you may be thinking of starting to track your fertility for a particular reason but FAM can actually help you way beyond what your current fertility goal is.
How can Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM) support you through out your fertile years?
I thought the best way to explain the flexiblity and consistent nature of FAM would be to give you an example of a past client of mine. We’ll change her name and call her Elsa for this blog to protect her privacy…
‘Elsa’ wanted to learn about her cycle as she wanted to be proactive in a healthy natural lifestyle.
She had a family history of fertility difficulties such as recurrent miscarriage and irregular periods and she wanted insight to her own cycle. Learning to chart when there is no pressure of trying to avoid or achieve pregnancy takes any worry away as you learn so it was a great time for Elsa to learn the technicalities of charting.
Like a lot of young women today, Elsa considered herself too busy to be in an involved relationship as she had many life goals to achieve! Many of her friends remained on hormonal contraception regardless of being sexually active or not for ease.
Elsa, however, wanted to keep things natural and she want to get to know her body. She found tracking was easy to fit into her student life and also prepared her well for when she wanted to become sexually active. Despite her determination that relationships were not on her agenda she became engaged and was married shortly after graduation.
As she was just setting out on her career it was important for them to avoid pregnancy so she benefited from having a clear picture of her cycle thanks to her early charting habit.
She was able to switch from charting for knowledge to charting to avoid pregnancy easily and she took comfort in the fact that when they decide it’s the right time to have kids, she’ll easily be able to make the transition from trying to avoid to trying to concieve.
So you see, for Elsa, charting is something that she’s grown up with. She started for health reasons and now uses it to avoid pregnancy without the need of hormonal contraception or invasive implants.
What are the benefits of using FAM through your fertilie years?
So there are benefits to using FAM for specific fertility goals, such as:
If you want to avoid pregnancy, FAM allows you to do that without any side effects from hormonal contraception or invasive implants
If you want to get pregnant, FAM allows you to accurately pinpoint your fertile window so you can identify when you’re most likely to concieve
If you’re struggling to identify a pattern to your cycle, FAM helps you see a pattern to your fertility indicators
But as this blog post outlines, one of the best advantages to FAM that isn’t often talked about, is the fact it’s a health choice that can support you for decades as you go through your fertile years.
It helps you transition between changing goals smoothly and gives you a wealth of knowledge about your own body. Instead of learning what is normal for the majority of women, you learn what is normal for you and you’re able to notice changes and signs easily.
FAM Charting helps you to be informed and empowered
As women, we are often given the impression that our menstrual cycle is somewhat of an inconvenience to be unwillingly tolerated and even suppressed. This ‘inconvenience’ attitude can be ingrained from early teenage years.
I often think about how good it would be if we could help women to know and understand and protect their bodies from an early age. FAM would empower women to make healthy and informed choices from an early stage like Elsa.
Sadly, I find many women do not have a clue about Fertility Awareness Methods as an option. So often I hear the same cry from a number of my clients: “why didn't I know about this years ago?”
I’m passionate that women should be informed and empowered to read and know their own cycle whatever their reason or fertility goal and that’s why I teach FAM.
So to summarise this blog:
Why should you consider Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM) to manage fertility long term?
Long term use of Fertility Awareness Methods can really help with a smoother transition from avoiding to achieving pregnancy or the other way round. Being confident in charting can also help as you track the return of fertility after giving birth, especially when breastfeeding.
For those of us, older women tracking can help manage that transition of changing cycles as perimenopause begins. That in itself helps us feel in control and give understanding as other symptoms kick in along the way.
