Fertility Awareness
You've been looking for this information your whole life!
No more desperate Google searches or asking around friends when your period is late, or when your cycle suddenly goes from 31 days to 23 days.
No more assuming ovulation on day 14 and relying on LH strips to try to pinpoint your fertile window.
No more relying on IUDs, pills, and condoms to prevent pregnancy.
When you learn to chart your fertility signs, you sign up for a lifetime of being the expert of your own body and living in harmony with your cycles.
Fertility Awareness is the practice of observing your 3 fertility signs each day and tracking them with a special chart.
What is FAM?
FAM stands for Fertility Awareness Method
Did you know that your body gives you physical signs of fertility or infertility every day to tell you what's happening in your cycle?
Fertility Awareness is the practice of observing these signs and writing them on a special chart.
With Fertility Awareness education, you know exactly what's going on with your cycle, your hormones, and your fertility, enabling you to understand your body in amazing detail.
The Life-Changing Power of FAM!
Imagine being the one who answers all the questions from your doctor, not the one who asks all the questions.
Imagine having the ability to know what's happening in your cycle every day without having to talk to anyone, leave the house, go on the computer, get a test, or even get out of bed – literally!
Getting educated in Fertility Awareness gives you the power to be the expert of your body and your fertility, enabling you to consciously avoid or invite pregnancy if and when you choose.
The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) takes less than 5 minutes a day and gives you all the information you need for natural birth control, conception optimization, and being able to know what’s going on in your cycle at any given time.
Did you know that your fertile window only lasts about 7-10 days per cycle?
Did you know that your body physically tells you when that fertile window is open, and when it is closed?
Did you know that the most scientifically valid technique to know your own fertile window is literally at your fingertips every day, for FREE?
The Fertility Awareness Method is your key to clearing up so many mysteries and questions about your cycle you’ve probably had for most of your life.
Investing in FAM education gives you a lifetime of knowledge that will allow you to avoid pregnancy with high effectiveness (approximately 98% with correct use), to increase your chances of conception, and put YOU in the driver’s seat of your reproductive health before any doctor, test, or app.
By observing and charting 2-3 primary fertility signs each day (which takes about 2 minutes per day!) an incredible treasure trove of data opens to you.
You'll see how many days per cycle you are fertile, when you ovulate, how long your cycle will be, and even the very day that you will start your period. In addition, charting will make you the expert of your reproductive and gynecological health by putting you in close contact with following your body's natural patterns and knowing what's normal and what's not.
This is a FAM chart!
Although it may look complicated, you simply add your data each day, leading to a complete chart at the end of your cycle like this one.
Here’s what this chart can tell us - all without using an app, test, or piece of FemTech!
The fertile window lasts 12 days, determined by cervical fluid and temps
Estrogen levels are healthy, as demonstrated by a robust cervical fluid pattern
Progesterone levels are healthy, as shown by the 12-day luteal phase (the phase between ovulation and menstruation; it should ideally be 12-16 days long)
Overall temps are in a good range, indicating optimal thyroid function (all temps are above 97.0 Fahrenheit)
Total days safe for unprotected sex, if avoiding pregnancy: 16
Best days to time conception, if trying to get pregnant: days 11 - 17 (just 6 days total, not the whole cycle!)
The day menstruation would come, on day 13 as evidenced by the drop in temperature
What different types of secretions mean - they’re not all fertile!
Fertility Awareness unlocks all the answers you've been looking for.
how many times have you asked the gynecologist or Google these questions?
Can I get pregnant on my period?!
How can I tell when I'm ovulating??
When am I fertile?!
Is it ever safe to have unprotected sex without risking pregnancy??
Why do I have cramps and PMS?
By learning observing and charting your primary fertility signs, you'll understand:
If you could get pregnant on your period (hint - maybe, but it depends on your cycle lengths!)
How to know when you are ovulating (it’s all about that cervical fluid)
When you are fertile, down to a T - no prediction apps or day counting needed!
Which days of your cycle are safe for unprotected sex (the majority of your cycle!)
Why you might have cramps and PMS, and how to heal these issues with diet and nutrition
FAQs about FAM
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FAM (the Fertility Awareness Method) is a simple daily practice of checking 1-3 physical signs that your own body freely gives you. These are called primary fertility signs: cervical fluid, waking temperature, and, optionally, cervical changes. You observe these signs each day and then record your observations on a special chart. Charting your signs allows you to see many things about your cycles you wouldn't know otherwise. There are actually several different types of Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (what you're reading about on this site specifically refers to the "symptothermal method," which tracks all 3 fertility signs, plus uses an optional calculation rule).
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Our fertility signs are in direct correlation to our hormone levels. Under the influence of estrogen leading up to ovulation, the cervix begin to produce cervical fluid, the cervix changes in height and texture, and our body temperature stays in a low range. Under the influence of progesterone after ovulation, the cervix stops producing cervical fluid, the cervix closes, and our body temperature rises to a high range. Pretty amazing how your body talks to you in the form of fertility signs, isn't it?
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Cervical fluid is a very special and remarkable substance produced inside the cervix that allows sperm to survive for up to 5 days. Without cervical fluid, sperm will die within a few hours! Cervical fluid is made only within the fertile window of our cycle (about 7 - 10 days of each cycle). "Discharge" refers to unhealthy and abnormal secretions, such as a yeast infection.
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Every morning, before getting out of bed, you take your temperature (1 minute). Throughout the day, you check your cervical fluid (10 seconds). Optionally, you can check your cervix (10 seconds). Recording your signs on your chart takes another 20-30 seconds and can be done at the end of the day.
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Learning FAM requires an initial investment (somewhere between $50-$500 depending on the teacher) but once you know it, you have the information for the rest of your life. After learning, all you need to do is print paper charts (or you can use a FAM app to chart) and buy a thermometer. Then you're all set. Your body provides fertility signs each and every day for FREE.!
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No, not at all. FAM and the Rhythm Method are completely different. Rhythm is based on rudimentary knowledge about the menstrual cycle from the 1930s and relies on trying to calculate when your fertile phase will occur each cycle. It doesn't require you to look at the signs your body is actually giving you in real time. FAM is based in modern science and relies on looking at your physical fertility signs to tell you each day if you are fertile or infertile.
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Yes! Regularity and predictability is NOT an important part of this method. Instead, you check in with your own body daily to see what's going on. If you want to use FAM for birth control, know that irregular cycles may have more days that are unsafe for unprotected intercourse - meaning more days that you will need to abstain, use a barrier method/withdrawal, or have non-penetrative sex - but you are still covered by the FAM Rules. A great benefit of practicing FAM is you may even see the cause of your irregular cycles on your charts, and take steps to smooth things out for better cycle health.
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It does! (I have personally used FAM since 2011 to avoid pregnancy). Many studies abound that demonstrate the effectiveness of identifying the fertile window via fertility signs, and following standardized rules to make sure that sperm and egg never meet. A 2007 20-year study from Germany found that the symptothermal method (using similar but not identical protocols as the ones that Cycle Wise teaches) revealed a perfect use rate of 99.6% (how well the method works when people follow all the rules), and 98.2% with imperfect use (how well the method works when people make mistakes). These exceedingly high numbers are based on the fact that the study participants learned with a certified educator, and received follow-up support with their educator, as well as followed standardized rules.
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Most people agree that once you learn it, FAM is as easy as tying your shoes. Like any other skill in life, such as learning to ride a bike or drive a car, FAM requires an investment of time and energy to master. Checking your fertility signs every day is a habit that takes a bit of time to establish, but it's really just a matter of adding on to things you already do every day: taking your temperature when you're already laying in bed in the morning, and checking cervical fluid when you use the bathroom.
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FAM is the most scientifically advanced, modern technique to know what's happening in your cycle. Our fertility signs have been studied for nearly 150 years. We know that:
The absence of cervical fluid means that sperm cannot survive more than a few hours, and that ovulation is not impending
The presence of cervical fluid indicates increasing levels of estrogen and that ovulation is getting close
Ovulation is an event that occurs once per cycle (with two eggs occasionally released within 24 hours of each other)
A sustained shift in temperature means that progesterone is present, indicating that ovulation has passed
We are unable to get pregnant once we confirm, via the temperature shift and change in cervical fluid, that the fertile window is closed and no more fertility will occur this cycle
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Fertility Awareness is not a new thing. Amazingly, temperature and cervical fluid were verified by scientists in the 1950s-60s at the exact time that the Pill made its world debut! Guess which method got more recognition? There are a few different reasons that FAM is still relatively unknown:
This method has been taught and practiced largely in a Catholic context since the 1960s, leading to the perception that FAM is only for those who have large families, who don't mind an unplanned pregnancy, or who hold certain morals
Since FAM does not offer much profit to pharmaceutical companies, it has never found the same footing as hormonal and device methods of contraception
The public, the medical community, and large health institutions still believe FAM to be the ineffective Rhythm Method
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Most apps that call themselves "fertility trackers" or "period trackers" are nothing more than the Rhythm Method since they don't require you to observe cervical fluid in conjunction with basal body temperature. FAM is also not the same as temperature-based apps like Natural Cycles, which attempt to tell you when you are fertile by only temps and an algorithm. This is risky, as cervical fluid is what opens the fertile window, and temps cannot tell you when you are fertile, only that you HAVE ovulated.
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Anyone from menarche to menopause can use FAM and can benefit from knowing how to understand their cycles and fertility. Unlike NFP, the non-secular branch of this method, you don't have to be heterosexual, engaged, married, in a traditional relationship, or adhere to a specific gender role to use FAM. You do NOT need to have regular cycles.
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![Happy woman named Thea in Sebastopol, California]()
Having reached my "no" with the copper IUD and its side effects, I decided to take Caitlin's course to solidify my Fertility Awareness Method skills. My goal was to learn how to confidently avoid pregnancy using FAM and the class has definitely given me the tools to do so. Beyond FAM skills, I have gained a new pathway for honoring, caring, and connecting with my body and myself! Understanding my body in this way is such a gift — I feel like I'm in the driver's seat.
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![Happy woman named Katie in Sebastopol, California]()
Books and podcasts were a great start, but the personal teaching with Caitlin really gave me the confidence and information I needed to do this effectively. I know my body, I trust my body and now I trust myself. I don't have to worry about getting pregnant and I don't need hormonal birth control to do this. Getting to know my body and making choices using the beautiful information it gives me everyday about my cycle and fertility is one of the best things I have ever done.
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![Happy woman named Courtney in Sebastopol, California]()
Before working with Caitlin, all my pieces about fertility charting were scattered and she was able to complete my puzzle. I had been on multiple hormonal birth controls for 10 years and I couldn’t help but wonder 'how would I feel without the hormones being fed into me?' Through Caitlin I have learned all kinds of facts about my body and how I can be in control. Honestly, what is more beautiful than being in control and aware of your body?!
