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Natural family planning now made easy with an app

//March 20, 2018//

Natural family planning now made easy with an app

//March 20, 2018//

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Many women and families prefer a way to avoid pregnancy using a method that is not invasive (such as an intrauterine device or implant), while others prefer a method with minimal to no side effects.

Natural family planning is an option many women prefer. It is a way to help prevent pregnancy by recognizing signs and symptoms that occur during the fertile days of your menstrual cycle.

This method of fertility awareness can include tracking periods, checking cervical mucus and measuring your basal body temperature, or the lowest body temperature attained during rest.

Monitoring these factors can help you and your partner determine when you are fertile so that you can abstain from intercourse during that time to avoid pregnancy.

If you desire natural family planning as your form of contraception, you can now turn to your phone. A variety of smartphone apps are now available to help you track your period in order to know when you can safely have unprotected sex with your partner and prevent pregnancy.

How natural family-planning apps work

These new family-planning apps allow you to track your natural cycle by checking your basal body temperature to determine which days you are fertile or infertile, or by tracking your period to determine when you are ovulating.

These calculations help you determine which days are the best days to have sex based upon your goal to either conceive or avoid pregnancy.

If you only want an app to help manage your periods, these apps give you that power and capability. If you truly desire to have a natural family plan, there really haven’t been too many apps that aid natural birth control — until now.

There are many benefits of the natural family planning apps, including the facts that:

  • they are non-invasive,
  • they have zero side effects,
  • and they are relatively simple to use — women can get rid of paper calendars and calculations and reduce human error.

Important note on the effectiveness of family-planning apps

It’s very important to note while natural family planning apps can be useful in tracking menstrual cycles, they are not as effective as other forms of birth control in preventing pregnancies. Read UPMC Pinnacle’s blog to learn more about natural family planning and other forms of birth control.