Why tracking Basal Body Temperature can optimize your TTC Journey
Did you know your body has its very own way of communicating to you both when your next period will come or if you are pregnant- for free?!
Well, maybe not completely free but most households usually have a thermometer already.
The beauty of tracking your fertility signs is that it helps you connect with your body and your health on a completely different level.
You can see just how easily your cycle may be affected by your daily activities and you can learn so much about how your habit changes are positively impacting your cycle and thus your fertility.
I used this tool to successfully prevent pregnancy for 5 years until we were ready and then I used it to confirm both of my pregnancies before a pregnancy test could even measure it!
Let me tell you about the beauty of tracking Basal Body temperature (BBT)…
What is BBT?
BBT stands for Basal Body Temperature. BBT is 1 of 3 main fertility signs that you can track and chart to identify where you are in your menstrual cycle (the other two main signs are cervical fluid/mucus (CM) and cervical position (CP).
Tracking your cycle with these signs is part of the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), a natural method of cycle awareness that can be used as a hormone-free birth control method or for conscious conception.
What are the benefits of tracking BBT?
Tracking BBT comes with a multitude of benefits.
Confirm ovulation
One of the main benefits is that it can help you confirm ovulation. In the first half of your menstrual cycle, your BBT trends on the low end and after ovulation, your body begins to produce progesterone, a hormone with a thermic effect that raises your baseline body temperature. When you track a thermal shift over a couple of days overlapping ovulation, and your temperature remains elevated for the second half of your cycle, you can confirm that you did indeed ovulate (a critical cycle event for all women but particularly if you are trying to conceive (TTC)).
Predict an oncoming period
Tracking BBT can help you identify your typical cycle tendencies, namely the typical length of your luteal/postovulatory phase. If your luteal phase tends to be about 13 days long, then you can usually predict your period will show up within a day or two.
Confirm pregnancy
BBT remains high for the duration of your cycle and can be used to identify pregnancy even before a pregnancy test at 18 days past ovulation (DPO). If your BBT remains high past day 18, then it means that a fertilized egg has implanted in the endometrial lining and you've successfully conceived!
Understanding your typical luteal phase length can also aid in this early pregnancy detection as it the luteal phase is less variable than your follicular phase. A pregnancy test measures Hcg hormone, which usually isn't high enough to be detected at this stage.
Identify suboptimal thyroid production
If your BBT is too low in your pre-ovulatory phase (consistently lower than 97.5F/ ) then that may indicate hypothyroidism. Especially if you are experiencing other hypothyroidism symptoms such as cold hands and feet, sluggishness, low energy, irregular menstrual patterns, unintentional weight gain, hair loss and more, it would be wise to consider working with a qualified specialist who can guide you towards improving your metabolic health.
Are you interested in learning more about how to identify the fertile period in your cycle so you can either prevent pregnancy until you're ready or time conception more optimally? I'll teach you exactly how!
Potential challenges To tracking BBT
Tracking your BBT accurately requires responsibility and consistency. It must be measured around the same time every morning, before getting out of bed and before eating or drinking anything.
It must also be measured after your longest stretch of sleep (at least 5 hours).
Although still potentially informative, BBT measurements may not be as accurate if you:
experience interrupted sleep
wake often to pee at night
have young children who need you at night
wake up at a different time every morning
cross time zones often
simply can’t remember to track it every morning
However if these apply to you, that doesn’t mean you can’t still learn a lot from tracking BBT!
Keep reading for one tool I recommend for those who struggle to wake at the same time every morning or forget to measure when waking…
In my course Resilient Mothethood: a step-by-step guide to preparing for conception and beyond, I have an entire module dedicated to understanding your menstrual cycle and fertility signs.
I teach you everything you need to know about:
Tracking ALL of your fertility signs
Identifying fertility red flags through observing your menstrual cycle and fertility signs
Interpreting what may be contributing to your symptoms
and most important of all, what you can do about it!
When you just can't remember to take your BBT
Before you write off BBT altogether if some of those challenges above apply to you, consider using Tempdrop- an arm band that you wear to sleep that automatically measures your lowest BBT after your longest bout of sleep.
You can sync it with your smartphone after you wake up and it will track your BBT data in the app so that you can stay in touch with exactly where you are in your cycle and if and when you are fertile so you can decide if it’s go time!
Use the code AFANISAWOODALL for a 10% discount!
Do you use an Oura ring? Use your Oura ring to track BBT
You can connect your Oura ring (or their provided thermometer) to sync with the Natural Cycles app to track you basal body temperature and other fertility signs. Use the code ANISA20 to get 20% off Natural Cycles!
Tell me in the comments, have you tracked BBT before?
What questions have come up for you when learning more about the fertility awareness method?
