Fertility Education & Training

understanding your fertility, page 1 of 14

Introduction

Understanding Your Fertility

Fertility Facts:
A man is continuously fertile from adolescence to old age, whereas a woman is fertile for only a few days in each monthly cycle.

This tutorial gives a simple summary of how male and female fertility work and complement each other.

It explains how couples can recognise the few fertile days in a woman’s cycle when pregnancy can occur so they can time intercourse to either plan or postpone pregnancy.

This approach to fertility management is often called Fertility Awareness, since that is exactly what it does - makes couples aware of their fertile time in each cycle.

For couples trying to have a baby:

  • it accurately defines the fertile phase of each cycle thereby increasing their chance of conception
  • charting the cycle can help detect problems and symptoms that need further investigation

It is also more commonly called natural family planning (NFP), since it helps couples to do just that - plan and space the births of their children - with no health risks or side effects incurred from invasive procedures.

For those trying to avoid pregnancy, it has an efficiency rate of 98%,
provided the couple are well taught and apply the rules correctly.

(Ref. G.Freundl Adv. Contraception 1993, European Multi-centre Study of NFP)

After reading this tutorial, if you wish to learn more about charting your cycle, please read 'How to Chart Cycles'. A link to that tutorial is also given at the end of this current tutorial and in the main Tutorials Menu.