Tracking Basal Temp for Ovulation and Thermometer Recommendations?

K.,

I never used the basal thermometer. It seemed like so much work. It took me several months to get my cycle aclimated after being on the pill. I started by just keeping track of my period for a few months and then I started to use ovulation sticks. They are really easy, but get expensive month after month. This website might help clear things up well. http://americanpregnancy.org/gettingpregnant/index.htm
I know that is what I used. I would plug in my dates to the ovulation calendar and when I was close to ovulating, I would use the ovulation sticks. Good luck to you!!!

J.

Hi K.,

Yes, it HAS to be a basal therm, sounds like you got a bad one with the dead battery and all. The BEST book to help you understand your body, I think EVERY woman should read it, is Taking Charge of Your Fertility but Toni Weschler. It is VERY understandable and VERY complete, it helped me get preggers twice, first 'try' each time.

Good luck!
S.

OK, you've gotten alot of responses--here's one more! I conceived both my kids w/this method. I used a regular digital thermometer. I graphed the temp every day w/graph paper. Do it before you even lift your head. I was also on the pill 10 years before trying this. It did take a few mos. for me to see the patterns and my body to regulate itself--the whole process took 11 mos. to conceive the 1st time but only 3 the second time.

I also believe it's hard to conceive when you are thinking about it all the time. I was so consumed with it I finally just gave up and went on a fun girls vacation where I relaxed and told myself I'd forget about it for a few mos. Well, I got home from the trip and became pregnant shortly afterward. I do believe it was my relaxed attitude that helped!

My advice is to not let it consume you--look at this as a learning period and enjoy your life w/o kids for now. While kids are wonderful you'll miss those days soon enough! GOOD LUCK!

A must-have book. Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. I might be spelling her last name wrong. Great reference book for every stage of fertility awareness and management. I wish I had this book when I was a teenager even. This book will probably answer all of your questions related to tracking and such.

Also, not sure what your objectives are... I assume you are starting to think about getting pregnant. Just wanted to let you know that I was on the pill for many years, as well. It took me about 2 1/2 years for my cycle to actually even out and even get a pattern... it took that long for the hormones to actually get out of my body. On the other hand, I have friends that had no problems getting pregnant... or just having regular cycles. Just in case you don't see immediate patterns or results (whatever you are looking for)... just be patient with your body and relax. (I had doctors tell me that I would need to do IVF and such... I just needed to allow the time for body to get to its normal cycle without any hormones...).

Have fun getting in touch with your natural rhythms... very cool process.

I was on the pill from age 18 until age 35 when I began trying to get pregnant. It took from January until the end of August, but I got pregnant without ever once checking my temperature. All I did was keep track of my periods, and paid attention to when the fertile days should be. Worked like a charm...I'm even certain what day I got pregnant...on my 36th birthday! Don't fret, enjoy the fun while trying, and your time will come!

Hi K.! I know how exciting it is to be on the track to getting pregnant, but if I can just recommend that for the next two or three months try to not worry too much about "getting it right." After I went off the pill (on it for 12 years) it took me 4 months before we conceived my daughter. I didn't do any testing or checking...we just had fun "practicing" for getting pregnant. I went back off the pill two months ago and we are currently trying to conceive but not paying too close attention (other then knowing where my fertile days are in the month.) So, I suggest to put the thermometer on a shelf for two or three months and revisit it if you're still not preggo by then. :-)

i just heard the first response i think it was came out with a month supply of ovulation test kits. you can also get on ebay.com and search ovulation test kits and get like 50 or more really cheap! i myself think its the best thing sense you can test everyday at any time. you are right on the basal temp thing though. no movements before temping and it must be a basal body temp tester. i've never been told to get a certain brand. good luck. although sometimes it takes your body about 3 months to a year to get a normal cycle going after being on the pill for so long.

HI, K..

I used basal body temp. to get pregnanat with my little guy. Your temps.. Your stress level, as well as the fact that you just got off the pill may both be playing a part in the ups and downs.

Yes, you should use a basal body thermometer because it measures to a hundredth degree on your thermometer. You may have a reading that is off by only that hundredth of a degree.

I believe I got mine from a website called early-pregnancy.com or something simliar to that. They also have cheap pg tests that work.

If you are taking your temp before you get out of bed every morning, then you are doing it right according to what I have read and done myself. Do you have chart to record your temps in? If not, there are a few websites that offer them free of charge.

Good luck. HTH!
G.

i got a little kit at target but it wasn't their brand, i believe it was "BD" and it came with a little calendar to mark everything in. that thermometer worked in a minute or so.

however, my advice to you would be NOT to get obsessed with the temp. i did and i think it led to getting insomnia. here's how: i would try to wake up at the same time every day to take the temp. but my 2 year old would wake us up early or something, so i'd take the temp then. the next day i'd wake up even earlier cause i'd be worried about not getting the temp at the same time or waking up then going back to sleep and not getting 2 hours of sleep before the next chance to take the temp then i'd wake up earlier to get the temp.... it was a viscous cycle.

I also entered by period and cycle dates into an online ovulation calendar. and it worked, bic i'm 4 weeks pregnant!

I used the old mercury type thermometers. They take 5 minutes, but are the most reliable ones

Hi K.,
My husband did the research on best basal thermometers and bought the BD basal thermometer. You can google it or go to this website
http://www.bd.com/thermometers/products/basal_basal.asp

I'm very happy with the thermometer. It only takes a minute to take your temp and it beeps intermittently to let you know that it's positioned correctly and is reading your temp. After a minute, it beeps rapidly to let you know it's done reading your temp. It also saves the last temp recorded and that shows up on the screen when you turn it on.
Good luck to you!

K., back in the days when I was doing the basal temperature thing, it was before the day of digital thermometers, so I can't help you there. But I do remember that the readings are only accurate if you take them before you get out of the bed, and right when you wake up. I used to keep the thermometer on my night stand, and just put it in my mouth before even leaving the bed. It worked very well, but you need the higher sensitivity of a basal thermometer to see the pattern. For me, the pattern was very apparent and regular. I really could see when I had ovulated.

Good luck, I hope you are successful.

The book recommended by most really is helpful. A good basal will store the temp until you turn it on again. I would set my alarm(6), take my temp and go back to sleep until I actually needed to get up and than read the temp. Your numbers can be all over the place but as long as you see a shift.....

Hi K.,
good for you in trying this, I did this and everyone thought I was crazy. It was a GREAT way to learn about your body though and it made me feel like I had control.
Anyway, I used a glass basal thermometer and took my temperature in bed before waking. You can do a search for one online and it cost about $4 or $5. Another nice thing about the glass one that I had is that it held temp so you didn't have to get up right away to write it down, it stayed on there until you were ready to write it down and then you just shake it out. It took a long time to get my temp, however I found that I usually fell asleep while taking it, waking in the time needed to get a good temp (don't know if you're able to do that or not). This might help with your stress too if your sleeping :) Are the temp swings around the time you should be ovulating? Did you get enough sleep the night before? They recommend that you get at least 4 hours of sleep before taking your temp.

I'm not sure if you're doing this on your own or following a book, but if you want some really great tips get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Wechsler (can't remember the first name). This book was great for explaining everything about temp fluctuations and knowing different things about your body. I recommend it to anyone who will listen :) You can get it on Amazon for like $10. Let us know how it goes!
H.

it is very important that you check temp while just awake and not moving until you have the temp. as soon as you wake..... and the only time it will be accurate, i dont think it really matters the name brand. just that you have a strong battery and dont move till you have that temp. good luck. let us know how it goes. can give more info on when the blocks of time are best but you probably can find that also on the internet for yourself...
A. f.

The basal body temperature thermometer I used was a B-D Brand that I got at a rite-aid or eckerd. My husband complained about it beeping every few seconds for the entire minute, but it did fine. You can use a regular digital thermometer but make sure it reads for at least one minute. I'm not sure what recommendations are now, but when I did this 5 years ago I left the thermometer on my nightstand and as soon as my alarm went off in the morning I grabbed it and took my temp. You may also have temp swings due to the hormone from your birth control pills. It takes a while for them to leave your system. My doc recommended to wait 3-6 months after stopping the pill before even trying to get pregnant. With my first son who is now 7 1/2 I had to take two months of Clomid to pregnant with him after doing basal body temps for 6 months. My second son, now 4 1/2, was conceived doing just basal body temps in about 3 months. Everyone is different, but after being on the pill for so long give yourself a few months for the residual hormones to leave you system. Then invest in a good thermometer (I still have ours 8 1/2 years later and it still works). Good Luck!

No answers necessarily, but I just bought two separate thermometers and discovered (after getting my temperature taken at the doctor's) that they were completely out of what (readings of 96 - 97.5, several different readings from the same thermometer, when the doctor's office was 99.7). My determination is that the batteries are useless, and I don't know how to determine whether a thermometer is really working or not! I guess maybe go out and buy a fresh replacement battery?

I used a basal thermometer in 2003 when trying to conceive my 4 y.o. son. I think it was a store brand and I don't think that should matter. This is how I took my temp. You should do it the same time every morning, before you even get out of bed. I was working so I would do it at 5:45 every morning. The alarm would go off and I would reach over take my temp. I was even obsessive about it on vacation...well before I would normally wake up. It took me three months to get pregnant.

I highly recommend a site called fertilityfriend.com. It would track your temps, tell you possible reasons for strange temps, probably ovulation times, best time to get pregnant all based on your numbers. It was great!

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail directly.

Taking charge of your fertility---by Toni Weschler
I highly recommend this book. It helped me with charting my temps to see monthly patterns, and find potential problems,i.e. short luteal phase, etc.
I think you can google it and maybe view itin an online version

We used natural family planning for a while before I got pregnant and I found that you do need a basal digital thermometer. It really is much more accurate. You may have more luck looking online at either drugstore.com or amazon.com. I don't remember the brand I ended up using; it's been a while! It sounds like you're doing it correctly, it just becomes an issue of habit. I kept mine in my nightstand; it eventually became a habit to open my eyes and reach for the thermometer first thing.
Something I found...the first 2 months or so that I did the temperature recording it seemed like I was all over the place. I eventually got a better feel though for how my body worked and it started making mroe sense. It may take a little while to be able to interpret what you're seeing but it will make sense. Good luck!

I also loved the TCOYF book, which I actually used for pregnancy prevention AND conception :) The author recommends the BD thermometer. 'BD' is the brand name but I think they also make fever thermometers - make sure you get the basal body one. I think I got mine online through Amazon.

Good luck!

You actually do need the basal thermometer because it has two decimal places. If you just have one 98.7 for example you won't be able to see a pattern emerge. It will look basically the same. I used the Target one and did get pregnant, but the first month of charting was weird. Are you using any software? You can go to Fertility Friend online for free software. The correct way to temp is to lay in bed, hardly move at all, take your temp, then get up to pee or whatever. Even though your temps may be all over the place now, after you ovulate you should see a clear shift to higher temps. You can see sample charts online at that website too. Oh and I finally used ovulation predictors too. Since temping only tells you once ovulation is over, it not helpful for the month you are in. Just for you to look back and see what happened last month to try and get the day the next month. I bought 50 OPK's from Baby Hopes, I think. There is a link on Fertility Friend. I was ovulating much later than I thought so I used 28 sticks. If you buy the ones from Target, you get maybe 10 and they are much more expensive.

Good Luck!

Hi K.,

I'm an NFP (Natural Family Planning) instructor with the Couple to Couple League (www.ccli.org) and the thermometer we use in our classes is on this page: http://ccli.org/shop/onlineshopping.php?criteria=category...

You'll have to scroll down as it's third from the bottom. All our NFP materials are there too if you're interested in learning. We have teachers throughout the country who teach regular classes and there's even a home study course.

As for charting your temperatures, you do have to be very consistent with taking your temperature every morning. You should take your temperature at the same approximate time if possible. Thirty minutes before or after won't affect it that much, but if it's an hour or more off the usual time, it will likely be higher than normal and it's considered a "disturbed" temperature for that reason. Also, you need to keep activity to a minimum when taking basal body temps. That means it's best to take it right when you wake up before getting out of bed and moving around. Remember also that certain things can disturb temperatures or make them either lower or higher than your normal pattern. These things can include illnesses (fever), stresses (upcoming wedding, kids), vacations, lack of sleep, waking up a number of times during the night (example: sick child), varying bed-times (thus affecting hours of sleep), wearing different PJs to bed (thermal ones for example), turning the heater or AC on for the first time each season, adding a new blanket to your bed or sleeping without them, etc. All these things can affect temperatures although usually they're a one time event and you can pinpoint them when they occur (except things like stress which can be off and on). Also like one person already mentioned, charting temps can seem really hectic the first couple cycles, but generally over time you'll get in the habit of it and you'll start to see the pattern of low temps prior to ovulation and higher temps afterwards emerge. Finally you also mentioned having just come off the pill. We tell women in our classes that oftentimes it takes up to 3 months for the hormones to fully leave their systems and for their bodies to get back to normal, so that is another reason you may be seeing irregular temperatures because your body hasn't gotten back on track to produce estrogen and then progesterone (the two hormones of the female cycle) in order to jump-start ovulation and thus the ovulation sign that you are looking for (the thermal shift in basal body temperature). So you may have to wait a couple months to start seeing more regular temperatures and to actually see that thermal shift occur.

Hope that helps! Our website at the Couple to Couple league also has additional question/answers about NFP and what it is for your information.
Good luck,
M.

HI K.,

I tried using the Basal temp method and finally gave up. I tracked it for about four weeks and never saw a jump in my temp at all. I think the ovulation tests are a better way to go.