Natural contraception with NFP
Is the symptothermal method right for you?
Many women wonder whether NFP (Natural Family Planning) or the symptothermal method could be a good hormone-free alternative to the pill.
But with this consideration often come uncertainties:
How safe is the method? Do I have to observe bodily signs every day? And what happens if I forget one day?
First of all:
There is no one perfect method of contraception.
There is only one that best suits you, your needs, and your everyday life.
Here you’ll find the most important points to help you determine whether NFP is right for you.
🔎 What’s important for using NFP safely?
📝 Discipline & personal responsibility
NFP means documenting body signs like basal body temperature and cervical mucus daily. This requires a willingness to engage with your cycle. Forget a day? It can happen. Individual entries can be added later—but if too much data is missing around ovulation, it becomes difficult to pinpoint your fertile days accurately. This lowers the method’s reliability.
⏰ A regular daily routine
To measure your temperature correctly, you should take it at about the same time each morning—after at least four hours of sleep. Irregular sleep, shift work, or frequent travel (time zone changes) can make NFP more difficult. Some medications can also affect the readings.
❤️ A committed relationship (or good communication)
You don’t need to be in a committed relationship, but it helps if your partner knows about your method of contraception. Especially during fertile days, teamwork is essential. Apps like Ovy Partner can include both partners. And: with changing partners, always remember protection against sexually transmitted infections.
🙌 Comfort with your own body
Those who use NFP get to know their bodies in a new way—including their cervical mucus. This can feel unfamiliar at first, especially after years of hormonal contraception. But many women find that, after a short time, it no longer feels uncomfortable—rather, it becomes fascinating.
🔐 Extra protection on fertile days
Correct use = high safety!
With a Pearl Index of 0.4 to 1.8, NFP is as safe as many hormonal methods. But:
Only when abstaining from sex or using additional protection (e.g., condoms) during fertile days.
Important: No method (not even the pill) offers 100% protection.
📊 Caution with irregular cycles
If your cycle regularly ranges between 23 and 35 days, NFP is quite applicable. After stopping hormonal contraception, it often takes a few months for the cycle to stabilize. If your cycles are very short (<16 days) or very long (>56 days), using NFP for contraception can become more difficult.
Conclusion
NFP is not a method for “just giving it a try.”
It requires responsibility, knowledge, and a willingness to engage with your own body.
But it can also be an incredibly empowering experience:
🔹 You understand your cycle better.
🔹 You know what’s happening in your body.
🔹 You (re)learn to trust your body.
If you’re ready to embark on this journey, NFP can be more than just a method of contraception—it can be the beginning of an entirely new sense of body awareness.
