Natural Family Planning methods (NFP) are variations of the rhythm method. This covers techniques used to determine a woman’s fertile and infertile periods within her menstrual cycles.

This is done by knowing when ovulation (the release of an egg from one of the woman’s ovaries each month) takes place and abstaining from intercourse during a woman’s fertile days. Fertility is known by checking the calendar and observing certain bodily signs like fluctuations in body temperature or changes in the vaginal mucus.

“Each of the approaches in natural family planning involves a conscientious awareness of when you can become pregnant, which is but a brief span approximately in the middle of each menstrual cycle – from about 72 hours before ovulation to about 24 hours after ovulation. The key is to determine when these days are and then to avoid having intercourse during that time,” said Dr. David E. Larson, editor-in-chief of the “Mayo Clinic Family Health Book.”

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