This animation explains the changes in cervical mucus that you may experience throughout your menstrual cycle. Once you're familiar with these changes you'll be able to identify the fertile and infertile times in your cycles.
You can have irregular cycles when you're stressed or ill, when you're breastfeeding, when you've stopped taking hormonal contraception, or when you're approaching menopause. Sometimes there is an underlying hormonal disorder or other problem that needs medical investigation.
Knowing how to identify the fertile and infertile times in your cycles can help you to optimise your chances of achieving pregnancy. With the Billings Ovulation Method® you'll learn to understand the signs of fertility and to recognise your Peak day, which is the most fertile day in your cycle and very close to the time of ovulation. That way you'll know when you have the best chance of conceiving. At its simplest, it means having sex when you're aware of the slippery sensation that signals you are at your most fertile.
To achieve a pregnancy you apply the Early Day Rules of the Billings Ovulation Method® so you can clearly identify when you become potentially fertile. Once you notice a change from your Basic Infertile Pattern (BIP), wait without sex until you notice the slippery sensation. The slippery sensation means that you're at your most fertile, and that ovulation is very close. Sex over the days of the slippery sensation and the first day or two past the Peak will give you the best chance of conceiving.
The Billings Ovulation Method® is very successful at helping couples to achieve pregnancy naturally, even couples who thought they were infertile or who had failed attempts at IVF. Knowing how to identify your fertile time and your Peak of fertility optimises your chances of conceiving.
If you've stopped hormonal contraception you may not show signs of fertility for some weeks or months until your own hormones return to normal function. You may have regular bleeds but not observe the normal mucus changes indicating fertility.
After giving birth, most women experience a period of natural infertility that can last for many months if you breastfeed. The Billings Ovulation Method® enables you to recognise the months of infertility. So you can enjoy your sexual relationship without worrying about the effects on your milk and your baby of the synthetic hormones in chemical contraceptives.
Fertility control should be reliable, harmless, immediately reversible, and inexpensive. It shouldn't detract from the pleasure of sex, and it should encourage a good emotional and sexual relationship between partners. Many women find the various methods of contraception available today to be unsatisfactory or unacceptable because they fail to tick one or more of these boxes. Find out how the Billings Ovulation Method® ticks your boxes!