Temperature method

Involves taking temperature every morning before getting out of bed. Look out for 3 days in a row when your temperature is higher than all of the previous 6 days. The increase in temperature is very small (around 0.2C). It’s likely that you’re no longer fertile at this time.

Cervical mucus method

A change in the amount and texture of your cervical mucus during different times in your menstrual cycle.

• Not ovulating - dry or sticky

• Ovulation is very close - wet and watery

• Ovulation may be coming - creamy

• Ovulation - very wet, stretchy and resembles a raw egg white

Calendar method

By tracking cycle, you can calculate when you’re most likely to be fertile (able to conceive). But you need to allow for uncertainty over exactly when you ovulate.

Advantages

• Can be used to plan pregnancy as well as avoid

• Means that no additional hormones are placed into your body

Disadvantages

• Doesn’t protect against STIs

• You have to keep a daily record of your fertility signals, such as your temperature and the fluids coming from your cervix - it takes 3-6 menstrual (monthly) cycles to learn the method

• Can be affected by illness, stress etc. so it can be unreliable