CHARTING YOUR BASAL BODY TEMPERATURE

CHARTING YOUR BASAL BODY TEMPERATURE
INFORMATION AND FAQ
This inform ation sheet is adapted from the Fertility Plus W ebsite.
At Six Fishes Healing Arts, w e really feel strongly that fertility treatm ents
are the m ost precise and elegant w hen w e coordinate them w ith
w om en’s basal body tem perature (BBT).
Start by purchasing a Basal therm om eters online or at the drugstore.
This page is a basic guide to charting your basal body tem perature.
Download our chart or use one of the m any apps available and get
started!
For m ore details on charting, you should consult one of the m any books
on this topic. There are som e frequently asked questions and answers
after the general instructions.
Charting your BBT is sim ple. you are sim ple doing is taking your
tem perature first thing each day and m arking the tem perature on a chart
that looks like graph paper. W hat you are looking for is to see a shift of at
least .4 degrees Fahrenheit after ovulation. This tem perature shift m eans
that your chart is biphasic: so your (showing low tem peratures before
ovulation in the follicular phase, and higher ones after ovulation in the
luteal phase). Be sure to use ovulation tests in conjunction with your
basal charting to provide you w ith an accurate sense of your m ost fertile
tim e of m onth.
1 Take your tem perature first thing in the m orning before you get out of
bed or even speak -- leave your therm om eter at your bedside
w ithin easy reach so you don't have to m ove m uch to get it. If you
use a glass therm om eter, m ake sure you shake it dow n before
going to bed.
2 Try to take the tem perature at as close to the sam e tim e each day as
possible -- set an alarm if you need to. Staying w ithin a half hour
either side of your average tim e is a good idea because your tem p
can vary w ith the tim e (i.e., if you usually take your tem perature at
Six Fishes Healing Art
www.sixfishes.com
215-772-0770
6 a.m ., it is OK to take your BBT between 5:30-6:30, but the closer
to 6 the better). The norm al variation is by up to .2 degrees per
hour -- lower if you take your tem perature early, higher if you take
it late.
3 It is best to take your BBT after a m inim um of 5 hours sleep, and at
least 3 in a row is preferable.
4 You can take your tem perature orally, vaginally, or rectally -- just stay
w ith the sam e m ethod for the entire cycle.
5 You should try to place the therm om eter the sam e w ay each day (sam e
location of your m outh, sam e depth vaginally and rectally).
6 Plot your tem perature on your chart each day, but refrain from reading
too m uch into it until the cycle is done.
7 Som e wom en, not all, have a tem perature drop when they ovulate. If
you see this drop, it is a good idea to have sex in case you are
ovulating.
8 W hat you are looking for is a tem perature shift of at least .4 degrees
over a 48-hour period to indicate ovulation. This shift should be
above the highest tem peratures in the previous six days, allow ing
one tem perature to be thrown out as inaccurate (fluke, illness).
Perhaps the best w ay to explain this is to show an exam ple.
9 In the im age above, the seven BBT's before ovulation are 97.2, 97.3, 97.8,
97.4, 97.2, 97.3, 97.0 then it jum ps to 97.7 and then 98. Ovulation
m ost likely occurred on the day with the 97.0 and you can
com fortably draw a coverline at 97.6. You just ignore the 97.8 on
day 10.
10
After you see a tem perature shift for at least three days, or at the
end of your cycle, you can draw a coverline between your follicular
phase and luteal phase tem peratures. W ith luck, it is easy to see a
Six Fishes Healing Art
www.sixfishes.com
215-772-0770
clear shift and draw your line betw een the highest follicular phase
BBT and the low est luteal phase BBT as in the sam ple above. The
m ain reason for drawing this line is just to clearly delineate that
your chart is biphasic.
11
Look at the chart at the end of the m onth to analyze w hat
happened.
12
Chart for a few m onths and look for patterns.
13
If your tem perature stays up for 18 days or m ore after ovulation,
you should test for pregnancy.
One thing to note is that w om en w ith ovulatory cycles but w ith irregular
cycle lengths, the greatest variation from cycle to cycle should be in the
follicular phase. The luteal phase should be relatively constant (within 1-2
days). So if one has a cycle that ranges from 28 -34 days, and a luteal
phase of 14 days, ovulation w ould occur som ew here betw een days 14 -20
-- not the m iddle of a cycle, not day 14 . . . This is the biggest m istake
w om en w ith long cycles m ake w hen trying to conceive.
Charting Cervical Mucus and Cervical Position
If you w ant a clearer picture of your cycle, it is best to com bine charting
your BBT with charting your cervical m ucus (CM) and perhaps also
charting your cervical position.
There are several ways to chart your m ucus, and you have to find the
approach that is best for you. You can sim ply exam ine your toilet tissue
after w iping. You w ill see m ore m ucus after you have a bowel m ovem ent.
Another w ay is to insert tw o fingers and gently take a little pinch of
m ucus from the cervix.
Cervical M ucus
Mucus varies from dry, to sticky, to cream y, to egg-white before ovulation
in m ost wom en.
◦ Dry is w hen there really isn't m uch m ucus to get your fingers on.
◦ Sticky is when you get enough m ucus for your fingers to feel sticky or
tacky.
◦ Cream y m ight be w hitish and feels som ew hat like lotion w hen you rub
your fingers together. This m ucus can be fertile, but isn't alw ays.
◦ Egg-white cervical m ucus is called that because of its resem blance to
raw egg whites. It is either clear or streaked and stretches an inch
or m ore. After ovulation it is norm al to have som e dry, sticky or
cream y m ucus, and som e w om en have watery m ucus or a little
egg-w hite again right before their m enses begins.
Six Fishes Healing Art
www.sixfishes.com
215-772-0770