getting started
Would you like to join the many women who are now caring more naturally for their intimate health? Choose the method that will best fit your need and lifestyle. Then find a class near you by contacting one of the instructors listed for the method you selected.
choose a method
The following information is only for education on fertility awareness-based methods and not a medical recommendation. Please refer to each method’s website to make an informed choice.
Medical considerations: if your goal is to get help with women’s health issues such as PMS, cysts, irregular bleeding, infertility, recurring miscarriages, we recommend the Creighton Method. It’s a highly individualized and methodical approach for learning to chart. Click here to find an instructor and sign up for a free introductory session.
If you’re trying to avoid or achieve pregnancy:
- Are you someone who has a fairly regular morning routine and likes the simplicity of technology? The Marquette Model uses ovulation test kits and electronic fertility monitors to measure reproductive hormones in the urine.
- Are you someone who likes a regular morning routine, and more assurance about what’s going on with your body? The Couple to Couple League’s Sympto-thermal method is a good fit because it involves reading two signs every day: temperature and mucus. It’s taught by couples who practice it, whttps://ccli.org/hich makes it a great way to understand a couple’s perspective on how to implement this approach.
- Are you someone with a more flexible morning schedule? The Ovulation Method mainly checks the mucus, which can be done any time of day. Three main groups teach it:
- Billings Ovulation Method®
- Creighton FertilityCare is especially recommended if you have a more complicated cycle, and want a lot of support in implementing the process. It’s also the most expensive (still cheaper than most contraceptives and so much better!).
- Family of the Americas
choose a class:
The following organizations teaching fertility awareness-based methods have been selected by Natural Womanhood because they are evidence-based, equip women to read her body’s unique signs of fertility, and teach more than a technique. They also offer guidance to couples on how the method can enrich their relationship. The links below will lead you to their national directory of providers where you can find a teacher. If you’re looking for a teacher in San Antonio area click here.
Billings Ovulation Method™ teachers offer individual, confidential assistance either face-to-face, or via their telephone or internet teaching service. BOM has an extensive international network of instructors.
Learning the Creighton Model System consists of an Introductory Session and a series of follow-up teaching sessions (8 the first year, then 1 every 6 to 12 month). The system is tailor-made for use by each individual couple through a series of teaching sessions conducted with a trained FertilityCare™ Practitioner or FertilityCare™ Practitioner Intern. These teachers are trained in a 13-month Allied Health Education Program that is designed to help them meet the client’s particular needs.
The Couple to Couple League teaches the Sympto-thermal Method and offers three options: live onsite classes, live online classes, and self-paced online classes. Their live course consists of three classes spaced about one month apart. The fees for live classes include personal chart review & consulting with a Teaching Couple, a Student Guide, a digital basal thermometer, a chart booklet, one year of CCL’s award-winning magazine, Family Foundations, and a book: Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition by Marilyn M. Shannon. Teachers are trained extensively and practice the method themselves.
Individual classes. Materials are available in several languages including Spanish and Vietnamese, and include the use of a simplified system of color stamps and stickers. Couples are encouraged to attend instruction as early as four to six months before marriage. Follow-up chart reviews may be scheduled twice a month for the first three months and as needed until the user understands the application of the Ovulation Method.
The instruction is available online and supported with an online forum where you can get answers to your questions.
Provides an online study course of NFP and a method called Ecological breastfeeding a widely used method of breastfeeding to postpone pregnancy.
SymptoPro™ Fertility Education from Northwest Family Services
Northwest Family Services offers a network of certified SymptoPro™ providers in most US states. Learning options include in-person instruction as well as online self-paced learning. No matter how you choose to learn, you will receive free, ongoing support from your certified instructor for the rest of your reproductive life. Instructors are trained and fully equipped to handle any special circumstances a client may have.
find a doctor
NaProTECHNOLOGY (Natural Procreative Technology) is an innovation in women’s health science that monitors and maintains a woman’s reproductive and gynecological health. It provides medical and surgical treatments that cooperate completely with the reproductive system.
The Creighton FertilityCare Networks offers a network of affiliate medical consultants trained in identifying and treating the root cause of infertility and other womens’ health disorders using the Napro Technology approach.
FEMM is a women’s health program that teaches the link between hormones and health, and how to monitor hormonal and other vital signs of reproductive health. Their program includes medical management and protocols to treat reproductive health disorders.
Click here to find Doctors for Natural Womanhood, a list of medical professionals who believe in fertility charting and natural birth control as better medicine. They contribute financially to Natural Womanhood so that more women will be informed of their options.