Taking Your Basal Body Temperature (BBT) for Fertility
What Is Basal Body Temperature?

What Does Basal Temperature Mean?

Basal body temperature (BBT) refers to your temperature just upon waking. Throughout your menstrual cycle, it will fluctuate. A rise will indicate that you have ovulated.

This is a great way of predicting ovulation once you have noticed a pattern and can identify other signs and symptoms.

Your basal temp rises as a result of rising progesterone levels after you ovulate.

Taking Your Basal Temperature

First you will need a basal thermometer. This type of fertility thermometer is more accurate for taking your BBT. It will give you the temp to the one hundredth degree. This way you will be able to see slight changes.

You will also need a BBT chart to record your daily temps. These can be found on the internet as a free download. Just do a search for 'free BBT charts'. These fertility charts make it much easier to see the fluctuations throughout your cycle.

Important: You must take your temp just upon waking and before you do anything else. Do not go to the bathroom first or anything else. You must take your basal temperature at the same time each day. You should begin to take it daily right after your period stops.

I find it helpful to set my alarm clock. This way, say on the weekends if I want to sleep in, I take my basal temperature then go back to sleep. Note: It is a good idea to get a basal thermometer that saves the last reading, at least. That way you don't have to try to remember it when you wake up. Or try to remember to write it down while you are half asleep.

It's a good idea to set an alarm also if you have to tend to a child (or any other reason). Sometimes young children will wake up at different times making it difficult to take it at the same time each day. Just set it to a time that is usually just before the earliest that you will have to get up.

You will also need to get at least 3 hours of sleep to get accurate and consistent readings. If, however, you did not on occasion get enough sleep go ahead and record the basal temperature for that day anyway. Once or twice or so a month isn't gong to throw it off enough to worry about.

Don't stress yourself out about it. If all these things don't come together for you all the time. It will be OK. Really!! Besides stress can only cause more delay in your conception anyway. Just do the best you can. I suggest observing more than one sign of ovulation for this reason. This way you have more to go on. Though I do not suggest doing them all. It will drive you crazy. Pick the ones that are best for you.

Ok, so you've taken your ovulation temperature all month. How do you tell when you have ovulated? Well looking at the recordings of your basal body temperature, you should see a rise somewhere in the middle of your fertility cycle (the time will be different for everyone) that is sustained until either your period starts or conception is confirmed by a pregnancy test. In which case your temp will remain high.

The day of the rise is the day after you ovulated. A good reason why you should also check another sign along with your basal body temperature. Observing your cervical mucus (CM) is a great companion to this method of predicting ovulation. Your CM will tell you when you are about to ovulate and your BBT will tell you when you have ovulated.

Another good one to use along with taking your basal body temperature and checking your CM is using ovulation predictor kits (ovulation test strips). These also signal when you are just about to ovulate. A fertility monitor is great if you want something a little more sophisticated.

Related pages

Basal Thermometer | Ovulation Predictor Kits | Fertility Monitors | Cervical Mucus | Fertile Cervical Mucus vs Hostile Cervical Mucus | Cervical Position | Ovulation Pain and Cramps | Ovulation Bleeding and Spotting | Best Time to Get Pregnant | Tips for Getting Pregnant | Most Fertile Days | Days to Get Pregnant | How Long to Get Pregnant | Fertility Cleanse | Fertility Herbs | Getting Pregnant Positions | Human Egg Fertilization | Ovulation Cycle | Two Week Wait | When Does Ovulation Occur? |