How to take basal body temperature

Many women are interested in tracking their basal body temperatures when preparing to conceive. Basal body temperature refers to the temperature of your body when you are at rest. Slight changes in this temperature can help you determine when you are ovulating. This can help you increase your chances of getting pregnant by helping you select the optimal time during your menstrual cycle to have sex.

Taking basal body temperature requires that you purchase a basal thermometer. This is because the temperature changes are so slight that a regular thermometer will not tell you precisely when the changes have occurred. You will need to measure and record your basal body temperature daily to the tenth of a degree. Some women experience a full degree of change, but most will only see around 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit of change.

Start by preparing a chart to track your daily findings. It is very important that you take your temperature before getting out of bed in the morning. Take it as soon as you wake up and try not to move. Keeping up with your daily temperature is easier if you keep the thermometer and chart next to your bed. Make it part of your morning medical equipment.

Many women begin to record their basal body temperature around the first day of their menstrual period, but it can really start at any time. If you are ovulating normally, you should see a change around day fourteen of your cycle, the first day is the first day of your period. You can see as little as a 0.4 degree change and should stay at this point for a few days. During this time of highest temperature is when you can assume that ovulation has occurred. You may even notice a slight decrease in temperature the day before the increase.

Hormonal levels and changes are what cause the basal body temperature to change. The initial rise in temperature usually occurs the day after ovulation. Your best chances of getting pregnant are the days before and the day of ovulation. Therefore, you need to determine when your body temperature rises and calculate when it will happen again. Having sexual intercourse during the five days prior to the increase in temperature. Sperm can live for a few days inside the uterus and vagina, so having sex before ovulation will help ensure that your egg meets sperm.

If you are trying to avoid pregnancy, you should refrain from having sex for about a week before ovulation. Keep in mind that many things, like lifestyle, medications, disease, the environment, and diet, can change the day you ovulate. Only women with extremely regular menstrual periods have been successful in using basal body temperature and ovulation time as a form of birth control. Even then, there have been quite a few surprises.