Basal Body Temperature Thermometer

If you are interested in learning more about natural family planning, you may have heard about basal body temperature. Therefore, if you plan to use this method, you need to take your temperature immediately before you jump out of bed in the morning.

Keeping track of your basal body temperature is a fairly easy and inexpensive way of predicting when you will ovulate. You can use your best prediction if you are trying to get pregnant or if you are trying to avoid pregnancy. The first step is to purchase a special basal body temperature thermometer. This thermometer measures to a tenth of a degree, so it is more accurate than a standard thermometer. Your body temperature changes with your hormone fluctuations after you ovulate. The changes are very slight and need to be followed closely, every day for several months.

Basal body temperature is the lowest temperature attained by the body during rest usually during sleep. Basal body temperature indicates to your body's temperature when it is at a resting state. It is generally measured immediately after awakening and before any physical activity has been commenced, although the temperature measured at that time is somewhat higher than the true basal body temperature. In women, ovulation causes an increase of one-half to one degree Fahrenheit (one-quarter to one-half degree Celsius) in basal body temperature (BBT); monitoring of BBTs is one way of discerning the day of ovulation. The proclivity of a woman to have lower temperatures before ovulation, and higher temperatures afterwards, is known as a biphasic pattern. Charting of this pattern may be used as a component of fertility awareness.
Charting of basal body temperatures is used in some methods of fertility awareness, and may be used to determine the onset of post-ovulatory infertility. However, BBTs only show when ovulation has occurred; they do not predict ovulation. Normal sperm life is up to five days, making prediction of ovulation several days in advance necessary for avoiding pregnancy. BBT-only methods often use a rule similar to that of calendar-based methods to determine the beginning of the pre-ovulatory fertile phase.
Glass fever thermometers typically have markings every 0.2ºF (0.1ºC). Basal thermometers require accuracy of at least 0.1ºF , special glass basal thermometers are sold separately from glass fever thermometers. All digital thermometers generally read to at least 0.1ºF. They are suitable for monitoring basal temperatures. Some digital thermometers are marketed as "basal thermometers" and have extra features such as a larger display, expanded memory functions, or beeping to confirm the thermometer is placed properly. Some fertility monitors determine the fertile and infertile portions of the menstrual cycle by interpreting basal body temperature records.

ne of the natural fertility methods that could assist you to get pregnant is to use a basal body temperature thermometer, known as BBT, (different from that used for taking a fever temperature) It is important that the temperature be taken on wakening up in the morning prior to moving from the bed. You should then record this preferably on a fertility calendar as it can then be easily observed. During the first half of a woman's menstrual cycle the temperature is in a constant range. When the temperature rises about half a degree Fahrenheit, caused by progesterone being released, this indicates that ovulation has occurred. We can hope that the next months cycle will be the same or very similar. Allowing the prediction of ovulation and highlights the fertile period and can assist if trying to get pregnant quickly.

When you purchase a basal thermometer the manufactor will often enclose instructions. Most supply a menstrual calendar too. This allows a woman to start without delay the very next morning to record her temperature and changes to her cervical mucus on the chart. You will normally need to do this over several months when you are trying to get pregnant, so it would be helpful to run of a copy or two of these charts in advance.