Wondering How Many Couples Try NFP Before Going on the Pill or Iuds

Updated on July 18, 2011
K.J. asks from Naperville, IL
13 answers

Have any of you that are on artificial birth control ever used NFP? If so, what made you stop?
Have any of you that are using NFP ever used artificial birth control?

Hubby and I have been using NFP for nearly 10 yrs and have had no issues with it. The past few times I have met up with moms from my son's preschool (a Catholic school) I have been kinda surprised at how many of them are pretty angry anti-NFPers. I totally understand why someone who has never heard of or studied NFP would be on artificial birth control, but I get the sense that the ladies I was hanging out with don't understand why ANYONE would be on NFP (unless they were "granola" as one mom kept saying.)

Would love your thoughts on it.

1 mom found this helpful

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

So What Happened?

just to clarify...NFP is NOT the same as the "rhythm method." NFP involves charting the woman's cycle by doing a combination of keeping track of menustration days, cervical positioning and mucus, and Basal body temperature...

Featured Answers

R.D.

answers from Richmond on

I guess we do, but not like you're looking for. We just don't use birth control, and we don't get pregnant ;) In the 4 years we've been together, we've gotten pregnant once... when we wanted to... on the first try. Other than that, we don't use any other kind (except apparently abstinence, geez, we need to have sex, LOL)... seriously though, works for us :)

Would I give that to my children as a birth control option when they get to 'sex age'? Absolutely not. I will use a shot gun as their form of birth control ;)

6 moms found this helpful

More Answers

M..

answers from Detroit on

We did and I kept getting pregnant. :)

5 moms found this helpful

E.S.

answers from Dayton on

Well, I'm pretty nutty...and crunchy. ;)
I took the pill during the 1st year of our marriage, and it killed my libido.
I decided BC (of any form) was not for me.

I am no Fertile Myrtle so I don't worry about it too much, but since my son has recently slowed his nursing habits and I'm not trying to get pregnant...I seem to be able to read my body like a book. Thanks Body, you're a real PITA. ;)

I can tell you that I ovulated last Wednesday. The signs were very clear.
I will never take BC again. And my DH does not have to get snipped. :)

Don't know why those moms had their panties in such a wad...maybe a side effect from BC? Lol. :)

HTH!

ETA: I only keep a close eye on my period and watch my mucus. Only temp. chart when TTC.

5 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.B.

answers from Boston on

It became a non-issue for us when my husband had his vasectomy (and he's not Catholic so I'm not worried about the sin factor - he would have had it done with or without my consent). My parents did NFP - charting, temps etc. and my mother had 6 pregnancies in under 7 years - she definitely did not want that many kids that close together. After the last one she said to heck with this I'm using something else. I come from a family of big Catholic families so we're pretty fertile and unpredictable. I wouldn't risk NFP for me but for couples for whom it works, it's certainly none of my business or something I would question or care about.

I bet what your friends take offense at is the notion that a bunch of men - who shielded known pedophiles as an institutional mandate from the top down of an male-dominated organization - feel the need to involve themselves intimately into the sex lives of their church's followers. The Catholic church isn't merely plucking a few Old Testament lines and using that to dictate reproductive policy. The Church spends almost an absurd amount of time and energy on this. Seriously - the document that it published a couple of years ago splits hairs on such things as whether or not using a perforated condom as an adjunct to IUI makes the procedure acceptable because it *could be* "natural" conception. These are not the teachings of Christ!

3 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

V.T.

answers from Dallas on

I'm lazy. That's why I don't use it. I don't want to monitor my temperature or chart my cycle. I'm extremely fertile and can't take the chance. I've been pregnant 3 times and each time I got pregnant the first week of trying and because of my husband's travel schedule, I can tell you to the day when I conceived all three times, especially since we only did it once those weeks. I have a friend that doesn't mind using NFP and has been sucessful at it for 12 years. I grew up Catholic, I still attend church weekly, but I have issues when it comes to Birth Control. Birth Control is Birth Control whether it's artificial or NFP. Just because I don't use drugs, doesn't mean I'm not taking measures to avoid a pregnancy.

3 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.C.

answers from Dallas on

We chose to use NFP to space between our first two children, but after our second we chose to use artificial means. Since I was leaning towards having one more and he wasn't, there was too much opportunity for me to mess up and cause relationship issues at that time. I didn't trust myself to get it right every month when I would have been happy with an "oops".

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.F.

answers from Bloomington on

The only time I've used any form of protection was the pill, but mostly because of the hormones including now even though my tubes are tied.

My friend used NFP for years and swore by it. Only had pregnancies when she wanted them, until this last baby. They had a very rocky financial situation happen for several months and her body reacted to that and viola, pregnancy with baby #4. She isn't going to rely on that anymore. :)

I think it is a great option if you are regular and predictable. :)

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.C.

answers from Washington DC on

It might be a more sophisticated rhythm method .. but it's STILL the rhythm method :)

No two months has ever been the same for me so it would have been WAY too much work and still wouldn't have been as reliable. I was on the pill for YEARS and boy was it the best thing EVER. Regular periods, pms that was predictable AND less intense AND an extremely reliable method of controlling pregnancy ... yeah LOVED that bad boy. And I lost 40 lbs when I went on the pill :) After my last child I had my tubes tied because I did NOT ever ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER want to be pregnant again.

If it works for you that's awesome and who cares what those other mom's think.

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.W.

answers from Santa Barbara on

No way, never would have trusted it. I had no problems with the pill for over 20 years.

1 mom found this helpful

L.C.

answers from Houston on

We did NFP for a while. It was effective for achieving pregnancy and avoiding it. However, after having my first two kids I found it extremely difficult to take my temp every morning at the same time. The kids would wake me at all hours and I couldn't be consistent. That resulted in my third pregnancy. I had a tubal ligation with my last c-section and am very glad we decided to do that. My body and our finances could not handle another child. I think its great that you've done NFP for 10 years. I really thought we would be like that as well.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B..

answers from Dallas on

I have an incredibly regular cycle. Things happen the same time every single month since my first period, so NFP should be a no-brainer. We are just too busy, too forgetful, and there is too much opportunity for mistakes. (Just because of our life and personalities!) I am SUPER fertile and so is my husband. We can't risk it. We use barrier methods right now, and are saving for a vasectomy.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.B.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I used the pill for years and stopped bc it made me a monster. The nuva-ring was better as it was a slow release of all three hormones (mono cyclic rather than tri-cyclic: three weeks, three diff hormones) but it took me over a year to conceive when I went off it (no period for 6 mos!). My husband doesn't want me on any more hormonal birth control and I'm not going back, so I suppose that lands me on the "crunchy" side of this issue. =)

I always heard that IUDs were dangerous, at least the original ones, and while I'm sure they've come a long way, most drs don't recommend them unless you're finished having your family due to the risk of infections and spontaneous abortions.

I was fitted for a diaphragm which seemed to be the best of all worlds. It's ok, I guess, but forget being spontaneous...and it was painful for me to take out.

We're TTC now, but up to present, we've been doing a very loose form of NFP - basically just pulling out. Now, this would seem careless, but as I said, we didn't mind if we got pregnant and so far, so good, but you know the joke. ("What do you call couples who practice the pull-out method? Parents!")

So while I would recommend a more natural approach to avoid the body's dependence on artificial hormones / production, I would thoroughly research this and make sure I was doing it as prescribed if I were to use it in earnest. If we're successful in conceiving this time, that will be our option for the future as I feel we'll probably be done expanding our family.

1 mom found this helpful

C.F.

answers from Boston on

I never have in fear I would Screw it up like most things :-) LMAO
hey if it works for you ~Great ! who the heck cares what others think or do

*sounds like WAY to much work for me!!

1 mom found this helpful
For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions