Tracking the female basal body temperature has long been used as a natural method of family planning, but it is also very handy to do when you are trying to conceive. Along with ovulation predictor kits that let you know when your fertile time is coming, tracking your basal body temperature, (or BBT which it will be referred to from this point forward) provide us with a wealth of other useful pieces of information that can help with treating fertility problems. At my clinic Fertility Points Acupuncture in San Diego, I will often request my new patients to begin tracking their BBT’s when their first menstrual cycle starts after treatment.
Why is tracking BBT useful? Although an ovulation test can let us know your body is preparing to ovulate, it cannot confirm ovulation like the rise in you BBT can. A steep rise in your temperature is great confirmation that you have ovulated and are now in your luteal phase. In fact, luteal phase defect is one such problem that charting can help pin point and treat.
A well trained fertility acupuncturist can discern a number of things from looking at a few months of your BBT charts, and make use of them for the timing of treatments, or the prescription of herbs. Different temperature patterns can help confirm if your body is stuck, cold, deficient or overheating.
This video should give you all the basics and get you off to a good start tracking your temperatures. In an upcoming book, I will go more into the details of how we use this information and what it all means.
You can also get a great free BBT chart PDF right on the homepage of my website.
Charting your basal body temperature and cervical mucus is a natural, free way to learn your body’s patterns so you can predict ovulation. And that’ll help you know when to have sex if you want to conceive.