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What Type of Fertility Monitor or Fertility Chart is Best for You?

When trying to have a baby, many women use a fertility monitor. Fertility monitors measure the hormones that trigger ovulation. If a woman can predict or determine the time she is ovulating, she increases her chances of getting pregnant.

A fertility predictor pinpoints peak fertility days so that couples know when their chances of conception are greatest. Other methods of predicting fertility include using a fertility calendar and fertility chart, noting changes in cervical mucus and taking a basal body temperature each day.

Sperm can stay active in a woman's body for four or five days. An egg's life spans 24 to 48 hours. After that it will disintegrate. So, knowing a woman's fertile time is imperative when trying to conceive quickly or after trying unsuccessfully for a while.

A fertility monitor is a way of fertility prediction that is much like taking a home pregnancy test. Instead of using hormones to test for pregnancy, ovulation predictor kits test for hormone that causes ovulation, called Luteinizing Hormone (LH). Most fertility prediction tools measure this hormone in the urine.

Hormonal monitors are not the only type of fertility products. Another device is a fertility watch which measures base salt levels in a woman's sweat to predict fertility. Salt levels on a person change and for a woman it depends on the time of her cycle. Salt levels actually change before hormonal levels do, making this the earliest warning of fertility possible.

You can also test fertility by using saliva. Estrogen is present in saliva and can be measured with a saliva ovulation test in order to predict fertility.

There are also a few other natural fertility predictors, which include:

• Fertility Calendar - This can be used alone, or in conjunction with the other methods and/or fertility charts. The most basic calendar only keeps track of when a woman menstruates. Ovulation is likely to occur 14 to 16 days later.
   
• Fertility Charting - Women experience changes in their cervical mucus during their menstrual cycle each month. When a woman keeps a fertility chart, she notes these changes in her cervical mucus and keeps track of them on a calendar or other form of chart, along with the dates of her last period.
  
• Basal Temperature Charts - A special thermometer called a basal thermometer is needed when using this type of fertility prediction. These thermometers do not measure fever; they measure the very slight temperature increase that hormonal surges cause. Women should take their basal temperature first thing in the morning, before they even get out of bed, in order to get the most accurate reading.

It is a reassuring fact that, for those who are trying to conceive, there are a lot of tools available to help couples tell when a woman is most fertile. From fertility predictor kits and fertility monitors, to the more natural methods that fertility charts include, there are options for any couple to increase their chances of getting pregnant.

The previous article is on The Ovulation Period.

Other wiki resources:  improve fertility; ovulation period; infertility causes; preparing for pregnancy; getting pregnant