Calendar and temperature method for natural family planning — Shutterstock

3 natural contraceptives and their efficacy

You are stuck on an island without access to modern-day necessities, including contraceptives. What do you do? Remain celibate until you get back to civilization?

Okay, that was an extreme thought. But you might have considered natural family planning at some point. Either for personal reasons or spiritual beliefs.

We are sharing some natural family planning methods to help you.

1. Pull-out method

With the pull-out or withdrawal method, the man removes his penis from the woman’s vagina just before he ejaculates so no sperm can get into her vagina and to her eggs.

While this method could work, if you are having more than one round of sex, some sperm could be left in the man’s urethra from the first ejaculation. Then there is a high risk of pregnancy. If you really want to try this method, make sure as a man, that you pee between rounds to clear out any sperm.
It can also be tricky to know when exactly you will ejaculate and pull out in time.

2. Rhythm method

This method is a formula-based method. If you are anything like me, the mere mention of a formula scares me. But in this day and age, there are amazing apps that help you calculate for you and simply tell you when it might be safe to have sex. Most of these apps have a high accuracy rate so you are in good hands.

If you like manual calculation and would prefer to do it yourself, the calculation is explained below:

Record the length of 6 to 12 of your menstrual cycles.
Determine the length of your shortest menstrual cycle and subtract 18 from the total number of days in your shortest cycle. This number is the first fertile day of your cycle.
Determine the length of your longest menstrual cycle and subtract 11 from the total number of days in your longest cycle. The number you get is the last fertile day of your cycle.

Then, avoid sex on fertile days.

3. Mucus method

With this method, you pay attention to what your vaginal discharge looks like, as well as the amount released.
Usually, there is no discharge for the first few days after your period but as the days pass, you might see a cloudy discharge. When your vaginal discharge becomes clear/stringy, this means ovulation is near. You shouldn’t be having sex at this time if you don’t intend to get pregnant.

Once ovulation is over, it returns to either cloudy or no discharge. It is a good choice for women with regular cycles. If you have irregular periods or constant vaginal infections, this will not be effective for you.

Finally…

Whatever method you decide on, be aware that most natural methods do not prevent STDs, and none of them are as reliable at preventing pregnancies than non-natural methods.

Remember, there are numerous other reliable contraceptive methods. Also, don’t forget to have safe sex to protect yourself from pregnancy.

Do you have questions about any form of birth control? You can ask our in our comments section.