Natural Family Planning

The Cons of NFP

Despite all the benefits, natural family planning was not the answer Franke had hoped it would be. "I thought it was difficult," she says. "I thought it was gross."

For some women, the idea of looking at and touching cervical mucous is rather unnerving. Add to that the idea of taking your temperature each morning before rising and keeping a chart every day for the rest of your life, and you can see why dissatisfaction can occur.

The fact is that couples that aren't 100 percent committed to learning and living the rules of natural family planning put themselves at a greater risk for pregnancy. Keeping this in mind, many doctors are careful which patients they recommend natural family planning to. "I only recommend it if an unintended pregnancy would not be a problem," Dr. Dantoni says.

NFP Resources

Natural family planning can offer a welcome alternative to the current, popular methods of birth control or help you know when you may have better luck conceiving. If you're interested in learning more about this method or in finding an instructor, visit either The Couple-to-Couple League or the American Academy of Family Physicians. You can also read the book The Art of Natural Family Planning by John and Shelia Kippley.