Question about BBT

[Eziana]

Okay, so I'm thinking about charting my BBT, but I have a question about timing. I know ideally you take it after at least three hours of sleep, at the same time every day, before you get out of bed. My problem is on the weekends I sleep later than on weekdays; I get up at least once a night to pee, so sometimes I don't get three hours of sleep and there are a few mornings a week where it'll be hard to take the temperature while still in bed (long story!).

So here's my question: What if every morning I got up and went directly to the restroom and then took my temp. Would that little bit of activity affect my temps that much (especially seeing as how I'd be doing that every single time, so it'd be consistent).

What do you all think? Or should I even bother?

BTW: Sorry for the long post!

 

[Cppeace]

I think it is a very individual thing. Some people that minor activity won't affect anything, but for some it can change things a few tenths. I would highly recommend doing bbt and just seeing the pattern. If you are doing taking it consistently the same time after same activity it should give you a fairly accurate reading. As for the timing thing, sleeping in ect. , I rarely notice a major difference with the time I take the temp just after x amount of sleep. If I sleep 5 hours it's way lower than if I sleep 8 and if I sleep 10 it goes higher. There re bbt adjusters but they are averages- so should be close but won't be perfect for sure.
I'd try it a few cycles and see if you can id your pattern. If it simply looks like chaos then you can always quit, but I feel it should still be fine.

 

[flyingduster]

Personally don't worry too much about being really pedantic. Do temp in bed if you can, because yes that tiny bit of being up does affect it. But if you've only had an hour or two of sleep, or eight, just take your temp and see how it goes.

Personally I bed share wth my breastfeeding toddler, so some nights I wake at 4am and temp, other nights we sleep till 6am. Some nights she feeds heaps, others less so. Ignore this months chart cos it anovulatory, but all my other charts still show a temp shift for O.

 

[lewisevans]

No, it won’t affect much if you are following the same pattern every day. Most important is to note it every day and the same time more or less. I would recommend minimum 3 hours of undisturbed sleep for an accurate pattern.

 

[MindUtopia]

If you genuinely want to temp, do it generally around the same time every morning and before you get out of bed. Give or take an hour or two probably won't make a huge difference. You can always try it for a month and see if you still get a clear pattern from which you can predict roughly when you ovulate. If you can, then that's all you need to know. Most folks without children already do sleep later on the weekends (it's easier when you already have small kids, because, well, you never sleep past like 6:30 anyway!). But if you are serious about it, I would just set your alarm and if you want to go back to sleep after, do it if you don't have a need to get up. The timing doesn't have to be perfect. 6am one day and 7:30am another likely won't make a massive different, but 10am will.

Personally, I'm not a good sleeper and I get up to wee like 3 times a night. Plus now I have a 3 year old, so am up during the night with her. I also wake up at 5am on certain work days, and between 6-7am on every other day. It doesn't make really any difference in my temps, at least not enough that I don't still get a clear ovulatory pattern and that's the whole point. The other day my daughter woke up at 4:50am, so I got up with her for about 30 minutes, finally got her back to sleep, used the toilet, and then went back to bed and managed to sleep from 5:45 to 6:45am. I took my temp when I first got up at 4:50am and then I took it again at 6:45am when I got up for the day. The difference between the two temps was only .02.

So I would give it a try, aim for roughly the same time, give or take an hour or two, and do it before you get out of bed and see if it works for you. If you can't do it without getting out of bed first, well, still worth a try, but you might need to adjust if you find it's not working for you. If it's too much of a hassle, don't bother, but I got pregnant quickly last time temping and hopefully will this time too so I didn't think it was too much of a pain.