What's the point of charting?

[SarahBear]

It seems like charting would be tedious and easily messed up. What's the point when checking cervical mucus is so much more straight forward and simple?

 

[UniqueBeauty]

Some of us don't see signs of fertility.

 

[Mummy to be x]

I don't get any signs of ovulation so I chart, use opks etc etc.

 

[pandi77]

Cervical mucus usually appears in response to a surge of estrogen which can happen at multiple times or not at all for some women and therefore isn't always as straightforward as an indicator as it could be. About 50% of all women experience irregular cycles at some point in their childbearing years so charting is a sure fire way to know what's up. If CM always shows up for you during your fertile period and you always ovulate at the exact same time and never have an off cycle then it might be all you need to do which is great!

For the record even after I got my cycles mostly straightened out I continued to chart so I could get a head's up on when to test. A bbt that stays elevated is a good sign of pregnancy and I always knew when AF was coming because I got a big dip in my bbt. Saved a ton of anxiety and grief not to mention money on hcg test! Why chart? I scroll down the ttc boards and see threads like "AF late and bfn", "4 days of positive OPK's so when did I O","pregnancy symptoms but no bfp", "when should I test" and remember feeling the same way prior to charting. I would have an off cycle and be sure I was pregnant and it turned out I ovulated late

It's not for everyone of course but it is actually pretty simple once you integrate it into your life. If you can remember to brush your teeth everyday amongst all of our other daily routines charting will be easy for you. Just remember it can take a couple of cycles to get a hang on your normal bbt and patterns.

Good luck!

 

[BeachyFeelin]

I don't get much CM, let alone enough to pinpoint anything, so it's not helpful at all to predict Ovulation. Charting, for me, is the only way to confirm that I did O.

 

[cookette]

Charting helped me know I had O'd and didnt have to keep searching for it. My CM is not reliable as I would get several batches of EWCM before and after O. Could also determine if I had BD'd without an appropriate time frame so I didnt get my hopes up.

Its really not difficult. Taking your temp when you wake up isnt that hard...?

 

[AuntieKate]

I simply do it for piece of mind. I had some very irregular cycles after my miscarriage and it really screwed with my mind wondering if I was pregnant or if something was wrong. It's really so simple and provides you with so much information. And definitely helps to save money on hcg tests!

 

[dani_tinks]

I wondered the same until my cycles went all over the place. I'm still a little confused with it all, but taking notes and paying attention to temps and things is definitely helping me figure out what's going on.

 

[britgirl82]

It's good to know what's going on (to confirm that you've ovulating etc) but I wouldn't use it all the time. It can get really obsessive and one 'bad' temperature can ruin your day, particularly during the tww. If you're going to do it, I'd recommend charting until you've confirmed ovulation and then stop.

 

[MrsKChicago]

My sleep schedule isn't good enough for charting, but I did just start using OPKs, for the same reasons that I would chart if I could. It takes the guesswork out. Even with strong ovulation symptoms, it's hard to pinpoint, cycles can vary by a couple days from month to month, you may have more or less CM, and so on. Using a more scientific way of tracking lets you know more precisely when you ovulated, so you can better track DPO, and if you're like me and sometimes have months when you really have to schedule in the BDing, it lets you know when you can safely relax. And I'm sure if I did chart, I'd be watching obsessively for implantation dips and all that. Temping is also one of the most reliable at home indicators that you actually ovulated, instead of just tried to ovulate. It can also be useful information for your doctor if you do have fertility issues down the line.

It really just depends, though. Some couples are going to BD every other day no matter what, and aren't going to test until a missed period, and in that case, maybe it doesn't matter so much exactly when you ovulate.

 

[curiousowl]

My last cycle I had all kinds of EWCM. That cycle ended up being 39days. I can't imagine how crazy I would have been going if I didn't have my chart to tell me I didn't actually O.

 

[SarahBear]

Lots of response! I haven't yet had the chance to read through, but I did glance at some. Some said that some women don't get those cervical mucus changes when fertile... isn't that part of what makes you fertile? Also, if you have irregular cycles, it still works because you just wait until it's there. Anyway, will read through the responses to see what you all had to say, when I get a chance. Right now it's way too late to see what information you all had to provide.

 

[Loozle]

I'm on cd18 today and have so far had 2 lots of ewcm (cd14 & cd17) indicating that I was fertile as well as an almost positive opk (so close that I wasn't sure if it was + or -). I am yet to ovulate.
In this case, charting is the only way I would know that I haven't already ovulated.

 

[dani_tinks]

I had CM, did an OPK which indicated I wasn't ovulating! So it isn't always a sure sure sign. I would love to have absolute trust in what my body is telling me, but for me it doesn't help at the moment.

 

[pandi77]

Lots of response! I haven't yet had the chance to read through, but I did glance at some. Some said that some women don't get those cervical mucus changes when fertile... isn't that part of what makes you fertile? Also, if you have irregular cycles, it still works because you just wait until it's there. Anyway, will read through the responses to see what you all had to say, when I get a chance. Right now it's way too late to see what information you all had to provide.

Fertile cm isn't necessary to become fertile/pregnant and doesn't happen for all women...this is why you see lots of women using preseed and the like to have lubricant when cm is absent. This also goes for women with irregular cycles..they may or may not have cm. Some women (especially with pcos) will have long cycles with several patches of fertile cm where they don't ovulate on any of them! So to recap (if you don't read through the previous responses) fertile cm isn't always a reliable tool to indicate you are fertile

 

[Mummy to be x]

I never get the fertile cm and i have one daughter and two angel babies so, I'd say no you don't HAVE to have the cm there to be fertile.

 

[popchick75]

What happens if you have 4 days of fertile CM? Which day did you ovulate on?

As others said, not everyone gets EWCM....that doesn't by any means you can't conceive without problems. People also get EWCM during annovulatory cycles. If you weren't charting you would never know you didn't ovulate just going by CM. It's also *extremely* common to get fertile cm multiple times in your cycle. Without that temp shift, CM really doesn't mean anything.