CCL teaches two basic forms of Natural Family Planning (NFP) — the Sympto-Thermal Method and Ecological Breastfeeding.
The Sympto-Thermal Method (STM) is based on daily fertility awareness; a couple charts the wife’s common signs of fertility day by day and uses that information to determine her fertile and infertile times. It can be used both to achieve and to avoid or postpone pregnancy. When used to avoid pregnancy, the couple abstains from marital relations (intercourse) during the fertile time.
Ecological Breastfeeding is actually the world’s oldest form of NFP. It is still widely practiced in certain parts of the world, and is used successfully to space children by many women in the United States. The key factor in Ecological Breastfeeding is frequent suckling. It usually requires minimal fertility awareness, especially in the early months, and, in the absence of signs of possible fertility, no periodic abstinence. The term "ecological breastfeeding" was developed to sharply distinguish this form of baby care from "cultural breastfeeding" which provides little or no natural infertility. Read more at Ecological Breastfeeding.
There are many different reasons that couples choose to learn Natural Family Planning — some like its high effectiveness rate, others appreciate that it is safe and healthy for the woman, and still others are glad to find a method of spacing births that fits with their religious beliefs.
Safe & healthy | Highly effective | Immediately reversible | Helps couples of marginal fertility | Designer Family Planning | Morally acceptable | Better marriages | Natural beauty | Environmentally sound | Easy to learn and use | Inexpensive | Lifelong
Natural Family Planning is safe and healthy because it is 100% natural and a woman simply observes the signs of fertility and infertility that God built into her fertility cycle. In the case of spacing children with ecological breastfeeding, a woman simply nurses her baby frequently. What could be safer and more in tune with nature?
NFP uses no birth control drugs or devices, so there are no risks to a woman’s health. Practicing NFP involves respecting the body and how it functions, while artificial methods use medications or devices whose purpose is to thwart the body’s normal function. Every drug has potential side effects, which may be worth risking when trying to restore good health, but normally, we don’t take a drug product unless it is necessary to cure or relieve something that is wrong with us. Birth control drugs, however, treat your perfectly healthy, natural fertility as a disease. They are unnecessary, which makes accepting the risks of their side effects even more needless.
It is common to assume chemical birth control (the Pill, the Patch, Depo Provera) and invasive devices or surgery (the Intrauterine Device or IUD, vasectomy, or tubal ligation) are perfectly safe because they are used so widely. Not so. There are many undesirable and even risky side effects to every artificial method. Some of these side effects are more a nuisance (weight gain, irritability), and others quite serious (increased risk of blood clots, stroke, or some types of cancer). Yet they are all unnecessary.
Remember, drug companies have consistently claimed great safety for every birth control drug that has ever appeared (since 1960, in fact). With the birth control pill, however, it was generally only when a "new generation" was announced that anyone admitted the problems of the "older" version. Also, several artificial methods, like the older IUDs or Norplant, have been taken off the market over the years because health-related lawsuits, and some studies have linked chemical spermicides with birth defects.
At CCL we routinely hear of the frustrating, bothersome, and tragic consequences of the choice to use unnatural methods to space births. Some women have even lost their ability to conceive due to their use of an artificial method. Natural Family Planning offers a much healthier and more positive approach to family planning, for which thousands of couples are grateful!
There’s no question about the reliability of the Sympto-Thermal Method — it can be used at the 99% level of effectiveness to postpone or avoid pregnancy, which is an effectiveness level as high or higher than all artificial methods except sterilization.
This may be hard to believe given that typical articles in women’s magazines still tend to refer to modern NFP as the outdated and much less effective Rhythm Method. If you are concerned about avoiding pregnancy, you can take heart from the conclusion of the Los Angeles Study conducted by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health & Human Services) to compare the different systems of NFP under similar conditions: “There were no method failures in the STM (Sympto-Thermal Method) group,” (Maclyn E. Wade, et al., “A random prospective study of the use-effectiveness of two methods of natural family planning,” Am J Ob and Gyn 141:4 (15 Octo 1981) 368-376). A “method failure” is an unplanned pregnancy among couples who follow the rules of a given method.
However, CCL does not claim the 100% method effectiveness found by the Los Angeles Study. We know from our 30+ years of experience that sooner or later there will be a rare exception that results in the occasional unexplained pregnancy that seems to defy the method’s rules. However, this study and others give us very solid grounds for saying that adequately instructed and motivated couples can practice the STM at a 99% level of effectiveness.
To read a more detailed look at various STM effectiveness studies, see The Effectiveness of Natural Family Planning, written by CCL Teacher Thomas W. McGovern, M.D.
Regarding the effectiveness of ecological breastfeeding, it provides an average of 14 to 15 months of postpartum infertility for those women who follow its guidelines. The range appears to follow a more or less standard statistical distribution with 72% of mothers experiencing their first postpartum period between 9 and 20 months, with a few of the remaining experiencing it soon, and the rest later. To learn more, see Ecological Breastfeeding.
NFP is immediately reversible when a couple wants to conceive a baby. All a husband and wife need do is change the times of the cycle when they have marital relations (intercourse), and the NFP chart provides the information to determine the days of highest fertility.
On the other hand, manufactures of the Pill and other hormonal contraception warn against seeking pregnancy for several months after discontinuing its use. The reason for this is to guard against possible birth defects resulting from the residual chemicals in the woman’s body. Also, while some women’s fertility returns within a couple of months, we have seen many cases where it takes a year or more for ovulation to begin again following hormonal contraception.
Some of the most painful letters CCL has received are from couples who have come to regret their decision to have a tubal ligation or vasectomy, and very much long for the return of their fertility. Although these surgeries can sometimes be reversed at considerable cost (usually not covered by insurance), the probabilities of successful conception and implantation occurring are so low that it is misleading to call sterilization “reversible.”
Most couples correctly assume they will not have any fertility problems, yet approximately 6 million couples today, or roughly 10% of those in their childbearing years, have problems achieving pregnancy when they want to (American Fertility Association). If there is a true, permanent physical reason that makes either the husband or wife infertile, then NFP will not help. However, for the couple who faces reduced or marginal fertility, the fertility awareness that NFP provides from the wife’s fertility signs can help them greatly.
Many couples of low fertility achieve pregnancy within six months of learning NFP simply by using the cost-free, low-tech approach of fertility awareness provided by the Sympto-Thermal Method to pinpoint the days of highest fertility. In other cases, the fertility chart can uncover some important information related to reduced fertility, such as possible thyroid issues, that can be brought to a physician’s attention. Some couples even successfully achieve pregnancy after only some minor changes in nutrition and exercise.
At CCL, we teach couples two forms of NFP — Ecological Breastfeeding and the Sympto-Thermal Method. Within the STM, there are several components for identifying the fertile and infertile times, such as the basal body temperature pattern, changes to the cervical mucus, and changes to the cervix itself. We recommend using all of these components in a cross-checking way when interpreting your chart. However, by teaching all of these signs a couple has the freedom to use what works best for them. Thus, by using breastfeeding and/or the complete STM or certain parts of it, a couple can have a custom-fit method of birth regulation, tailored to their needs and the wife’s physiology.
NFP is the only form of family planning that respects God’s plan for love, marriage, and sexuality. For many couples, this is the overriding reason they are glad to have found it. Every other method of family planning is an attempt to change a person’s fertility as designed by God (i.e., medication to stop the natural process of ovulation, a device to prevent the natural meeting of sperm and egg, a surgery to permanently stop a natural function).
On the other hand, a couple using NFP respects God’s design of their bodies and works within that design instead of trying to change it. This can mean taking advantage of the natural infertility that comes with Ecological Breastfeeding, or abstaining from marital relations during the woman’s fertile time if the couple is desiring to postpone a pregnancy. In these ways, a couple is able to honor and keep together both the unitive and procreative aspects of each marital embrace and give themselves to each other with a love that is free, total, faithful and open to children.
To learn more about the moral aspects of NFP, see CCL Morality section.
Many couples find that learning NFP together and living the NFP lifestyle strengthens their marriage. There are many reasons for this:
1. NFP provides couples with a built-in way of keeping a cycle of courtship and honeymoon in their marriage. To put it most briefly, this prevents either spouse from taking their sexual relationship for granted. It also prevents them from putting their whole approach to intimacy in their marriage on one aspect of their relationship: their sexual love for each other.
2. Couples who practice NFP find that by discussing and prayerfully discerning their aspirations and concerns about the size of their family, they find it more easy to address issues in other critical areas of their marriages: finances, "in-law" strategies, how to rear their children, and many other issues.
3. Wives have expressed to us the great appreciation they feel for their husbands, who exhibit self-control and a willingness to sacrifice pleasure for the sake of mutually agreed values — truly impressive character traits in our self-centered culture. Husbands tell us of feeling a sense of privilege in being let into knowledge of their wives'' fertility, an understanding few other men can claim to have. Even if it seems more convenient for husbands to let their wives "take care of this women''s business," most NFP-using husbands would rather have the true equality this knowledge introduces into their marriages.
NFP couples are truly able to live as the "one flesh" that they have become through their marital vows, and they usually find that this impacts their relationship for the better on many levels.
NFP leaves the marital embrace in its natural beauty. Contraceptive condoms (male or female), sponges, diaphragms and foams have definite problems in the area of “aesthetics” — many couples find them downright unpleasant, and they interfere with spontaneity. Some couples who are really serious about avoiding pregnancy will use two or three of these methods together. We have had former users of these methods tell us that they often felt like they were gearing up for making war instead of making love. These devices make it extremely obvious to the couple that they are interfering in the natural character of the sexual act.
A main reason for the popularity of the birth control pill when it was developed was because couples could now avoid the unpleasantness of the other methods. Yet the Pill and other hormonal contraceptives have their own disagreeable side effects that interfere with the natural beauty of marital relations. Many woman find that they have a decreased sexual drive (libido) and less vaginal lubrication due to the effects of the artificial hormones. In addition, they often deal with weight gain, bloating and mood changes. These conditions are far removed from what God intended marital relations to be.
Couples who are health-conscious or concerned about environmental issues are very pleased to find an all-natural method of family planning. For couples who are concerned about maintaining their health, it would be inconsistent to pollute the wife’s body with powerful chemicals, or to surgically destroy a healthy part of one’s body (i.e., vasectomy or tubal ligation). For couples concerned about the well-being of plants and wildlife, it would likewise be inconsistent to not be concerned about the well-being of any newly conceived baby in the wife’s womb. With hormonal birth control, the potential exists to cause an early abortion since the chemicals can alter the lining of the woman’s uterus and interfere with the implantation of newly conceived life.
It’s interesting to note that long-lasting solutions to basic ecological and environmental problems depend upon people practicing self-control in one way or another. Conserving water may mean not wasting it with long, luxurious showers, or not watering the lawn during the heat of the day even though that is the most convenient time. Recycling garbage can take up enough time to be considered a minor hobby. Not dumping chemicals and toxic waste in landfills can entail going to burdensome lengths to ensure that the land and water table are protected.
We accept self-control in all of these other areas as an integral part of environmental responsibility. The same applies when we deal with the issue of birth regulation. It takes some self-control to practice NFP, but it pays off in the benefits to health and in the more important “ecology” of our marital relationship.
A CCL class series is made up of four classes spaced one month apart. This is done, not because the material is difficult to master, but to allow a couple to gain three months of charting experience before the series is over. A couple learns enough at the first class to enable them to start practicing NFP right away. They learn how to determine the post-ovulation infertile time in their very first charted cycle. By the end of the second meeting a month later, the couple knows how to determine the pre-ovulation infertile time. Some couples mistakenly believe that a married couple must practice abstinence completely during the learning time, and this is simply not true.
Please note that couples learning NFP just after discontinuing hormonal birth control will likely need to deal with some ambiguous fertility signs until the chemical residues leave the woman’s body. In these cases, a Teaching Couple will gladly assist the couple with their interpretations.
For those couples learning NFP through CCL’s Home Study Course, the short lessons were designed to be done one every other day. In that way, a couple will learn all the basic rules within one month. The Home Study Course also includes access by phone or email to CCL’s Staff Counselors for those couples who would like the added assurance of having someone evaluate their chart interpretations.
After learning the method, most couples are able to use the Sympto-Thermal Method without further counseling after they gain two or three cycles of experience. They tend to settle down into a certain pattern that is best handled by just a couple of the rules.
Once in a while a couple may have a strange-looking chart. Or, a woman finds her fertility signs changing as she enters premenopause or during the return of fertility after childbirth. This is when a current CCL Membership comes in handy. If a CCL Member experiences anything out of the ordinary, they are encouraged to call their local Teaching Couple. Most of the professional training CCL Teaching Couples received deals with applying the STM rules in unusual situations. For those Members without a local Teaching Couple, CCL Central Staff Counselors are available for any questions or concerns.
For the most part, however, the knowledge gained in a CCL class series enables a couple to easily apply the NFP rules with confidence. After over three decades of helping couples learn and practice NFP, we have found that a success with using NFP actually has less to do with understanding the physical signs and method rules and more to do with communicating as a couple and agreeing on a course of action. Once a couple understands the many positive advantages and spiritual reasons for using NFP, and once they have sought God’s guidance for their family, most often they are able to practice NFP with confidence.
After the initial instruction, NFP is practically free. The cost of learning NFP from CCL is currently $75.00 for a class series, which includes all materials (manual, digital thermometer, charts, one-year membership). After that initial cost, the only recurring cost is for charts ($1.25 for 13 charts).
By comparison, most hormonal methods of birth control cost approximately $20-$35 per month for the product (pills, patch, shot), as well as the cost of the visit and examination ($30-$125). IUDs cost $175-$400, a vasectomy is $240-$520, and a tubal ligation can cost $2,000-$6,000. (Costs provided by Planned Parenthood.)
As a couple goes through their married life together, they will go through different stages with their fertility, and NFP is there to help at each stage of their fertile lifetime. There may be times when they have a need to postpone pregnancy; at other times they will be seeking pregnancy. After the birth of each baby, the way they choose to feed and nurture it will affect how soon their fertility returns. The form of nursing called Ecological Breastfeeding that CCL teaches can space babies two years apart on average without needing any other type of family planning. Eventually the couple will reach the time of premenopause, the time of decreasing fertility before actual menopause (when the woman ceases ovulating).
There are lifelong benefits to NFP use throughout a woman’s fertile years. The combination of Ecological Breastfeeding and not using artificial birth control hormones is her best protection against breast cancer. Using NFP and not resorting to a tubal ligation helps a woman to enter her menopausal years with healthy reproductive organs. Many woman are unaware that keeping their female reproductive organs is still very important to their general well-being long after their childbearing years.