A Few Hints About Charting the Basal Body Temperature

Charting your basal body temperature (BBT) is one of the main ways to educate yourself about your fertility. There is tons of information out there on how and when to chart it, so I am going to focus on a few helpful hints I have picked up along the way.

First, charting your basal body temperature and seeing “the rise” is indicative of really only one thing; the fact that you have ovulated. Without a temperature shift, you cannot confirm ovulation–which is good if you are still trying to get pregnant, and less desirable if you are avoiding pregnancy as it means you may still be fertile. I’ve helped many women with charting and troubleshooting, and one of the chief things I hear is “I know I ovulated! But my temperature did not rise!” Well, then I’d say that there is a 99% chance you did NOT ovulate yet, especially if you have given your temps a day or two from when you thought you ovulated to rise. If there is not a second set of temperatures on your chart, ovulation did not occur. So, in closing, the basal body temperature can only confirm ovulation, it cannot necessarily predict it or tell you when it is going to happen (cervical mucus signs would be the best way to keep track of those things.)

Another tip about charting your basal body temperature is that getting familiar with what is “normal” for you (both pre and post ovulatory temps) is your best helper. When charting, we all have the odd day or two of temps that seems wacky or doesn’t fit in. But if you really get to know your set of ranges, you won’t be fooled. I have also noticed that, for me, there isn’t too much I can do to get a totally crazy reading. I know the rules–the consecutive hours of sleep, the way the temp can change based on when you take it–and I am not necessarily advocating to ignore the rules, especially if you don’t want to get pregnant. But, I’ve noticed that I can be less rigid with the rules, and say take my temp after only 2 hours of sleep or at a later time and although the temp may vary a little bit, it still doesn’t go outside of my range of normal for me.