Well I'm a nurse and I'll tell you one thing - this is not stuff they hit real hard in nursing school. I learned WAY more about charting/fertility by taking Fertility Friend's online charting course than I did in 4 years of nursing undergrad and 6 years in the field.

i had friends that did it and it's really about tracking CM and stuff like that.  so she should know when is a questionable time and abstain during those times.  

our friends got pg by accident...their calendar wasn't in the bedroom and later when they went to look there was a ? on that day.  go figure.

i think if you are very focused and do everything you are supposed to each day, it can be pretty effective.  it's just hard to be that on top of things imo :) 

Every friend of mine that has use NFP as their form of BC, has ended up pregnant by surprise.

my best friend/CW has only used NFP as BC for her entire 16 years of marriage.

she has a 16, 13, 8, 5 and  baby #5 (due in April).   None we're planned (in that they didn't consciously decide to try).  

I charted for 2 years for NFP purposes and never got pregnant, but it takes awhile to get to know your cycle, and you still have to not have sex for a whole week to make sure (sine O dates very) and even at that it is not 100% full proof. Granted I never got pregnant while using it, but with that being said I haven't got pregnant while not using it either.  I wouldn't  use it if you absolutely don't want to get pregnant because there is always a chance you will because like you said, not every cycle is the same.

I want to use NFP, but I don't think it's going to work for me.  I ovulate at a different time each cycle.  Just when I thought I was starting to get consistent, I O'd 5 days earlier than I expected.  I only know 1 person who's done this and she got pregnant after a year. 

Ali&Luke:

Well I'm a nurse and I'll tell you one thing - this is not stuff they hit real hard in nursing school. I learned WAY more about charting/fertility by taking Fertility Friend's online charting course than I did ...

I second this.  They only covered the basics of conception, and I'm pretty sure my textbooks perpetuated the 28 day cycle myth.  Frankly, unless she was a fertility nurse her schooling and experience wouldn't help with NFP.

As for usage of FNP, I've got friends who use it in conjunction with barrier methods, and so far they only have the two kids they tried for.  I plan on using NFP/fertility friend as bc once I finally have a baby, but considering the troubles we've had so far, I don't think it'll be an issue. ;)

I'm charting to TTA at the moment, though we're not 100% TTA as you can probably tell from my chart.  I think it would be effective if you're really adamant about abstaining during the fertile times.  Reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility will be a huge help as it has certain rules to follow in order to avoid pregnancy when using NFP/FAM as your birth control.

ETA: Sorry, didn't read your post fully and see that your friend had already gotten KU.  Was she temping AND checking CM etc etc?  I'm Catholic but never took a NFP class (I hear it's required to get married in some parishes) so I don't know how it's taught vs. what TCOYF says.

I am Catholic. I have taken NFP classes. The teachers of the class (been teaching it 15 yrs) said that from what they knew of their students, not a single one every had an unplanned pregnancy when they followed the rules of NFP correctly. And among my friends who practice NFP, all pregnancies have been planned.

When used correctly, NFP involves tracking CM, charting BBT, and (sometimes, depending on which NFP method)  checking CP. Many NFP methods also encourage the use of OPKs.

FWIW, you can't know ahead of time when you will O. You confirm O through charting BBT, and it's confirmed only after a sustained temp rise. I know that my cycle was  "off" more than normal the month of our wedding.

It is possible that your friend didn't follow all of the rules regarding when to abstain from sex, and that got her pregnant.

I've been charting to avoid for 2 years now. You have to follow the rules or you will get pregnant. Not everyone is up for that.

while I've never used it as a form of birth control, I think that it should work when tracking properly. It's not really something you can just jump into though, and I would recommend using this with condoms for the first few cycles so that you can get to know your own cycle and when you O.

We were married August 08. DD was conceived September 08. We were using NFP to avoid.

I had been using it before we got married successfully, but with the wedding and moving right after we got back from our honeymoon and then adjusting to DH's night schedule my cycle was really wonky that month and I didn't have any clear signs of ovulation on my chart and I had EWCM the week before I took my pregnancy test but not around the time I probably O'd. It was a surprise, to say the least.

I started charting after being on hormonal birth control for 8+ years. In short - I'll never go back - charting/NFP/FAM has been wonderful!!!

My cycles were out of whack for a while after coming off birth control (over a year), but charting still worked great for us. I'm convinced that my weird cycles were due to the effects of the pill.

Eventually, we also used charting to TTC and were successful. Thanks to charting, I knew my due date long before the doctor appointment or ultrasound - and I was exactly right!

I highly recommend the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. 

Good luck! 

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll try to help. 

Haven't read all the other responses, but I just wanted to add my two cents...

NFP is 99% effective IF you follow the rules.  As with any BC, you can't expect it to work if you don't follow the rules.... after all, you wouldn't expect the pill to work if you only remembered to take it half the time!

NFP is based on charting your body's natural fertility symptoms.  And, no, your cycle won't be the same every month, but that's okay, IF you're paying attention.  When we were using it to avoid, my cycle would range from 28 days to 40-some days, but we never had any scares because I knew exactly when I ovulated and we used condoms or abstained during that time.

As you can see, we were also successful conceiving with NFP, and I plan on using it again as soon as I get my first postpartum AF.  I love knowing so much about what my body is doing, and truly "taking charge" of my fertility.

Anyone interested in learning more can also check out www.christianfamilyplanning.net.  They even have an online course now, in addition to the wealth of info on the message board.

NFP has a perfect use rate (and similar typical use rate) the same as the pill *IF* the user has been properly trained and knows what to look for AND follows all the rules.  Granted, there are various methods out there and I truly wouldn't put much stock at all in the ones that rely only on temperature or calendar calculations.  However, the ones that rely on cervical mucus (Billings and Creighton); a combination of cervical mucus, temperature, and cervical postion (Couple-to-couple league, CCL,  or sympto-thermal method, STM); or cervical mucus, temperatures, and an ovulation meter (Marquette) are all backed by science and have very high efficacy rates.  All of those (depending upon the study) have efficacy rates at 98-99.9%--which is on par with the pill.

NFP isn't always easy, particularly when you're first getting started.  That's why it's ideal to have an in-person teacher who can guide you and answer your questions and clear up any misunderstandings.  (There are some home-study kits and online communications for those who can't find a close teacher.)  However, once you know what you're doing, it doesn't matter if you have regular cycles, highly irregular cycles (even PCOS) or are breastfeeding--you can learn how to interpret your body's fertility and plan your activity accordingly (whether you want to avoid or get pregnant).

Learning how to read your body's signs is a little more difficult than remembering to pop a pill at the same time everyday or use a condom or have an IUD inserted, but there are also no side effects and, once you've been trained, the cost is minimal to nothing.  Furthermore, since you're paying attention to your body daily, you can often detect when something is wrong and get it fixed sooner. 

You're right--there are no guarantees that every cycle is the same, but if you're using one of the above mentioned methods, it doesn't matter. And, there are also no guarantees that ANY birth control method is going to work 100% of the time either.  I can name people who conceived while they were on the pill, or using condoms or had an IUD......even sterilizations have a failure rate.

DH and I have been using NFP for 3 (avoiding for about 2 years of that) years.  We have been pregnant once - on purpose, but lost the baby to a miscarriage.  We then used NFP to avoid a pregnancy b/c I lost my insurance.  We successfully avoided a pregnancy for that 9 months.  Now that we have insurance we are TTC again.

I have incredibly wacky cycles and have been able to use NFP successfully. ANd just a note - you don't just use NFP to avoid a pregnancy, you use it to get pregnant as well.  It is a true system of family planning since you can use it both ways.  You just switch the way you use it when TTC.

 In order to be successful you have to be willing to follow the rules.  Every form of birth control has rules to be most effective.  If you forget to take a pill one day or if you don't take it on time you are not following "the rules" and have adopted a less effective form of birth control.  The same goes for using NFP to avoid a pregnancy.  If you have relations when signs in your body tell you that you are approaching ovulation, you have abandoned the method as a form of birth control and adopted a behavior using the method as a way of  increasing your chances to get pregnant.

If anyone is looking into using NFP in their marriage I highly suggest taking a class and getting an instructor.  Those who don't are usually those who end up not totally understanding the method and the rules.  I also agree with a PP who suggested Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  I thought it was a tremendous book.  That said I also believe it is an investment in your future to find a class/instructor who you can go to with questions and problems.  I highly suggest the following form of NFP.  It also has a medical component so if there are any infertility problems this method can address them (even before TTC).

http://www.fertilitycare.org/

There are still doctors that proclaim that women O on CD 14.  I wouldn't bag the entire idea of NFP just because one person got pregnant.

LucyD1029, NFP is for a woman with any type of cycle. You might be thinking of the Calendar Rhythm Method, which is *not*--I repeat---*not* modern NFP. Modern NFP is not about calendars, what day you ovulate on, or having a consistent cycle. 

NFP is a method of observing biological signs (which signs depends on the method--there are several) daily, thus determining your days of fertility and ovulation. The two most common methods are ovulation (observing cervical mucus signs) and sympto-thermal (observing cm & resting body temps), with the option of using a fertility monitor.

As many other people have said, NFP's effectiveness does depend on whether you follow the directions--same as any other family planning method. But it's worth it. For more info, see www.njnfp.org, or (self-plug), my NFP blog, nfpworksblog.com.

I agree with that! I wish they covered fertility more in depth in nursing and medical schools, as well as pharmacy schools. It's amazing how many pharmacists don't even know they physiology of the effects of the pill and other oc's.

Nvandersommers, that's a very honest question. When someone gets pregnant unexpectedly (when they're trying to postpone), you have to ask some questions. However, it's not the moment to jump to conclusions. Almost all of us know someone who got pregnant on oc's, or even after sterilization (yup, it happens), yet people persist with this trust of BC/ OCs.

Anyway, it's all about the following of the directions, as some of the other people have mentioned. I would definitely look into an NFP Intro class. You can learn a lot by reading great books like Taking Charge of Your Fertility (tcoyf.com), or the Revised Art of Natural Family Planning, (ccl.org), but your best bet is taking an in person class. A book can't always answer your specific questions after the class, and instructors totally make themselves available. nfpworksblog.com or njnfp.org for more info on NFP.