NFP empowers couples to integrate their sexuality in harmony with their fertility. It recognises that their bodies and love are beautiful and unique. Couples gain a heightened self-awareness. Their bodies reveal their secrets, enabling couples to acquire personal control of their own fertility. NFP is simple, inexpensive, lifelong, reversible and has no side effects on their health. The NFP experience is best described as:
Natural & Healthy … No drugs – No devices … Effective…
and it enhances Sexual intimacy through:
- better communication
- equal cooperation
- shared responsibility
The Sympto-Thermal Method
ACNFP affiliated centres instruct couples in the Sympto-Thermal Method, which is the modern, scientifically proven multi-indicator Method of NFP. Couples learn to observe, record, and interpret cyclical changes based on:
Primary fertility signs
- Basal body temperature
- Cervical mucus
- Cervical changes
Secondary fertility signs
- Mid Cycle Pain (Mittleschmerz)
- Breast changes
- and others depending on the couple’s personal experience
Cycle calculations
- Projected calculations based on 12 months’ cycle analysis
Effectiveness
The Sympto-Thermal Method’s effectiveness in avoiding pregnancy compares favourably to the Pill according to Hatcher RA et al in Contraceptive Technology, 16th Edition, Chapters 5 and 7, Irvington Publishers Inc, New York.
Scientifically, its effectiveness results from the Sympto-Thermal Method’s multi-indicator “cross-check”. Rather than relying on just one fertility symptom, the Sympto-Thermal Method combines at least 3 signs to verify a couple’s unique fertility.
It must be recognised that the Sympto-Thermal Method is a behavioural form of family planning. In other words, its effectiveness is the couple’s own responsibility and depends on:
- Instruction and early-stage support by an ACNFP accredited NFP teacher
- Cooperation and ongoing motivation of both partners
