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Sound familiar?

You’re slowly building your confidence with tracking your cycle every day. You feel like you’ve finally made sense of your cervical mucus patterns every month and it’s time to start tracking your daily body temperature too.

But your daily temperatures make absolutely no sense!

High one day, low the next. Completely all over the place and not even close to matching up with your mucus patterns.

You’re more confused than ever and wondering if maybe you’ve had it wrong all along.

In this episode, I’m talking you through how to make sense of your basal body temperature, why it’s totally normal to have some wonky readings with every cycle. And most important of all, I’m giving you permission to stop tracking it if it’s just causing headaches.

Because sometimes your BBT can be more useless than useful.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Hello, and welcome to episode 40 of The Fertility Co Podcast. I’m your host, Rachel and today we are talking about basal body temperature.

Sound familiar?

You’re slowly building your confidence with tracking your cycle every day. You feel like you’ve finally made sense of your cervical mucus patterns every month and it’s time to start tracking your daily body temperature too.

But your daily temperatures make absolutely no sense!

High one day, low the next. Completely all over the place and not even close to matching up with your mucus patterns.

You’re more confused than ever and wondering if maybe you’ve had it wrong all along.

In this episode, I’m talking you through how to make sense of your basal body temperature, why it’s totally normal to have some wonky readings with every cycle. And most important of all, I’m giving you permission to stop tracking it if it’s just causing headaches

Because sometimes your BBT can be more useless than useful.

Now this is something I wanted to cover in detail because judging from the many DMs I receive about it with your charting questions, it seems to be causing more confusion than anything else. So before we even begin to dive in to this episode, let me make one thing really clear – you absolutely do not need to be tracking your basal body temperature in order to chart your cycle effectively for either conception or natural birth control. Cervical mucus is always number one, this is what you go by. And I think this is a huge part of the confusion, because when your mucus and your temperature are telling you different things, you don’t know which one to go by!

Now of course if you’re brand new to charting and you have no clue what I’m even talking about when I say basal body temperature, that’s totally ok. By clicking on the links in this episode’s shownotes or heading straight to fertilityco.com.au/40 you can not only grab your free fertility roadmap which will help you to get started with charting, and I’ve even thrown in a basic cycle tracking chart for you to use. If you want to dive a little deeper, you can also save your spot for my free fertility masterclass where I’ll walk you through how to know exactly when you’re fertile and take you through the biggest mistakes most women make when they’re getting started.

So let’s break this down. In this episode, we’ll cover what your BBT actually is and why we track it throughout our menstrual cycle. And most importantly, you’ll learn what it can actually tell you about your fertility. You’ll learn how your basal body temperature changes during your cycle and why we will more than likely get 1 or 2 wonky temperatures and why this is totally normal. Finally, we’ll cover how you can use your body temperature to confirm when ovulation has occurred.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What exactly is basal body temperature?

Basal body temperature (BBT) is the body’s resting temperature after at least 4-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It is assessed by taking your body temperature orally first thing in the morning after waking up and before any physical activity. The most accurate readings are given before we start moving around for the day, so try to take your temperature as soon as you wake up while still lying in bed. So not only is this before you get out of bed to pee, before you get up and put the kettle on, this is before you really move at all. It’s before you roll over to snuggle with your partner, before you start playing on your phone. As soon as you wake up and go into that half-awake, half-dreaming state where you know you’re awake but not yet ready to open your eyes, you take your thermometer that you put on your bedside table the night before, and you pop it in your mouth for a couple of minutes. When it beeps, take it out of your mouth, check your temperature and add it to your chart for the day. What I like to do is just take it straight out and pop it back on my bedside table without even looking at it. When I’m actually getting out of bed, I’m awake and slightly more conscious, then I turn the thermometer back on and look at the last recorded temperature. Then I’m in a better state to actually remember the numbers on the screen and write them down on my chart.

When BBT is useful

We chart our temperature to confirm ovulation after it has happened. If charting is still really new to you and you’re already feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, start with mucus only and once you’re confident with that, add body temperature only if you want to.

Charting your body temperature can be combined with charting your mucus if you want that extra indicator of ovulation and where you are in your menstrual cycle. If you can clearly identify fertile mucus and you’re really confident in tracking the changes throughout your cycle, then you might not need to track your temperature. But, if you want a back-up, if you want a second source of information, or if you’re not seeing clear differences in your mucus throughout your cycle – maybe you have mucus every day, or maybe you just can’t see any!

Temperature also has the added benefit of observing a shift in temperature that helps you to confirm ovulation rather than relying on mucus alone. Then these are situations where charting your basal body temperature can come in handy. But remember, tracking your mucus is the key. Mucus on its own is certainly effective, but if you want to track your temperature too you need to combine it with charting your mucus, so it’s not enough on its own to just track your temperature and nothing else – especially when it comes to natural birth control.

What does BBT tell us about ovulation?

BBT is used to retrospectively determine the timing of ovulation, due to a rise in BBT of 0.2 – 0.5 degrees (Celsius or Fahrenheit) that remains high until your next period. Ovulation usually occurs the day before we see the temperature shift, but can be delayed in some women. With experience, you’ll learn when it happens for you based on your mucus Peak Day. BBT will then remain high until your next menstruation and so the day your temperature drops again, you’ll likely get your period that same day and it’s the best way to wake up knowing that it’s arriving so you don’t get caught out.

So tracking your BBT helps you to confirm ovulation. Remember, the last day you observe that fertile quality, slippery, lubricative egg-white mucus is called your Peak Day and this is usually the day of ovulation, and the rise in BBT happens after ovulation, and so for both there is no way of predicting when this is going to happen unless we observe the changes in our mucus in the lead-up. We can only look back the day after ovulation to confirm for sure that it’s happened.

We can confirm ovulation when 3 consecutive temperatures are higher than the previous 6. Let me repeat that, 3 consecutive temperatures are higher than the previous 6. Which ultimately means that we can’t really confirm ovulation until at least 3 days after it has happened. And for some women, this BBT temperature spike can be delayed by a day or 2. And it’s all about our hormones.

Progesterone and BBT

So, what is it about ovulation that triggers these changes in mucus and temperature? Progesterone is the cause of the upward shift in basal body temperature after ovulation.

When one of the ovaries has released an egg, the follicle from which it was released becomes the corpus luteum and begins to produce progesterone. This hormone produces heat, so as progesterone levels rise after ovulation, so too does your basal body temperature. So your BBT is reflective of your progesterone levels throughout your menstrual cycle and the sudden drop in temperature as your period arrives is due to the sudden drop in progesterone at the end of your menstrual cycle.

The upward shift in your temperature from ovulation and throughout the second half of your cycle is detectable if you track it daily.

When BBT is confusing (and potentially useless)

This is when it just leaves you feeling confused and overwhelmed with no idea what you’re observing, which is why it’s definitely not for everyone! Like I said, especially if you’re learning, start with just mucus and really get the hang of how it changes throughout your cycle. Then, when you’re feeling more confident, try adding in your BBT.

It can be so confusing, especially when you’re trying to conceive because we have a tendency to overanalyse things during this time especially. So, the best advice I can give you is not to try to analyse your temperature every single day. Sometimes our temperature for the day can be off. Maybe we didn’t sleep well, maybe we’re hot and bothered, maybe we slept in for an extra hour or two. On most of my charts, I’ll have one or two really wonky temperatures that are either unexpectedly high or low and make no sense in the context of my complete chart. This is totally normal but it’s the reason why you cannot rely just on temperature alone to tell you if you’re fertile. What we want to look at with our temperature is the overall pattern throughout our cycle, because the day after ovulation, our temperature rises. And it stays high until our next period. More on this soon. So take it every morning and add it to your chart, but don’t sit there poring over your chart trying to make sense of what today’s temperature means. This is easily the most common thing that pops up in my DMs, women sending me pictures of their charts asking whether today’s temperature means they’ve ovulated, or they’re pregnant. And honestly looking at a single day’s temperature tells you virtually nothing. It’s the overall pattern we need to be looking at to observe when temperature jumps up and to confirm when ovulation has happened.

So the day to day isn’t super important, but we can use our temperature to retrospectively confirm ovulation. Understanding patterns in your temperature can take a few cycles to understand, so daily tracking is the best way to get there faster. Try to be as consistent as possible and take your BBT at around the same time every day. But, don’t feel like you have to set an alarm for 6am every day, even on the weekends, just to take your temperature. A good night’s sleep is far more important, and if your weekend temperatures are taken an hour or two later because you’ve slept in, just make a note of it on your chart because they might be a little bit higher.

As I’ve said though, sometimes we can get some wonky temperatures. A number of factors can influence your basal body temperature, and some women find that they are particularly sensitive to even minor disruptions. These might be:

• Error in recording
• Illness and fever
• Interrupted sleep patterns
• Alcohol
• Stress
• Shift work
• Travel (especially across time zones)
• Medication

Confirming Pregnancy with BBT

Now the final thing I want to talk about is using your BBT to help you to confirm pregnancy and decide when to take a pregnancy test. I’ve talked a lot on this podcast about the 2 week wait and the inevitable disappointment that occurs when you just take a pregnancy test too early. Tracking your BBT can help you to decide when the timing is right. It’s absolutely not foolproof, as it will take your pregnancy hormone levels time to build up to amounts that are detectable in a urine test, but if you know your cycle well, you can get this timing right.

And the rule here is that you observe 18 days of elevated temperatures after ovulation, meaning you’ve reached day 18 of your luteal phase, there is a good chance you might be pregnant. And that’s not to say 18 days after day 14, it’s 18 days after you have confirmed ovulation on your chart.

But, I feel like I need to add a little disclaimer in here after personal experience, if you’ve been trying to conceive for a little while or if you, like me, have a tendency to overanalyse everything, my recommendation if you’re trying to conceive is to track your BBT until you have confirmed ovulation and then put that thermometer away and don’t touch it again until you get another period, if you get another period. Of course, the downside is that you can’t watch for the drop to signal when your period is coming, but waiting for a temperature drop, dreading that temperature drop is a real source of stress. The month I conceived, I stopped tracking my temperature after ovulation, and mine was a horribly, unusually wonky cycle thanks to gluten, and I didn’t track my temperature over than 2 week wait. And that really stopped a lot of stress and over-analysis for me. How did I know to take a pregnancy test? Well, I still knew when I had ovulated, so I counted the days of my luteal phase. We know a typical length is 11-17 days, and I knew that my typical length was about 12 days. So once I got to about 14 days, I suspected, but I did exercise some self control and took a test even a few days after that. I think I did test before 18 days post ovulation because my boobs increased by about a cup size in 24 hours and I figured it was time to confirm. But, knowing I was looking ahead to 18 days stopped the over-thinking. So that’s something I really want to share with those of you who really struggle with that 2 week wait.

Is BBT tracking for you?

So now, your homework is to decide if you want to start tracking your BBT daily. Remember, you don’t have to, cervical mucus is enough on its own, but after going through this episode you should hopefully have enough information to decide whether BBT tracking is right for you. Of course you can always change your mind later, but if you’re keen to chart your temperature, then you’re going to need a thermometer. Write yourself a note to pop into the chemist and grab one in the next 24 hours so you can get started.

There is no pressure here to incorporate BBT into your daily charting. If it all feels too much, don’t worry about it and just focus on your mucus observations because ultimately the presence of your fertile quality mucus is your key sign of fertility, so if you want to make a baby, you have sex when you see mucus and if you want to avoid making a baby, you avoid sex or use contraception when you see mucus. It’s that simple, and BBT can lead to overcomplicating things, especially when you’re starting out.

So I hope this episode has helped you to work out what is right for you. Let’s wrap up now with a recap of the key things you need to know about BBT:

• Basal body temperature (BBT) is the body’s resting temperature after at least 4-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep and needs to be taken as soon as you wake up and before you start moving your body.
• Your BBT will rise the day after ovulation. The last day of low temperatures will likely be the day when ovulation took place, but can be delayed for some women.
• The upward shift of 0.2 – 0.5 degrees is due to the surge in progesterone after ovulation.
• BBT will remain high until progesterone levels drop just before menstruation.

And there you have it. Like I said, this is a question that comes up a lot so I felt it was definitely time to clear the air about BBT and help to reassure you that it’s totally fine if you decide it’s not for you. If you want to know more about getting started with charting, don’t forget you can grab your fertility roadmap or join my free fertility masterclass all about charting. Link is right in the shownotes or head to fertilityco.com.au/40 for everything you need to know.

If you learnt something new or found value in today’s episode, I’d love to hear from you! And as always, please send me an Instagram DM and let me know what you want me to talk about in upcoming episodes. This podcast is for you and so I want to talk about the things that are most important to you!

You can get today’s shownotes with everything I talked about in this episode, as well as links to freebies and other related episodes at fertilityco.com.au/40.

I will see you in next week’s episode, where we are talking about the luteal phase, the part of our menstrual cycle after ovulation and why the length of this phase is so damn important.

 

Ok, bye for now and don’t forget that knowledge is power!

When you truly understand your body, you are empowered to make informed decisions and take control of your health!

Until next time.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Want to say goodbye to hormonal contraceptives and their weird and unpleasant side effects?

Want to improve your chances of conceiving quickly and naturally?

You need my Fertility Roadmap– My simple 3-step system to understanding your body’s natural fertile signs and pinpointing ovulation day so that you can use this knowledge to achieve (or avoid) pregnancy.

Related Episodes:

Episode 1 – Menstrual Cycle 101

Episode 2 – Am I Ovulating? The One Check You Can Do Every Day to Know For Sure When You’re Fertile

Episode 12 – The Menstrual Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 1

Episode 13 – The Follicular Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 2

Episode 14 – The Ovulatory Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 3

Episode 15 – The Luteal Phase – Menstrual Cycle Masterclass Part 4

Episode 27 – When Should I Take a Pregnancy Test?

Episode 32 – Delete Your Period Tracking App. Do This Instead.

OTHER FREE RESOURCES

Does your pelvic floor need a little extra TLC? Take the Pelvic Floor Quiz and find out how to start strengthening your pelvic floor today!

Want to make sure you’re exercising safely during your pregnancy? Get your Free Guide: 10 Exercises to Avoid During Pregnancy.

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