Natural Family Planning International

A course on “Natural Family Planning” can mean distinctly different things, and thus there are considerably different NFP courses.  We believe that couples have a right to choose among morally permissible options.  To acknowledge that there is more than one morally okay option does not imply that every option is equally effective or good for their family.  The important thing is that in order to make such choices, couples have to learn enough to make evidence-based choices that are best for them. 

Two different forms of NFP.  Couples need to know that there are two distinctly different forms of natural family planning—ecological breastfeeding and systematic NFP.   

Ecological Breastfeeding (EBF) is the world’s oldest form of natural baby spacing.  It’s the form of nursing in which 1) the mother fulfills her baby’s needs for frequent suckling and her full-time presence and 2) in which the child’s frequent suckling postpones the return of the mother’s fertility.  Ecological breastfeeding is further defined by the Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding; these are maternal behaviors that assure mother-baby togetherness and frequent suckling.  Research-based evidence shows that mothers who follow these norms will experience an average of 14 to 15 months of breastfeeding infertility. 
        Ecological breastfeeding forms an integral part of the information couples deserve to know, and NFP International is currently the only American organization that teaches it as a form of NFP.     

The second form of natural family planning is Systematic NFP.  That refers to all those systems that are designed to determine the fertile and infertile times of the fertility-menstrual cycle.  Systems that teach all the common symptoms such as cervical mucus, waking body temperatures, and physical changes in the cervix are variations of the Sympto-Thermal Method, sometimes called the Cross-Check Method.  Systems that teach essentially only the cervical mucus sign are called variations of the Ovulation Method.  Some systems teach only variations of the original Calendar Rhythm first developed in the 1930s. Some systems also use high-tech tools to estimate the time of ovulation.  These are expensive and are not necessary in the use of NFP.  
        We believe that couples deserve to know all the common signs of fertility and infertility, and that’s why we teach the Sympto-Thermal version of systematic NFP. Only by learning how the common signs work together in a cross-checking way can couples make an adequately informed choice among the morally acceptable systems.

Estimating the date of childbirth.  The single best way to estimate the “due date” uses the temperature pattern associated with ovulation.  It does not require medical tests and expenses.  It is available to all those (but only those) who use the temperature sign.
        We believe that every couple deserves to know this due-date information.  Everyone concerned with reducing the cost of health care should be teaching this.

Motivation.  There are a number of reasons that lead couples to choose natural family planning.  Health.  Avoidance of risks of hormonal birth control.  Low cost and effectiveness.  Morality.  Faith.  All these reasons should be taught in an NFP course. 

John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant
www.NFPandmore.org