clearblue fertility monitor- how does it work?

[nearlymumofone]

the cbfm seems to have a good rep, so i'm thinking of investing. can anyone give me an idiot's guide to how it works and how expensive it works out monthly. many thanks.

Basically you need to buy the thing, then you buy test sticks as often as you need to. I use about 6 sticks a month, but I have to say 2 months in I'm not that impressed. It got my ovulation bang on first month (very early at cd10) but ths month it gave me 1 day of high, which was when I actually ovulated, and then 3 days of peak after I ovuated, not sure what happened there! good job I was backing up with opks. I do ovulate very soon after the start of my surge though, and I do have quite high oestrogen levels I'm told.

hey mum of one If you google Clearblue fertility monitor they have the instruction booklet on there. I had a good read of this and then called the helpline and chatted to an extremely knowledgeable lady. In the end i have plumped for buying one (which i thought i would, just needed to iron out a couple of issues i had with it.)

I bought the monitor and 20 sticks for £67 inc P&P from ebay brand new. Apparently you need 10 sticks a month. The sticks online brand new work out at about £14 for 20 once you have bought the monitor.

Hope this helps!

Hi mumofone, I have also just bought one 2 months ago (although bought mine from Pride Angel, www.prideangel.com as I also bought some fertility vitamins at the same time)So far I have found the helpline very useful. I need to get my ovulation right as I am using a sperm donor and cant afford the fertility clinic route, so so far so good I have no issues. It is straight forward and uncomplicated, if that helps?! Good luck xx

Thanks for your input. I'm still thinking about it, might get one when AF arrives this month. To be honest I'm not sure I'm ov'ing at all, but I guess it would tell me that wouldn't it?

I used one and thought it was fab. It is just an expensive version of OPKs though, so it might be worth trying those first if you haven't already.

I've used a CBFM for 3 months and I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Mine was asking for test sticks from day 7 through to day 23 or so. I have short cycles if 24/25 days. I never once got a peak but nearly all test sticks showed high fertility except for maybe day 7/8 and day 23. I was using approx. 14 sticks per month and still couldn't pinpoint when I ovulated!

I did get a BFP yesterday but that is more down to me establishing my own ovulation through EWCM etc rather than assistance from the CBFM.

Congrats soTHIS
From reading reviews, it seems that it doesn't work for everybody, which is why I'd recommend opks first - much cheaper!

Thank you kirrin

I bought it on ebay for £25 so not too financially damaging. Although the 14 test sticks a month were becoming expensive. I had resolved to give it 6 months and then ditch it if nothing was happening.

Next time (if there IS a next time), I'll use normal OPKs or chart, I think.

Congrats sothis!!

Would you ladies who are using CBFM recommend trying it out a couple of months before starting TTC (to work out cycles etc)? Am currently charting and wondering whether to get OPK sticks or just wait and get a CBFM as my Xmas pressie to myself (starting TTC in April). Really not a clue about my cycle as it was typically irregular and have used every type of hormonal contraceptive under the sun (au naturel now though for the time being!).