Tracking BBT for dummies please

[Fifi1086]

Hey! Would someone more experienced with this whole ttc business be able to explain in simple terms exactly how one goes about tracking their bbt?

-what kind of thermometer (and where 😂 )

• do you have to start a certain day of the month
• what sort of pattern should be observed?

thank you!

Hello!

Get a basal thermometer - mine was a femometer one from amazon for like £9. The key thing is that it needs to have two decimal places!

Most common is temping orally, although up the foof is more accurate as you eliminate mouth breathing errors :).

You need to temp pretty much the same time every day, as soon as you wake up. You can't sit up, get a glass of water - anything or you won't get a true reading.

Use fertility friend for your charts, they are considered the best for BBT tracking I'd say.

Pattern wise - your pre ovulation temps should be relative low - on the lower end of 36. Some ladies then have a dip at ovulation, others don't. Ovulation itself is confirmed by a temperature rise that is sustained for 3 consecutive days of temps that are higher than the previous 6 - but dont worry, the charts will calculate that for you!

I'll attach my current chart in a sec so you can see the pattern in practice.

Ask any questions you'd like!

Ignore the orange line - that's just me also tracking my resting heart rate.

But you can see that there's a clear shift in temperature starting from my ovulation :). This was at 8dpo so isn't a complete chart just yet.

Thank you so much that's really helpful! Just bought a basal thermometer online. When in the month should you start tracking temp?

Ah sorry I missed that bit! In an ideal world it's nice to have a complete chart and therefore CD1 - but really there's no such thing as too much data so feel free to start as soon as you get it - it might just not mean very much for that cycle depending on where you are in it.

What CD are you now?

I had two peaks this month with the second one being Tuesday, I know I ovulated yday from how I felt and ewcm. I did my first bbt check this morning and it was 37.05, so that would support the fact I've ovulated right?

@Fifi1086 it sure sounds like it. It's a very high temp though - did you take it first thing when waking up?