BBT questions

[Pastaf0rbreakfast]

Hi,

I am just starting to track bbt and had a few questions, would be really grateful if anyone had any insight.

Firstly, I read that you need to have 4 hrs uninterrupted sleep before taking temp, does this mean if I wake at 4am and have a sip of water, I can’t take my temp 2 hours later at 6am? How can you ensure 4 hrs of uninterrupted sleep?

Secondly, how would I go about taking temp vaginally? As in how far does it need to go up? Sorry bit tmi!

Lastly, does anyone know if breastfeeding can impact accuracy of bbt?

Thank you

@Pastaf0rbreakfast Hey - yeah re uninterrupted sleep, thats the recommendation but I take it at the usual time anyway even if I woke up at night, because, for me, that's not the norm. I think if the norm for you is to wake up and get up less than four hours before youre due to take your temp then it may not work.
I take my temp orally and its meant to be just as accurate. Any reason why you want to do it vaginally? Afraid I don't know about breastfeeding but I'd think it doesnt impact it

Thank you @NatGee. I do wake up every 2hrs or so but I don’t actually get up or sit up, just roll over and check the time or roll over and breastfeed toddler who hates sleep 😂

I read that mouth breathing, which I sometimes do at night, can affect temp if taken orally but would rather do it in mouth so will try for a month and see how we go.

Most fertility clinics don't recommend BBT tracking - it really isn't reliable as it's affected by many different things. Just thought worth mentioning but obviously each to their own and it isn't going to do any harm (other than perhaps drive you a bit mad guessing what's going on)!

I got an Apple Watch recently that takes your temperature throughout the night then gives you an average. I then input the figure into the Premom app. I suspect it's not quite as accurate as an actual thermometer, but looking at my charts combined with hormone tracking it seems to be picking up the trends (elevation post LH peak, significant drop back down before period).

That said I used to use a normal
BBT thermometer and that did the same job even with interrupted sleep sometimes.

@MGee123 you are right. When bbting you kind of have to live a pretty boring life, no drinking, no stress, make sure you get enough rest... the list goes on
But I think if you manage to keep things constant (I appreciate not everyone is able to) then you increase the accuracy of the measure.