How to track your most fertile days to have sex and try for baby

Increase your success rate by having sex during your most fertile period, says Dr Christopher Ng, obstetrician and gynaecologist at GynaeMD Women's & Rejuvenation Clinic

Here's how you can track it:

TRACK YOUR BASAL BODY TEMPERATURE

Take it every morning before you get out of bed and plot the readings on graph paper or a spreadsheet.

You'll be most fertile during the two to three days before your temperature rises, and the increase will usually be less than 1 deg C.

This will help you predict the most fertile day in your cycle.

CALCULATE USING AN OVULATION CALENDER

Use a simple calendar to mark the day your period begins each month. Track the number of days each period lasts.

Ovulation is most likely to occur at the midpoint of your cycle if your cycles are regular.

If you've a consistent 28-day cycle, then ovulation is likely to begin around 14 days after the day your last period began.

If you've a longer 32-day cycle, it's likely to begin around 18 days after your last period began.

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GET AN URINE OVULATION KIT

This helps to test your urine for the hormonal surge that occurs before ovulation. It can identify the most likely time of ovulation.

WATCH FOR CERVICAL MUCUS CHANGES

Just before ovulation, there's an increase in clear, moist, vaginal secretions. These can resemble raw egg white.

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After ovulation, when the chances of becoming pregnant are slim, the discharge will become cloudy and sticky or disappear entirely.

Once you ovulate, the ovum can survive for around 24 hours, while sperm can survive for up to three days inside the womb.

Your days of peak fertility are the day of ovulation and the two days prior to it.

The more frequent the intercourse during this fertile period, the better.

This article was first published in Young Parents