Catholics faithful to Natural Family Planning, how big are your families?

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Benjinho

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I’m a new Catholic this past Easter and want to adhere as best I can to the church’s teachings. One of these is no artificial contraception.

My fiancee is a Catholic too but doesn’t seem to know that much about her religion. I talked with her about us not using contraception when we get married because fertility is a gift from God and she was agreeable. I’ve asked her to start keeping track of her cycles so we have a baseline to work with.

Those who have families and use NFP, how big are your families? And do you have any tips?

Thanks!!
 
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Tips? Take it month by month…day by day really.

As to size…I have 4 kids ( I also had 4 miscarriages). They were all “planned”. I’ve been charting for 16 years. It’s a cross but I’ve accepted it…I still don’t like it though lol!
 
Ben,
My wife and we’re in the study group to establish the effectiveness of the symto thermal method. We have 3 children All before we learned the method. The method is as effective as the pill!
 
I am past having children. I did use NFP but I used it to get pregnant. It taught me a lot about myself. I had six children and one still birth. We wanted more but it was not to be. I used NFP from the day I got married. We have been married almost 47 years.
 
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One child living, one child who died prior to birth, we are now past childbearing years.
 
Your data is outdated. when the female takes her temperature daily and watches the consistency of the vaginal excretion the method Is more effective than the pill.
In addition most birth control pills are not that at all because they case an abortion of the fertilized egg instead of preventing conception.
 
It throws all NFP in together which makes its data incorrect. It also has other information

Fertility Awareness-Based Methods​

  • Fertility awareness-based methods —Understanding your monthly fertility patternExternal can help you plan to get pregnant or avoid getting pregnant. Your fertility pattern is the number of days in the month when you are fertile (able to get pregnant), days when you are infertile, and days when fertility is unlikely, but possible. If you have a regular menstrual cycle, you have about nine or more fertile days each month. If you do not want to get pregnant, you do not have sex on the days you are fertile, or you use a barrier method of birth control on those days. Failure rates vary across these methods.1-2 Range of typical use failure rates: 2-23%
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.Here they have a range the highest being 23 where the chart you provided has 24%. The web site is contradictory.
 
4 on earth from 3 pregnancies. 4 miscarriages. First 2 pregnancies were not planned but we knew we were taking a risk. 3rd pregnancy was a miscalculation on my part. All other pregnancies we were very much planned and tried for.

We are seriously avoiding for the moment because one of the medications recommended to reduce my chances of miscarrying again is not compatible with breastfeeding. We’ll probably try for one or two more kids at least, depending on how long my fertility lasts.

At marriage I only wanted 2 to 3 kids and my husband only wanted 3 to 4.
 
PatK63 said:
In addition most birth control pills are not that at all because they case an abortion of the fertilized egg instead of preventing conception.
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This is something that has been speculated, yet, has not been tested.

It does not matter if contraceptives make you live to be 100, be thin and make you grow rich, contraception is still immoral because it divorces the primary ends or marriage from the marital act.
 
I wouldn’t say contradictory, but not fully informative. Yes, the effectiveness of NFP varies greatly by type used and the “skill” of the user…same with the pill. The pill, on average, is more effective. The pill isn’t 100% effective, which folks should know. NFP isn’t either, and folks should know that too.
 
2 kiddos, the second completely planned, the first the result of us not wanting to abstain during the fertile period at the beginning of our marriage even though we weren’t exactly planning on getting pregnant at the time. The kids are 6 and 3 now, we’re in our early thirties and have been married close to seven years. So far, no surprise pregnancies.
 
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Four babies conceived, one of which we lost. All were planned and conceived on the first try. We’ve found NFP perfectly accurate, although our last baby decided to be born seven weeks early, which sort of messed up our perfect plans! They have to find some way to mess with you, I guess.
 
Wife pregnant with number seven. 8 pregnancies. Used nfp for 5 then abandoned it. So not faithful to nfp but there you go…
 
It does mean that you can’t accept the site without realizing it probably is biased. The pill is immoral. It has many side effects that are not well known. The web site does not explain how they get their statistics. However, at one time I would have been considered a failure because I used it to get pregnant and not to avoid pregnancy. I do not know if they still do this but I don’t trust it. It worked well for me. I must say that I also use it to space my children so I didn’t always use it to get pregnant.
 
Benjinho said:
Those who have families and use NFP, how big are your families? And do you have any tips?
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Every female body is different. The methods of NFP are easier to use for women who have a dryer, shorter, consistent cycles with no hormonal issues. Otherwise, if the issues for avoiding children are grave enough, it may require heroic abstinence (the type of NFP with 100 success rate). It’s helpful if she can educate herself and establish a routine of health. I found Primrose oil worked wonders in establishing normalcy to my cycle. Sheila Kipley is an author who has some helpful books on nutrition and fertility. Fertility Friend is a good app to use for monitoring fertility. You’re right though, our bodies and our fertility are a gift. Knowing that is more than half the battle. Congratulations on entering the battle. 🙂
I have 6 children, and have enjoyed watching God’s providence unfold. I’ve learned to trust in His plan. (There’s obviously a WAY bigger, personal story to that than I’m sharing here). And my children have greatly benefited socially by problem-solving with, and enjoying their brothers and sisters. Jesus came so that we might have life abundantly (John10:10). He has many good things planned for your marriage and I wish you every blessing. Congratulations!
 
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