Is NFP Used too Much?

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My husband and I use NFP. We have one daughter (age 2) and desperately want another child. However, it’s just not possible financially at the moment. We are on one income while my husband attends college full-time, and we are living paycheck to paycheck and struggle to pay our bills every month. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle. So, we are using NFP to avoid, but as soon as my husband graduates from college, we plan to have many more children.

While NFP may be “abused,” I don’t think the problem is widespread.
 
wanner47 said:
My husband and I use NFP. We have one daughter (age 2) and desperately want another child. However, it’s just not possible financially at the moment. We are on one income while my husband attends college full-time, and we are living paycheck to paycheck and struggle to pay our bills every month. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle. So, we are using NFP to avoid, but as soon as my husband graduates from college, we plan to have many more children.

While NFP may be “abused,” I don’t think the problem is widespread.
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If there is any problem with NFP, it is that it is not used enough!
 
NFP is never just catholic contraception. Contraception tends to self-perpetuate itself - the more you do it, the harder it is to give up.

NFP inherently pushes you back towards considering kids. It’s no coincidence that the time you need to abstain to avoid is THE time when it is the most difficult to abstain!!

Every fertile couple practicing NFP knows what I mean. There are at least a couple of days each month when you strongly reconsider your ‘serious reason.’

Those using ABC can’t say the same.
 
I don’t think it’s possible to say if it’s used too much to avoid pregnancy without making rash judgments.
 
Hi,
My husband and I have used NFP our entire marriage. We have 3 beautiful children. I sometimes feel offended when people on the forum (NOT in this thread:) ) make remarks about how all the people with only 2 or 3 children must be using ABC. I would have liked to have had more children, but it was not to be. My husband always stressed over the financial aspects much more than I felt was warranted and to such a degree that I worried about his health. I love him very much. I also feel the children would not benefit from losing their father to a heart attack, so I did not fight with him about it. Then at the age of 43, I became pregnant unexpectedly. (Yes, we had grown careless about the NFP, thinking it couldn’t happen at our age:D ) Everyone was so excited, especially me, and then I miscarried. We deliberately became pregnant again, and again I miscarried. I grieved long and hard for my babies and then accepted the fact that I could not have another baby. We went back to using the NFP. Then, at the age of 45, I was pregnant again. (Okay, we had been caring for my husband’s mother through a difficult illness and life had been very stressful, my periods had become irregular and I was never sure when I would ovulate. I thought I was going into menopause…) I cried and cried, thinking I would lose another baby and I just didn’t think I could go through it again. But, God had other plans this time. My pregnancy was uneventful and we welcomed our perfect baby girl into our lives. She has made our entire family so much happier and now I know and I believe my husband knows that our lives would have been so much more blessed if we had had more children sooner. I guess my point is the Church should not shy away from encouraging large families. I think God knows what will make us happy, we just need to be reminded as often as possible!
 
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