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IMPORTANT: If a woman has a fever or other changes in body temperature, the BBT method will be difficult to use.
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| Take body temperature daily |
- The woman takes her body temperature at the same time each morning before she gets out of bed and before she eats anything. She records her temperature on a special graph.
- She watches for her temperature to rise slightly—0.2° to 0.5° C (0.4° to 1.0° F)—just after ovulation (usually about midway through the menstrual cycle).
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| Avoid sex or use another method until 3 days after the temperature rise |
- The couple avoids vaginal sex, or uses condoms or a diaphragm from the first day of monthly bleeding until 3 days after the woman's temperature has risen above her regular temperature. They can also use withdrawal or spermicides, but these are less effective.
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| Resume unprotected sex until next monthly bleeding begins |
- When the woman's temperature has risen, above her regular temperature and stayed higher for 3 full days, ovulation has occurred and the fertile period has passed.
- The couple can have unprotected sex on the 4th day and until her next monthly bleeding begins.
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