Charting Questions - When to take my temperature?

[JenRN]

Hello all! I am trying to get back into charting (used it to conceive my daughter who is now 14 months old) but I'm having some trouble figuring out an appropriate time to take my temperature.

Here's the problem: Most days, I am home with DD and we get up around 8. No big deal, I just temp then. However, I work part-time night shift (1-2 nights/week). When I work, I don't even get home until 5:30-6 am. Assuming that I go straight to bed (which isn't always the case), that isn't enough sleep to temp around 8.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm not wanting to rely on charting as a birth control method (we use condoms/diaphragm), but I have PCOS and I would like to know what's going on with my body. Also I'm still breastfeeding DD.

Thanks!

[JMJ]

You have 3 options that could work:

1) Temp at 8am every day.  Some women can get good results even though they aren't always getting enough sleep before charting.

2) Temp when you wake up every day.  Some women who regularly operate on different schedules find that their body develops its own rhythm associated with sleep, whenever this is.  If you are getting a pretty consistent amount of sleep each "night," this may be more likely to work.

3) Temp 5 days a week.  You'll be missing some temps, but if you aren't CTA, it will be enough to let you know that you are ovulating and have a reasonably good idea of when ovulation is occurring.  Some cycles, it may be difficult to determine LP by temping, but some cycles, you could get an accurate count.

Regardless of what you do, I would keep as accurate account as possible of CM.  You'll get enough information to know that you actually ovulated with any of these options, and CM can help you pinpoint the day if you know that a particular CM patch was associated with ovulation.

[sternenstaub]

there is an other option out there: a small temperature sensor in a silicone capsule that is worn vaginally and automatically records and saves your temperature at the same time every day (you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqbaqN7w2ag). I am using it for approx. 3 years now and I am really happy with it.