New to charting and have a few questions...

[J1379]

Please forgive my ignorance LOL but I am new to charting - even though I am TTC #3!  I co-sleep with my DS #2 which is presenting a few issues when it comes to charting.  First off - I don't usually get 4 consecutive hours of sleep prior to temping...how important is this really?  Does my son need to start waking less to nurse before I can chart effectively?

Also, sometimes DS sleeps in a bit and I don't want to take my temp in bed and wake him up (unfortunately my BB thermometer beeps very loudly!) - will it really make a big difference in the temp if I walk out of the room to take it?

I know obviously these situations go against the recommendations in TCOYF but I'm just wondering how much it will really impact my chart.

Thanks so much for the help!

[Jaimee]

I have charted for years with co-sleeping, frequently night waking LO's.  I have found that the most important temping factor is taking it around the same time each time no matter how much sleep I had prior to taking it.  So my advice would be not to worry about the 3 (not 4) hours of consecutive sleep recommended and go for a similar temping time.  Sitting up, standing up, and all certainly walking out of the room will almost definitely affect your temp, so I would not recommend that.  Does your thermometer have a memory?  If so, what I do is keep my finger on the off button so as soon as it lets out the beginning of it's beep, I turn it off.  I also face the other direction from baby.  It never seems to bother a sleeping baby.  In addition to these things, you could try to get the thermometer under your pillow to muffle the sound.  You could also consider getting a different thermometer that doesn't beep so loudly, especially if it doesn't have a memory.

[J1379]

Thanks so much for your reply Jaimee!  Can I ask another question since you have experience charting while co-sleeping with a frequent nurser....is it okay that I take my temp after I breastfeed (lying down - so I'm not really moving or doing anything).  That is what I have been doing so far since if I make my DS wait he gets very, very upset with me and I don't really see it as "activity".  What's your take?

Thanks so much!

[Jaimee]

It is quite possible that lying there and bfing before taking your temp would affect it (make it higher than it would be).  I often used to take it while bfing, again, with my finger on the off button so I could turn it off immediately when it beeped.  Plus, if your ds is nursing while you do it, it's possible that he will just go back to sleep even if momentarily disturbed by the beep.  I guess you'll have to experiment!