How to Calculate the Best Time to Conceive

Calculating the best time to conceive is an extremely important task for people who would like to become parents. This task also can be important if you want to avoid conception. Performing this type of calculation is a matter of determining the time of ovulation. When a woman ovulates, an ovary releases an egg. This is the time when an egg can be fertilized, which means that conception can take place. You can figure out the best time to conceive by using multiple strategies.

Things You'll Need

• Calendar
• Basal body temperature thermometer
• Basal body temperature chart

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Instructions

• 1

  Mark the day that you begin your period for several months in a row to track your personal menstrual cycle.

• 2

  Count backward 14 days from the first day of your period to estimate when you usually ovulate. Ovulation usually occurs between the days 12 and 16 of your cycle.

• 3

  Watch for changes in your cervical mucus. If you notice a greater volume of vaginal secretions, along with mucus that is more stretchy, you likely are ovulating.

• 4

  Watch for changes in the way your abdomen feels. Some women feel a soreness on one side or the other of their lower abdomen when they ovulate.

• 5

  Check your body temperature using a basal body temperature thermometer. This type of thermometer measures temperature in more precise increments. Take your temperature first thing in the morning before you get out of bed. Do this every morning for a few months and track your temperatures on a basal body temperature chart. You should notice a slight increase in temperature (0.5 to 1.6 degrees) at some point during each month. Your most fertile period usually is two to three days prior to this temperature elevation.