A “How-to” Guide For Monitoring Cervical Mucus
Important to know in advance: Cervical mucus observation is not a prerequisite to successfully getting pregnant, but it can certainly help you do so. If you decide to observe your cervical mucus, it is important that you pay attention to the following points:
1. Monitoring
Many women use the cervical mucus that remains on the toilet paper after wiping to perform a "finger test". For the finger test, you lift the mucus from the paper and look at it between your finger and thumb. It is important that you pay attention to the color, sensation and consistency of the cervical mucus.
2. Sensation
To determine the sensation caused by cervical mucus, enter the sensations you felt on your vulva (i.e., the lips of the vagina) in your DaysyDay app under cervical mucus. The categories include: dry, sticky, creamy, and egg white.
3. Fertile Window:
Type 1 and Type 2 cervical mucus are typically associated with the start of your menstrual cycle and lower fertility. Type 3 cervical mucus is a transitional mucus that may indicate that you are already in your Fertile Window. Type 4 cervical mucus is indicative of the most fertile time of the cycle. If you have intercourse during this time, your chances of getting pregnant are highest during this cycle. A US study found that the average chance of conception per cycle for fertile couples is 27.7% if they had unprotected intercourse one or more times during the fertile window1.
The 4 categories of cervical mucus
Type 1 - Dry: not fertile
Appearance: nothing to see
Sensation: dry, rough, possibly itchy, very little or nothing to feel
Type 2 - Sticky: possible fertility
Appearance: very little to be seen
Sensation: moist, lumpy to sticky
Type 3 - Creamy: fertile
Appearance: Mucus is thick, creamy, whitish, yellowish, not stretchy/elastic or sticky
Sensation: moist and creamy
Type 4 - Egg white: high fertility
Appearance: Mucus is transparent, like raw egg white, stretchy/elastic, fluid, watery.
Sensation: moist, slippery, smooth.
Cervical mucus is an important marker for women who have received specialized training to recognize their fertility. That's why we have included a section in Daysy's app, "DaysyDay," where the type of cervical mucus (Type 1-4) can be recorded, especially if you are planning a pregnancy. Considering that cervical mucus varies individually for each person and that our internal surveys have shown that even trained women often feel uncertain when interpreting their cervical mucus, these personal notes are not taken into account by the Daysy algorithm when calculating the daily fertility status.
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Author: Dr. Niels van de Roemer
1) C Gnoth et al. Hum Reprod. 2003 Sep;18(9):1959-66