Cycle Beads ARE NOT Natural Family Planning
iuseNFP August 17, 2012You may have seen the advertisements on Facebook, or maybe while you were googling “Natural Family Planning” you saw the sponsored post. I’ve been seeing the ads for CycleBeads popping up a lot lately and they make my stomach turn.
There was a picture here, but due to copyright infringement, we must take it down. Here is a Google Image Search instead.
CycleBeads are based on the notion that a woman always ovulates on the same day in her cycle. Typically, that day is day 14 for a 28 day cycle. Modern research has shown this to be a false assumption. Anything based on this “method” is doing a disservice to men and women everywhere. Very few women have perfectly regular cycles. Even with regular cycles, it is not a guarantee that the woman ovulates on day 14. She could have a short luteal phase and ovulate on day 20. Or day 18. Or day 12. Whatever, the point is CycleBeads is the old, outdated, and dangerous RHYTHM METHOD (also called the Standard Days Method), just jazzed up in 21st century terms.
The Rhythm Method is NOT Natural Family Planning.
CycleBeads are dangerous because a woman who does not ovulate like clockwork (she is not a machine!) and who is trying to get pregnant will not find any help with CycleBeads. A woman who is trying to postpone or avoid pregnancy will also find that CycleBeads offers only empty promises. In either scenario, both women are being set up for major disappointment and hurt, and especially for the woman trying to avoid pregnancy, CycleBeads poses a threat to her health, the health of any future children, and the health of her relationship.
CycleBeads and other “methods” like it are not NFP. Natural Family Planning recognizes the woman as an individual with a unique cycle pattern. NFP uses a woman’s bodily cues to determine her fertile and infertile times, not a set of beads on a string which her body “should” correspond to.
So let’s recap:
CycleBeads is the Rhythm Method
The Rhythm Method is never NFP
Therefore,
CycleBeads is not NFP
You may be interested in this post, from our friends over at The Guiding Star Project, who also wrote about the dangers of CycleBeads.
Comments (14)
Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!!!
Cycle beads = bad news!!
I too cringe every time I see an ad for these, and it scares me because they were developed out of Georgetown University on a grant to help women in poor countries avoid pregnancy. I honestly do not know which is worse – these or Melinda Gates’ plan. Both do harm. Both lie to a woman about her body. Ugh!
Thanks so much! I had a little argument with someone at the National Catholic Register about these recently when there was an article about how Franciscan Alliance healthcare is going to be covering NFP instruction for their employees. Someone mentioned that the hospital could save money because their employees could buy Cyclebeads for $15. I said that they were a gimmick on the rhythm method. The retort was (and I quote): “CycleBeads were invented a female anthropologist at Georgetown University.” and “All types of NFP are ‘gimmicks’ because the use of thermometers, calenders, electronic devices and various methods of testing of vaginal secretions are not usually associated with joyful lovemaking.” I’m sorry, an anthropologist is no doctor, and NFP is not a gimmick.
And clearly rubber and fake hormones are what everyone associates with joyful lovemaking!
Anyone remember learning that the sisters in Calcutta do Teach a bead system to women in India? I think it keeps these women (not the nuns, lol) from forced sterilization. Glad to have modern NFP here!
J, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charities teach the Billings Ovulation Method, they do not promote cyclebeads.
http://www.woomb.org/omrrca/bulletin/vol35/no2/culturalValueNFP.pdf Page 7 Paragraph 2
“Early in our teaching experiences, in the poverty of Calcutta’s crowded slums, we met women who had been taught the Billings Ovulation Method by Mother Teresa’s nuns.”
Totally agree with you! And have you checked out their online screening quiz? It’s NUTS!! I wrote about it here: http://www.nfpworksblog.com/2011/10/27/that12-time-after-time-misunderstanding-fertility/ Basically at the time I wrote my write up the quiz indicated that “According to their evaluation I would be eligible for Cycle Beads on the first day of my next period directly after discontinuing the pill, implant, or 1-month injectible in my current cycle or having had a miscarriage, abortion, or used emergency contraception (so long as my cycle length was within range prior to these events). ” Insanity! They also are deeply connected to Planned Parenthood. Bad, Bad, News!!! Thanks for calling attention to this one!!
THANK YOU!!!!! I hate seeing people promote cycle beads as if they are NFP. Cycle Beads are completely outdated!
I tend to call these “calendar rhythm” of sorts, but as a NFP / STM teacher for almost 20 years, I have met 2 intelligent women here who use these beads + like them + promote them – both Catholics, too. We also taught a couple STM once + they went back to their own form of ‘calendar’; sort of a “wait til day 18 rule”. They seem to like the simplicity + frankly don’t seem to care if one more baby comes along : they do understand that it can happen w/this. I stress STM but I am tired of “NFP-wars” at my age + circumstances + just rely on Blessed JPII’s comments when alive that, “There are many different couples with many different needs and so we need different methods of NFP”. I tell folks about these but do warn that they are just like calendar rhythm + another baby may come – it IS still NFP in my book as a Catholic RN, too. Seems the beads come w/directions about cycle length limitations and caveats about when to stop using, but not sure??
Awesome post. Also, wouldn’t it be cool if there was something like that for NFP? Something tangible that actually worked? I feel like my hubs would be more about it if it was something he could touch. Sidenote, he does a great job, but I think he would love a tangible thing
I know it’s not exactly “tangible” but there’s apps that make it more visual for phones. I use OvuView for my Android and it’s fantastic!
I respectfully disagree with both this article and the comments above having used this method for over a year and done very well with it. The method on which this tool is based does not imply that a woman ovulates on day 14 of her cycle. It actually takes into account the variation in the timing of ovulation and they make clear that it is not for women with cycles that are irregular. And in response to the person who said that you could start using the method immediately after coming off the pill – I took the test too and it says that you have had three periods before you can begin using the method.
Johanna,
I’m glad that up to this point the method has worked for you. You mentioned that the method makes clear it is not for women with irregular cycles. The problem with this statement is that there are a number of factors which can delay ovulation on a given month, such as stress or vitamin deficiencies. Furthermore, you would not know that ovulation was delayed until it was too late to either achieve or postpone pregnancy.
It only takes one delayed ovulation for the method to break down. And so, while the cyclebeads have worked for you thus far, one month of stress or poor diet will change that.
The Methods of NFP that are represented here are backed by up to 60 years of scientific research into the endocrine system and the physical symptoms that accompany its healthy operation.
Simply put, Cyclebeads are a repackaging of the old “Rhythm Method,” and will carry the same efficacy rate. The Rhythm Method may have worked for some, but it is far from being widely effective.
The hesitation with calling Cyclebeads NFP is that their overall poor performance will affect the wider public’s perception of methods that are highly researched and scientifically proven to be over 99% effective.
Please understand, our distaste for Cyclebeads is not an attack on you or your fertility. Rather, it is a concern for the fertility of all women, who may be deceived by Cyclebeads or scared away from legitimately effective methods by this unscientific, calendar-based method.
Serious question: did you take the time to read the studies behind Cycle Beads? I’ve yet to read a post criticizing them where the author has taken the time to do actual research.
Ironically enough, you’d have to damn CrMS along with Cycle Beads if you wanted to be consistent. My FCP had me doing calendar calculations on less than 3 cycles of charting. It is pretty standard for women with tricky cycles. Not the best, and I wouldn’t personally rely on it, but still standard science.
It kills me that we spend so much time ripping into other methods just because they aren’t ideal for what we personally want.
When I told my midwife I planned on using NFP after my baby was born, she gave me a brochure on cycle beads used in Africa.
It wasn’t helpful, especially being postpartum. Thanks for clarifying. I wish we could educate our healthcare workers.