202 chapter 9: Family planning
How to use the counting days method
For this method to work, you cannot have
sexual intercourse from the 8th day of your
cycle through the 19th day of your cycle. If you
have sexual intercourse during this time, you
must use another method of family planning.
I started my
monthly bleeding 7 days
ago. So we cannot have
sex today, or for the next
11 days.
I better go to
my sister’s.
You can use beads, a chart, or some other tool to remember your fertile
days. String 32 beads, of 3 different colors, into a necklace. Each color bead
can represent a different part of your cycle.
13 more blue beads
show days when
sexual intercourse
will not usually cause
pregnancy.
A red bead
marks the first
day of monthly
bleeding.
6 blue beads show
days when sexual
intercourse will
not usually cause
pregnancy.
12 white beads
show the fertile
time—when sexual
intercourse can cause
pregnancy.
On the first day of your monthly bleeding, put a ring or string around
the red bead. Each day, move the ring past one bead. When the ring
is on any of the white beads, you may get pregnant if you have sexual
intercourse. Whenever you start your next monthly bleeding, move the
ring back to the red bead at the start.
You may be able to buy a necklace like this called CycleBeads.
For the counting days
method, you can also make a
chart with 32 sections—
1 for each day of your cycle.
Mark off each day on the
chart to remember when you
can become pregnant.
first day of
monthly bleeding
ferttiilmee
sexual intercourse
during the fertile
time can cause
pregnancy
A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities 2007