Cervical Mucus: The Secret to Knowing if You’re Fertile

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Cervical mucus is a natural secretion, and tracking and observing your cervical mucus can give you a good indication of your overall health and fertility. Observing cervical mucus gives you daily insight and real time data into your fertility stages, allowing you to determine if you are fertile on any given day of your cycle, all throughout the month.

Cervical mucus has many functions, but most notably, it nourishes sperm and helps transport it on its long journey towards the egg.

The quantity and quality of your cervical mucus is key to whether you are fertile or not, and sufficient fertile cervical mucus is necessary for pregnancy to occur. In fact, the presence of fertile cervical mucus near the time of ovulation enables sperm survival for anywhere up to 5 days.

How Cervical Mucus Changes Throughout the Cycle

There’s no denying that when learning to chart your cycles with the fertility awareness method, cervical mucus is the most challenging aspect to master.

As your cycle progresses and ovulation approaches, your mucus will go through changes and display increasingly more water content, thus becoming more sperm friendly.

The CM pattern that you notice within your cycle is unique to you and may not be exactly as described in this guide. It is important to take note of the changes and patterns relative to you.

A graph showing the progression of cervical mucus throughout a woman's menstrual cycle as it relates to ovulation.

Identifying types of Cervical Mucus

Cervical mucus can be categorised into 3 types- non fertile, non peak and peak fertile.

The FEMM Fertility Awareness method uses the symbols G, EL & ES to define these different kinds of CM.

Non-fertile (G mucus) is usually present right after menstruation through until the ‘point of change’ or POC, which is the onset of estrogenic mucus (non peak & peak) and the beginning of the fertile phase. It is then typically present after ovulation, through until your next cycle.

When observing non fertile (G) cervical mucus you will typically experience the following;

Sensation: rough or dry

Observation: no visible cervical mucus


Non-peak mucus (EL Mucus) is secreted when estrogen levels are low but rising. EL mucus performs the essential role of locking in malformed and slow moving sperm, filtering them out from normal and healthy sperm to ensure only the highest quality sperm make their way to the egg.

When observing non peak (EL) cervical mucus you will typically experience the following;

Sensation: Moist | similar to the consistency of creamy hand lotion

Observation: opaque | cloudy | milky | creamy | lotiony


Peak fertile mucus (ES mucus) is secreted when estrogen is at high levels. ES mucus forms channels like little sperm highways that nourish and guide sperm along them toward the egg. ES presents high fertility and is produced around the time of ovulation.

When observing Peak fertile (ES) cervical mucus, you will typically experience the following;

Sensation: slippery/lubricative sensation when you wipe or walk around, a lot of water content, could also feel like a gush of water

Observation: Clear | stretchy | similar consistency to raw egg whites | watery

Cervical mucus is the direct line to your ovaries

The hormone estrogen directly influences cervical mucus! This is significant because what you are observing when you check for cervical mucus is not only a direct indication of whether you are fertile or not, but on top of that, it gives us valuable insight into your overall hormonal health. 

If you aren’t seeing cervical mucus throughout your cycle or, on the flip side, are experiencing it in abundance, this can be a big clue as to what is going on with your hormones.  

Are you struggling to understand what your CM is telling you? Understanding your unique cervical mucus patterns can take time, especially If you are new to charting or beginning charting in a tricky hormonal phase, like coming off hormonal birth control or post-partum. 

Education and support are key!
 

If you’d like to take your charting to the next level and learn all there is to know about cervical mucus in addition to BBT, LH Testing and much, much more, check out my signature program Transform Your Cycle here.

It will benefit the newest of charters through to the most experienced. Whether you have limited knowledge under your belt or an experienced charter and feel CM could be the missing part of the puzzle, this training will give you the confidence to own your charting and control your reproductive health.

Hannah sitting at a desk with the program Transform Your Cycles on the screen of a laptop.

Helpful resources

Download my FREE Preconception guide here 👉 Download the Guide

Join my exclusive TTC Community here 👉 Join the community

Book a free 30-minute Fertility Chat here 👉 Book a free chat

Connect with Hannah

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I’d love to hear from you! If you have any questions about fertility tracking, the blog, or just want to share your own experiences, please don’t hesitate to reach out below ❤️

Email ✉️ Hannah@thebodybluprint.com.au

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