Fertility Education & Training

guidelines to charting your fertility cycle, page 16 of 26

2. The Mucus Symptom - Infertility Post Ovulation by Double Check or Mucus Rules

  1. After PEAK DAY, count 3 days of DRYNESS (brown block) and / or a change back to white, sticky mucus (yellow block).
  2. If you double-check it with 3 high readings: you are infertile from 3rd night after PEAK and 3rd high reading, whichever comes later (i.e. Day 17 in this chart if both signs coincide).
  3. If you use mucus only, with no double-check: you wait till 4th day after PEAK before you are infertile (i.e. Day 18 in this chart).

amount of mucus

(Marked red on this chart to avoid confusion with Peak 1, 2, 3 in the line above)

Mucus secretion normally increases up to ovulation and then decreases after it. It is a useful sign to chart and so, below the Peak Day line, there is a row to mark the amount of mucus you thought you had. It’s not a precise measurement, just 1 = scant, 2 & 3 = increasing, 4 or 5 mean lots of mucus. You may not be able to assess it for your first chart, but by the 2nd and 3rd chart you should have a rough idea of what is scant and what is more abundant for your mucus pattern. In some cycles, you may not write more than 2 or 3, showing the mucus was less that cycle. It does happen!

Chart showing the amount of mucus for each day of the cycle. On this example chart the readings begin with a level of 1 on day 10, increase to 2 on day 11, 4 on day 12, 5 on day 13. The level drops slightly to 4 on day 14 and then back to 1 on day 15.