Monthly Archives: April 2017

Charting Q & A

Media Articles

Our very own Fertility nurse and Natural Fertility New Zealand Accredited Educator, Robyn Fausett answered your questions on fertility and charting, hosted by Essential Mums.

Timing is everything when it comes to falling pregnant, but knowing what time of the month is the best to increase your chances of getting pregnant, can be tricky.

A woman’s ovum can live for 12 to 24 hours after being released from the ovary, while a man’s sperm can live in the genital tract for up to seven days. While many believe that you ovulate on day 14 of every cycle, the truth is you can ovulate earlier or later than this.

Charting your temperature is one of the ways a woman can understand and identify the natural changes the body goes through, which indicate when you are most likely to ovulate.

Understanding the terminology and biology behind fertility can be quite tricky .

Robyn Fausett, a Natural Fertility New Zealand Accredited Educator will be joining us today at lunch time (1pm) to answer your questions about charting. Join us on the live chat.

Robyn, who is a practising fertility nurse, owns and runs, Nest Consulting . Her services include a range of lectures on body talk, puberty, fertility and self awareness.

She has also battled with her own fertility journey.

“At a young age, as a student nurse, I discovered I had poly-cystic ovaries (PCOS) a hormonal condition that, in my case, meant my ovaries were not releasing an egg each cycle. This information led me to place a high level of priority on achieving a pregnancy and subsequently led to three years of infertility,” she says.

“During the high tech treatments that followed I was also introduced to an amazing nurse who taught me about natural fertility and charting. I found the understanding of this scientific method which allowed me to interpret what my body was telling me each month invaluable.”

Robyn says charting did not only reconnect her with her body which she was beginning to feel alienated from, but it also allowed her a bit of control and planning into her and her partner’s quest for a family.

“Ultimately I was lucky and have two, now almost grown, children. I will never however forget the pressures infertility place on women and couples. I believe having the understanding and education about your body is a crucial element in empowering yourself.”

While Robyn is able to comment on issues relating to charting, any question/answer is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
For the Question/Answer page go here:
http://www.essentialmums.co.nz/pregnancy/conception/trying-to-conceive/8929248/Live-chat-with-Robyn-Fausett
and for the summary Published on July 19, 2013 go here:
http://www.essentialmums.co.nz/pregnancy/conception/trying-to-conceive/8934570/Temperature-charting-Q-and-A

Grant available!

Media Articles

Exciting News!! NFNZ have made a grant available towards hiring a NFNZ Accredited Educator, as provided by Nest Consulting, for either

  • A group session about natural fertility, including topics such as LAM, Trying to Conceive, Pre-Conception & Avoiding Conception.
  • School Education: Puberty or Fertility Awareness classes.
  • Continuing Medical Education for GPs, Drs, Nurses & Midwives. Either ‘Fertility & the Menstrual Cycle’ or ‘Fertility & Breastfeeding’.

If you are interested go to www.naturalfertility.co.nz to read more about the criteria & the application process. The Grant is for $100.

Email Nest Consulting here We provide all of the above services and more!

Sex Ed

Media Articles

Dr Debbie Ollis, a senior lecturer in health and education at Deakin University, speaksto Maryke Steffens.
No matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel, at some stage, all children will learn about sex.
Public debate on sex education often focuses on when and how children learn about sex in school and how this information should be included in the curriculum. In private, parents and carers try to figure out what they should say when they have ‘the talk’ with their kids.
Reasons given to explain this reluctance to discuss sex with young people include a concern that doing so might ruin children’s innocence, encourage an unhealthy curiosity about sex or lead to early sexually activity.
When the cervical cancer vaccine became available, for example, the age at which young women should be vaccinated for this sexually transmitted infection became a debate around this very belief – that talking about sex would lead to sex.
But is there any evidence to suggest that this is the case?
Absolutely not, says Dr Debbie Ollis, a senior lecturer in health and education at Deakin University.
“In actual fact, what a number of studies show is that by providing comprehensive sexuality education, young people actually delay the onset of sexual activity,” she says.
“And for kids who are sexually active, the research shows that they participate in much safer practices around sexual activity.”
Moreover, while the adults are busy debating how best to approach the isse, research shows children and young people are getting information for themselves from a range of sources including the internet, magazines, their friends or television.
“Kids ask age-appropriate questions,” Ollis says, “There’s this fear that if we give them too much information, we will ruin their innocence. But in actual fact, we know that by providing knowledge and understanding, we prepare them to be able to deal with issues.”
Around the world
A 2009 research review conducted by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) provides some hard data on how sexuality education can influence behaviour.
The review looked at 87 studies from around the world and found:
none of the programs led to earlier sexual activity in young people
more than a third of programs delayed sexual activity
one third of programs lead to a decrease in frequency of sex
a small percentage (3 per cent) were found to increase frequency of sex.
more than a third of programs lead to a decrease in the number of sexual partners participants had
none of the programs led to an increase in number of sexual partners.
The review also found that more than a third of the sexuality education programs increased condom or contraceptive use, while more than half reduced sexual risk-taking.
The review also analysed 11 studies on abstinence programs from the United States. In abstinence-only sex education, young people are taught that it’s best to wait – hopefully until marriage – to start having sex. Only 2 reported showing a delay in the initiation of sex and the rest showed no impact. In addition, none of these studies showed any impact on condom or contraceptive use.
Ollis says a lack of acknowledgement that young people are sexually active can have negative consequences, such as the high rates of teenage pregnancy seen in the United States.
“Yet countries like Holland, Germany and France, that have comprehensive approaches and begin sexuality education in primary schools, have the lowest teenage pregnancy rates of anywhere in the world,” she says.
‘Sex ed’ grows up
The key, says Ollis, is the type of sex education young people receive.
No longer called just ‘sex ed’, the sexuality education now taught in Australian schools covers not just the physiological facts about sex but also moral and ethical issues.
“Rather than… always being concerned with prevention of disease, prevention of pregnancy, prevention of sexual assault – even though those things are really important to include in a comprehensive program – what’s more important is that young people develop a sense that sexuality is a normal part of who we are,” she says.
The benefit of this type of education, says Ollis, is that young people are better able to make sense of what they see in the media and the world around them, and make informed decisions around issues to do with sexuality.
“That may be around being or not being sexually active; it may be around choices of contraception; it may be around issues to do with their sexual identity; it may be around issues to do with exploring the media’s sexualisation of young people or issues to do with pornography,” she says.
Education from day one
Ollis says we should be start sexuality education when children are young – and this can happen at home and at school.
At home, parents can tell pre-school children the correct name of body parts, such as penis, vulva or vagina; and start conversations about public and private behaviours.
“I’m not talking about teaching sexual practices in prep (Kindergarten), but talking about friendships and understanding your body, that should begin in prep,” she says.
Similar conversations can also happen at home and experts recommend parents:
Talk early, talk often
inform themselves before they start having the conversation
remain non-judgemental, even if they are surprised by what they find out
make it a regular topic
make the most of ‘teachable moments’, such as when you’re watching a movie or reading a book
encourage questions – and if it’s not the right time to answer your child agree to continue the conversation later (and be sure to do so)
know what’s going on for your children in many aspects of their lives.