Are fertility monitors helpful?

I bought my Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor off of ebay for under $100 and it came with a box of test sticks. The 1st month we used ours we got pregnant. I can't wait to use it again in February!! I do not regret buying it at all. I actually recommend it. Good luck!!

Monitors are pretty expensive and some people claim that the $300 piece of equipment is just reading a pee test for them. Others say it was helpful to have a machine interpret the results since ovulation detection is not as clear as pregnancy detection.

The cheapest way to monitor ovulation is to check your CM (cervical mucus) its totally free and you just have to learn what to look for and learn your body.

The next cheapest way is to take your basal body temperature $10 investment. It won't help you predict ovulation unless you ovulate on the same day every cycle. It will confirm that you're ovulating and if your are ovulating on the same day each cycle then you can predict and confirm with CM changes.

The best part about temperature tracking is knowing you've ovulated instead of guessing and as you approach your period due date, your temperature will drop if you didn't get pregnant, cutting the wait for AF by 1 day and if it stays up, you still have reason to hope you're pregnant.

Ovulation predictor kits can be helpful but have to be read carefully and won't work if you have PCOS. Since you have a predictable cycle you won't have an issue with the 7-day kits but they sell them a lot cheaper if you buy just the strips that you dip instead of the sticks you can pee on. They sell those in larger batches too if you want to test through your whole cycle. (I find at my drugstore the 7-days of pee sticks cost $30 and a 20 pack of dip strips is only $17) Best time to test for ovulation is mid morning to early afternoon. Testing first thing may miss your surge and testing too late in the day can also miss it (some women's surge is short). It can be hard to test if you are not at home during that window of time.

If you've been trying for 6 months you can see your doctor but unless you are over 35 or something doesn't seem to be working right, they usually want you to wait a year. If you track your ovulation and find that you're ovulating late in your cycle (14 days before the start of your next period is normal) then it could be making it harder for you to implant and is usually fairly easy to fix.

Lots of options out there, start cheap and work your way up if you have trouble. I figure by the time its worth considering the $300 monitor, you should just see your doctor anyway.