Seeing the pattern when charting

All too often we get caught up in looking at individual details and forget or fail to see the whole picture. This is very true when it comes to charting your basal body temperature or bbt. When charting we get so concerned with marking down every little thing from what our waking temperature was to any little strange feelings or symptoms we might have that we forget to step back and look at the chart as a whole.

One odd temperature in a chart is nothing to be overly concerned about. What you need to be looking for is the pattern of lower temps prior to ovulation and higher temps after ovulation. If you see a pattern of temps that are all over the place highs and lows with no shifting pattern, then you either have a bad thermometer (replace the battery or buy a new one) or you are not taking your temp at the same time each day and/or are not getting enough sleep.

In any case, try to step back and look for the pattern of your charts before you start to panic about one temp that looks wrong.