Most couples find fertility software extremely useful. It offers convenience by collecting
and organizing recorded symptoms and automatically generating full symptothermal charts.
Software can also aid in analyzing fertility based upon recorded symptoms. It can calculate
ovulation dates and project fertility associated with these calculations to make fertility
more understandable.
What to Look for in Fertility Software
Look for a software program that supports fertility awareness or natural family planning techniques. It should be capable of generating symptothermal charts. This is helpful even if you do not initially plan to track fertility symptoms. Support for this feature will allow you to begin fertility charting later if your needs change.
Many fertility software programs do not support full symptothermal charting and analysis. A majority of software packages and websites only apply the rhythm method to estimate ovulation and fertility. This approach can be deceptively simple since it does not always offer a good estimate of fertility. Couples should be aware of the differences. It is okay to use the rhythm method if only a very rough estimate of ovulation is desired. Keep in mind that the rhythm method does not work for everyone. Symptothermal charting does though and software should be evaluated with this option in mind.
Whether you are new to fertility charting or not, chart shading can greatly enhance your experience. Shading makes chart interpretation much simpler. It also helps users better understand the relationship between their symptoms and fertility and ovulation. This can empower users to understand how to interpret their own charts more quickly.
Many couples particularly like the ability to forecast future cycles. This estimate assumes regular cycle length to create these projections. You may want to look for software that supports this.
Another popular feature is the ability to record custom information. This usually includes custom text or notes to associate with each date as well as other symptoms. These symptoms can be anything and may not even be directly related to fertility. Common examples include spotting, headaches, breast tenderness, illness, etc. Software that supports recording custom fields can be more useful.
Recommended Software
The online software at MyFertilityCharts.com is an excellent
charting aid that evolved from the Hormonal Forecaster desktop software. The
Hormonal Forecaster family of products have been helping
couples with
their fertility for more than a decade. Both the web edition
and desktop software support a wide range of features and are arguably the best
that is available. Couples can sign up
for the online edition or download the software and begin trying it out for free without
any obligations.
The following table compares the Hormonal Forecaster against its closest competitors. No other fertility software solution can offer all of the same powerful features included in the Hormonal Forecaster.
| Feature | Hormonal Forecaster Family of Software | Other Symptothermal Software | Other Rhythm Method Software |
| Project future cycles | Yes | Some | Yes |
| Estimate ovulation using the rhythm method | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ability to record personal notes | Yes | Yes | Some |
| Generate symptothermal charts | Yes | Yes | No |
| Support for temperature charting | Yes | Yes | No |
| Support for cervical mucus records | Yes | Yes | No |
| Support for cervix observations | Yes | Yes | Some |
| Support for saliva ferning | Yes | Rare | No |
| Support for gender prediction | Yes | Rare | No |
| Support for chart shading | Yes | No | No |
| Support for custom symptoms | Yes | Some | No |
| Elaborate statistical analysis of recorded events | Yes | No | No |
| Support for synchronization with other platforms | Yes | No | No |
Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved