It is normal to find white discharge in your pants. It is a combination of shed cells from the vaginal wall, healthy bacteria and, of course, fluid or rather mucus from the cervix. Vaginal discharge plays a role during the fertile days of your menstrual cycle. It is the servical mucus that keeps your vagina healthy and infection-free. You can observe your cervical mucus without too much artistry. In doing so, pay attention to its texture, colour and quantity throughout your cycle. Do you find abundant thick, smooth mucus, bright in colour? Then you know you are in your fertile days before ovulation but beware! That is not the definitive sign which is decisive. Just observing mucus is not enough it is what you can do in addition to analysing your basal body temperature (BBT). Measuring BBT with a cycle tracker like Daysy is the first step, observing cervical mucus is an option to go with it but not necessary for an accurate picture of your fertile and infertile days. Do you have a Daysy cycle tracker? Then what Daysy calculates based on your BBT values and menstrual days will suffice to confirm.
How? What cervical mucus?
You can observe cervical mucus while sitting on the toilet, when wiping you will see the colour on the toilet paper and you can check the texture with your fingers to gain insight into your ovulation and hormonal balance. You make the fertile cervical mucus for a specific reason. After all, it is food for sperm, it allows sperm to survive, to swim quickly to fertilise the egg right after the moment of ovulation.
Your cervical mucus says something about your hormonal health and thus changes during your cycle because the same hormones are not active on every day. You are also not fertile every day of the month! Getting pregnant is only possible within 18 hours from the moment of ovulation. High time to learn more about this! For what, where and what does it look like? After reading this blog, you'll know!
Fertile cervical mucus is a fertility sign
You make fertile cervical mucus at the time when you produce a lot of oestrogen. It is creamy, wet and slippery. Looks like raw egg white which could well be more like it the rest of the month. The hormone oestrogen is high just before ovulation. At that time, the mucus serves as nutrition for sperm to survive and get to where it needs to be, at ovulation preferably within minutes. Without this fertile cervical mucus, sperm takes hours to get where it needs to be if you have a desire to have children. Contraception like the mini-pill and the Mirina IUD rely on preventing the making of fertile cervical mucus which in itself can prevent conception but thereby hinder the protective aspects for your body.
Can I have fertile cervical mucus at more times?
Fertile cervical mucus is an important part of natural family planning (NFP). There are known situations where women produce fertile cervical mucus at multiple times in the cycle. Suppose you have a long follicular phase (after menstruation until ovulation) due to stress, for example, then your oestrogen levels can rise and fall, not remain stably high. That fluctuation can cause you to make fertile cervical mucus some days but ovulation is still delayed. Ladies who measure with a cycle tracker signal this because they keep having red days. Their BBT remains low which is a sign that ovulation has not yet occurred, you are still in the fertile days before ovulation because sperm can survive internally for up to 5 days.
So, you can have several rounds of fertile cervical mucus before you finally ovulate. Therefore, don't rely solely on your cervical mucus as a sign that your ovulation is coming, but combine it with measuring basal body temperature (BBT) like with the sensor on the Daysy.
Suppose you do not measure BBT with a Daysy and find fertile cervical mucus when wiping after peeing. You have no desire to have children, are cautious for a few more days and use condoms. But after four days, you think ‘you can do without again’. Promptly, your ovulation is later this cycle and you end up with an unwanted pregnancy. You don't want to run this risk.
So do I need to keep track of all this?
No, it's not necessary but it can be done. In the DaysyDay app, you can indicate what your ‘cervical fluid’ (cervical mucus) looks like. By the way, your Daysy doesn't require you to check vaginal discharge. Daysy only calculates your fertile and infertile days based on your BBT (basal body temperature) and the menstrual days you confirm. That's because Daysy has a smart internal algorithm which can distinguish fertile from infertile days with 99.4% accuracy.
Where does cervical mucus come from?
The cervix with cervix mouth is at the bottom of the uterus and protrudes into the vagina, the neck opens and closes cyclically. The glands at the top of the cervix produce cervical mucus of varying quality, which as we now know gives information about whether you are in the fertile phase or not. Sometimes the cervical mucus is thick and impermeable and seals the cervix to protect you from germs. It prevents sperm from entering, which is a wonderful mechanism of Mother Nature because most days of your cycle you are hormonally not ready for ovulation, let alone conception.
How to check cervical mucus?
It's not as uncomfortable as you might think. You don't necessarily have to stick your finger all the way into your vagina. The mucus right at the vaginal opening is enough to check the consistency. You take some cervical mucus with the index finger (possibly together with the middle finger) and check whether the mucus is creamy, watery or stretchy (see images later in this blog). You may have noticed that in your most fertile phase, the toilet paper ‘slips’ or more mucus remains after wiping.
I want to get pregnant
Sperm can survive in the female body for up to 5 days under optimal conditions. The most optimal conditions are when fertile cervical mucus is present. But suppose you don't notice fertile cervical mucus? That doesn't mean that ovulation won't occur then. You can get pregnant when the egg is released even if you missed the fertile cervical mucus. Helpful tips if you want to know more about the best way to be engaged in Natural Family Planning.
Lets go!
How does cervical mucus change during the cycle?
The image below shows the relationship between fertility, basal body temperature (BBT), hormones and the consistency of cervical mucus before ovulation during the blue frame of your cycle. We will go through the 4 different consistencies in more detail.
Infertile: Dry and impermeable
Glands at the base of the cervix produce infertile mucus usually after menstruation and after ovulation has occurred. Once menstrual bleeding stops, the cervix closes and a mucus impermeable to sperm blocks the way to the uterus. This infertile mucus is usually not visible at the vaginal opening, hence there is little or no visible discharge and the vagina feels somewhat dry. How long this phase lasts at the beginning of the cycle depends on the degree of maturity of the growing follicles and whether their growth is affected by external influences, such as stress, a strict diet, extreme exercise and so on, all of which can cause a delay in the process towards fertile mucus. In very short cycles, this phase can be skipped. If you have a very long cycle, then wet and dry phases may alternate several times. Sperm cannot withstand this acidic vaginal environment and therefore survive for a maximum of 3 hours.
Potentially fertile: sticky, clumpy to creamy
More and more oestrogen is produced in the growing follicles and the hormone is passed through the bloodstream to the brain and the cervix, among others. Now the glands slightly higher up in the cervix produce sticky lumpy mucus that gradually becomes more fluid and creamy. The vagina becomes more moist and you can now see more traces of the cervical mucus if you were to look at the cervix, which we can't do ourselves! These are the first signs that you are entering your fertile phase. It is still difficult for sperm to move quickly, but sperm can now protect themselves from the acidic vaginal environment, even if only for a short time, thanks to the consistency of the mucus.
Fertile: Fluid and elastic
A few days before the follicle is ready to rupture and release a matured egg into the fallopian tube, oestrogen levels rise sharply. The vaginal environment becomes moist and mucus is now produced in the glands in the upper part of the uterine canal. This oestrogen mucus is stretchy and fluid, often even ‘ spinnable’, and very similar to raw egg whites or even waterier. This mucus protects, filters, nourishes and transports sperm. The sugar in it lures sperm to the cervix. The sperm can survive here for 3 to 5 days at most. Now is the best time to be intimate if you have a pregnancy desire now. To make sure there is enough live sperm at the time of ovulation, being intimate with your partner every 2 days is wise if you have a desire to have children.
After ovulation
The remaining follicle that released the egg starts producing progesterone. This hormone then circulates throughout the body via the bloodstream. The basal body temperature (BBT) increases measurably and the mucus, now produced by the glands in the lower part of the cervix, becomes impermeable again, closing the cervix.
Differences in the cervical mucus pattern
It is important to note that several factors can affect the quality of cervical mucus, which can make its assessment somewhat difficult. Both stress and sexual arousal can cause a temporary increase in vaginal discharge. The latter may even appear to be fertile cervical mucus, as before ovulation, when it is not. Furthermore, cough drops, among other things, can liquefy the discharge, which should also not be confused with the quality of fertile mucus. If you find fertile cervical mucus but no basal body temperature rise, you may not have ovulation and therefore cannot get pregnant yet.
Factors that can affect cervical mucus production
Hormonal imbalance, oestrogen not powerful enough, not enough progesterone
Vaginal sex
Use of certain medications
Showering/bathing
Use of vaginal showers (disrupt the pH of your mucous membranes)
Recent use of contraception or the morning-after pill
Vaginal infections, fungal infections
Breastfeeding
After a miscarriage when your cycle needs to restart
After childbirth when your cycle needs to restart
Intestinal problems, disruption of intestinal mucosa can stress the vaginal environment
But how? If I don't have a desire to have children?
If you don't want to get pregnant, use a barrier method like condoms during fertile days, for example, this prevents sperm from getting to the egg. Both with and without a desire to have children, you want to know when the fertile days are, when to expect ovulation and whether it has occurred. Suppose you keep having red colours then you know that ovulation hasn't happened yet. Your fertile days end only after ovulation, when you make progesterone which makes your BBT rise 0.2 - 0.55 degrees Celsius. A few days after ovulation, you only get green infertile days indicated by your Daysy, then your chances of getting pregnant are over.
Why doesn't Daysy use cervical mucus data for colour determination?
Assessing cervical mucus takes knowledge, time and practice not everyone who has just stopped contraception or has little understanding is adept at that. But we want to help you have made it simple and easy should you want to record it. In the DaysyDay app, under the graph of your measurements, you can go via ‘cervical fluid’ to the screen where you will find the 4 different options (see pictures above) corresponding to the phase in your cycle. The 4 options make it easier to know what to expect. No stress if you don't recognise or can't perceive it yet. As mentioned, it's not a ‘must’ because the measurement in the morning is decisive. Cervical mucus can change per cycle and is not a determining factor.
Daysy is designed to be used independently without the need for additional training. However, observing and analysing cervical mucus does require training.
Scientifically, there is currently no standardised, reliable method to objectively observe and assess mucus quality - especially given the various factors that can influence the nature of mucus for each individual. A number of medications affect mucous membranes, and even thirst or dryness can change the consistency of cervical mucus and make interpretation more complex and less reliable. Between 40-50 years, your hormonal balance changes towards menopause, many ladies report being bothered by vaginal dryness.
Daysy is easy to use
We designed Daysy to be easy to use, without the need for specialised training or in-depth knowledge. Daysy is easy to use and reliable. We do offer ladies the option so if you want to track cervical mucus, nothing stands in your way!
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2) Check, J. H., Adelson, H. G. & Wu, C.-H. Improvement of cervical factor with guaifenesin. Fertil. Steril. 37,707–708 (1982).
3) Su HW et al . Detection of ovulation, a review of currently available methods. Bioeng Transl Med. 2017;2(3):238-246.
4) Hassan, M. A. . & Killick, S. R. Negative lifestyle is associated with a significant reduction in fecundity. Fertil. Steril. 81, 384–392 (2004).
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