“What’s the most useful info you learnt when you were trying to conceive?” I asked my friend Rose on a road trip from Darwin. Rose has just fallen pregnant with her second child – and she’s a walking encyclopaedia of baby facts.
Her eyes flicked away from the red rocks outside the passenger window and refocused on me. She zapped into action. “The mucus test!” Rose shouted.
“Okay, steady on. Do tell…”
Rose began. The mucus that collects in your underwear signals what stage of the ovulation cycle you’re at, she said.
“So rather than opt for the thermometer, you can tell whether you’re ovulating by checking your undies when you go to the toilet.”
I recalled a conversation I’d had with Blackmores’ naturopath and researcher Alison Bull a few years back. She’d mentioned that the consistency of your vaginal mucus changes from light and stringy to thick and ‘curdy’ – indicating the start and end of your fertility ‘window’.
As Dr Christine Read, medical director at Family Planning NSW told My Child magazine: “Halfway between one period and the next you’ll get a mucus secretion at the entrance to your vagina. If you get a sticky, raw egg-whitey kind of mucus that feels a bit wet, then that’s a sign of ovulation.”
Here’s how BabyCenter Australia explains it:
Egg white cervical mucus means that you’re at your most fertile point in your cycle. “This stretchy mucus allows sperm to swim easily into the cervix. It looks and feels like raw egg whites and it can stretch about 5cm without breaking in the middle.”
Watery cervical mucus also indicates that a fertile point in your cycle. “This cervical mucus (CM) allows sperm to move rapidly into the cervix. When you have watery CM, you may feel as though you’ve leaked a wee into your underwear. Watery CM is clear and drips or runs off your fingers.”
Creamy cervical mucus indicates that it’s not a great time to try to conceive. “Creamy CM is considered non-fertile because it greatly restricts the movement of sperm. Creamy CM can be a pearly white or creamy yellow. It's thick and feels like lotion when rubbed between the fingers.”
Curd-like, sticky mucus indicates you’re in your least fertile moment of your cycle. “Sticky or tacky CM is the least fertile. It's thick and chunky and feels kind of like paste or like glue from a glue stick, making it hard for sperm to swim through.”
References available on request