Francesca Naish - Natural Fertility: The Complete Guide to Avoiding or Achieving Conception

OTHER BOOKS BY FRANCESCA NAISH

The Lunar Cycle, Nature and Health Books, 1989

Natural Fertility, first published by Sally Milner Publishing, 1991

and co-authored with Janette Roberts:

The Natural Way to Better Babies, Random House, 1996

The Natural Way to Better Pregnancy, Doubleday, 1999

The Natural Way to Better Birth and Bonding, Doubleday, 2000

The Natural Way to Better Breastfeeding, Doubleday, 2002

The Natural Way to Better Babies, is published in the USA and the UK as Healthy Parents, Better Babies, The Crossing Press, California and Newleaf, Dublin

The following are all published in the UK by Newleaf, Dublin:

The Natural Way to Better Pregnancy, published as Healthy Lifestyle, Better Pregnancy

The Natural Way to Better Birth and Bonding, published as Healthy Body, Better Birthing and;

The Natural Way to Better Breastfeeding, published as Healthy Mother, Better Breastfeeding

The Natural Way to Better Birth and Bonding is published in the Netherlands as De nutuurlijke weg naar een betere geboorte en een sterke band met uw baby (Deltas, Belgie-Nederland)

The Natural Way to Better Pregnancy is published in Spain as El Camino Natural Para Un Embarazo Mejor (Medici, Barcelona)

Natural Fertility

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO AVOIDING OR ACHIEVING CONCEPTION

Fourth Edition

FRANCESCA NAISH

First published in 1991 by

Sally Milner Publishing Pty Ltd

734 Woodville Rd

Binda NSW 2583

Australia

Francesca Naish, 1991

This edition first published in 2004 by

Sally Milner Publishing Pty Ltd

Reprinted 2012

Design by Anna Warren, Warren Ventures P/L

Diagrams by Bookserve

Illustrations by Jacqueline Bateman

Printed and bound in Australia by Australian Print Group

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Naish, Francesca.

Natural fertility.

4th ed.

Includes index.

ISBN 1 86351 337 X

1. Fertility, Human. 2. Conception. 3. Infertility. 4. Contraception. I. Title. (Series : Milner health series).

613.94

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced; stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holders.

Cover painting:

Arnold Shore 18971964 Australian

Bella Donna, 1931

Oil on canvas on hardboard

76.5 x 64.2 cm

Purchased 1957

Reproduced with permission of the National Gallery of Victoria

Disclaimer

The information provided in this book is intended for general information and guidance only and should not be used as a substitute for consulting a qualified health practitioner. Neither the author nor the publisher accept liability or responsibility for any person or entity with respect to any loss, damage or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

Dedication

For my mother whose work of art was her children.

Acknowledgements

First, my thanks must go to all those who have researched and written on the topics discussed in this book before me, without whom I and many other women would be less healthy and happy.

Thanks go to Drs Evelyn and John Billings, two Australians whose work pioneered the use of the mucus method, to Dr Eugen Jonas, the Czechoslovakian whose work discovering and using the lunar cycle added another dimension to fertility management, and to Denis Stewart and Raymond Khoury, who greatly increased my love and knowledge of herbal medicine.

Next, my thanks go to my friends and colleagues (past and present) at the Village Healing and Growth Centre which grew from my practice and helped my practice to grow, and which has now evolved into the Jocelyn Centre for Natural Fertility Management and Holistic Medicine for their enormous contribution to my understanding and treatment of fertility, and for providing me with a second home and family.

Further thanks go to my dear friend Jacqueline Bateman for her wonderful pictures, to my illustrator, Judy Pownall, whose graphic skill enlivens these pages, to Anna Warren, for designing the book so attractively, to my editors, Lynn Humphries, for her painstaking care with the text of the first edition, and to Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo for her work on the changes to this edition, to my patient and supportive Australian publishers, Sally Milner and Margaret Bowman, Ian Webster and Libby Renney for their support for this new updated edition, and to my dear friend Valerie, who opened up her new home to me as a writers retreat and kept me cheerful through the stresses of creativity.

Last, great thanks and love to my family for their continued good humour as more and more of my energy went into completing this book, which I could never even have begun if it werent for the experiences of all my patients. It is they who have provided me with a wealth of material over the last 25 years of practice, on which to develop my understanding of fertility. My gratitude to womankind, everywhere.

A Note on the Author

Francesca Naish DCH, MATMS, MANTA, MNHAA, is an accredited herbalist, naturopath and hypnotherapist who is the director of a unique natural and holistic health care fertility clinic in Sydney, where she lives with her family. Her practical and humorous approach comes from 25 years of experience in practice, using the methods described in this book, both for herself and her clients. Over 10 000 women and their partners have consulted her and her associates during this time to find answers to their contraception, infertility and reproductive health problems, and to plan their ideal babies.

Francesca works at the Jocelyn Centre for Natural Fertility Management and Holistic Medicine, at which a diverse team of practitioners from both medical and natural health backgrounds offers a wide range of holistic therapies, and from which a national and international network of Natural Fertility Management counsellors are trained and supported. Francesca pioneered the use of the lunar cycle in combination with other timing techniques, and has created a unique blend of approaches to fertility management. As well as the programs offered through the clinic and through the network of trained counsellors, many women and couples are helped through the postal conception and contraception services.

She appears often on radio and television, talking on her speciality subjects of natural birth control, infertility, preconception health care and reproductive health. She writes extensively for natural health magazines, has been the subject of interviews and articles in the press, lectured at all the natural health training colleges in Sydney and to countless interested groups and conventions. She has previously published The Lunar Cycle, a book which explores the personal lunar phase cycle and its relationship to fertility, first published Natural Fertility in Australia in 1993, since when it has enjoyed best-seller status, as has her third book, The Natural Way to Better Babies, co-authored with Janette Roberts and published by Random House (also published as Healthy Parents, Better Babies in the USA by The Crossing Press and in the UK by Gill and Macmillan). This has been followed by three more books co-authored with Janette, The Natural Way to a Better Pregnancy, The Natural Way to a Better Birth and Bonding