Observing Your Cervical Mucus

It’s essential to begin tracking your menstrual cycle with the basics.¹ As you grow more familiar with your cycle, however, using more advanced tracking techniques can help you gain a deeper understanding of ovulation.²

These techniques include:

1. observing your cervical mucus
2. tracking your basal body temperature³
3. monitoring your cervix⁴

In this article I will discuss monitoring your cervical mucus, what it is, how it changes throughout your menstrual cycle, and how to track it. I will also discuss how to determine ovulation using cervical mucus, how to make sense of what you find, and what factors may influence differences in your mucus production.

What is Cervical Mucus?

Cervical mucus (CM) is a normal body fluid that is produced by the cervix and the vagina, specifically related to fertility, that changes throughout our menstrual cycle in response to fluctuating hormones.⁵

This means that the appearance of our cervical mucus varies during different stages of our cycle ⁶ which can help us to identify what stage of the cycle we are in as well as which hormones are dominating.⁷

How cervical mucus changes throughout the menstrual cycle

Let’s start at the beginning with menstruation. Obviously this is when we are bleeding so there will be no cervical mucus due to low oestrogen levels. No oestrogen, no cervical mucus.

After our period, chance are we have little or even no CM. Our oestrogen is still on the low end after all. Then as as oestrogen begins to rise during the follicular phase, our CM becomes more creamy, a bit like hand lotion.

As oestrogen peaks around ovulation (our fertile window), CM becomes more watery, slippery,  stretchy and raw egg-white in consistency. This can be referred to as ‘peak’ mucus or fertile-quality CM.

After ovulation, during our luteal phase, progesterone rises, producing cervical mucus that is thicker, more tacky, and feels gummy. This mucus is designed to create a ‘plug’ in the cervix. As a result, this means that we will have little CM for the remainder of our luteal phase

One thing to point out though is that during the middle of the luteal phase, we may experience a wetter quality fluid. This is due to the rise in oestrogen that happens during this time and is not a sign of ovulation.⁸

How to monitor your cervical mucus

Monitoring your cervical mucus is simple to do. However when you first start it can be difficult to understand what you are looking at. It’s only after you have tracked and paid attention to your cervical mucus over a full cycle can you be certain of the changes that take place.

After washing your hands, gently insert a finger about half an inch into the vagina. Remove the finger and note the colour, texture, and general appearance of the fluid.

Putting your finger and thumb together and then pulling apart can help you identify between the egg white texture of the fertile quality mucus and the ‘gumminess’ of the luteal phase mucus.

Make a note of what you see. Many apps allow you to input the data easily or alternatively you can make a note on any paper charts that you keep.⁹

How to chart cervical mucus on paper

This is where I tend to use letters to help me keep track of my CM patterns. This way it’s easy for me to understand and see how things change throughout my cycle.

These are the terms that I use but once you get to know your own body you will have your own ways of describing what you see.

Make sure that you check each and every day to get to know your own CM patterns, the consistency, the amounts, and how it changes throughout your cycle.

Once you do you will be able to see what is normal for you, identify what phase you are in and understand your body so much more.

How to tell if you’ve ovulated with cervical mucus

Firstly, you need to identify your ‘peak’ day. This is the last day of fertile quality CM, that raw egg-white type CM. It is NOT the day with the most CM.¹⁰

Obviously this means that you are only able to determine your peak day in retrospect as it is the day before you dry up or your CM becomes tacky or gummy.

Once CM changes consistency after the peak day, or you are ‘dry’ for 3 days after peak day, then this is a sign that you have (probably) ovulated.¹¹

Although I tend to use CM to help me identify what is going on with my oestrogen levels, I do not use CM to confirm ovulation on it’s own. I only feel confident in confirming when I combine it with my Basal Body Temperature readings.¹²

Factors that interfere with the production of cervical mucus

There are many factors that interfere with the production of our CM¹³ including:

• Hormonal contraceptives
• Cervical conditions
• Procedures to vagina & cervix
• Certain medications (eg antihistamines, which dry out literally everything!)

If you don’t produce much CM around ovulation, please, do not panic. Remember that everyone is different. Our CM is produced in response to our rising oestrogen which all of us experience differently.

Also remember that our CM production declines with age as our oestrogen levels drop. So if you’re perimenopausal you’ll likely have less CM or more ‘dry’ days than you did a few years ago.

Cervical mucus is not gross and disgusting

I thought it was really interesting how, after I posted about cervical mucus changing throughout a woman’s cycle on social media, how many people contacted me and thanked me for posting. For highlighting that we are not ‘gross’ or ‘disgusting’ but are, in actual fact, normal.

And for the record, those who contacted me were all fully grown women who didn’t know this. Who felt ashamed that they didn’t know. Who questioned why we’re not taught this growing up.

Which is exactly why we need to learn this now so that we can educate those (especially young girls) around us. Our bodies, our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are nothing to be ashamed of. And they are certainly not ‘gross’ or ‘disgusting’.

Final Thoughts

By tracking your cervical mucus with the methods outlined in this article, you can gain a better understanding of your body and ovulation, and be empowered to make informed choices about your reproductive and hormonal health.

Additionally, it is important to remember that our bodies are not ‘gross’ or ‘disgusting’. And I hope that by sharing this knowledge women can feel empowered to talk openly and without shame about their bodies and their health.

After all, cervical mucus is normal for over 50% of the population.