It is easy to incorporate into your daily routine and by measuring hormones directly, it provides and objective picture of your fertility. All Marquette method instructors are required to be licensed healthcare professionals. Therefore, when learning the method, you can be assured that your instructor has a baseline of medical knowledge to draw from when discussing your cycles. How does it work? You track your reproductive hormone levels each day by performing a simple urine test and using a Clearblue fertility monitor to read the results. Results appear within minutes, and an algorithm is then applied to establish your fertile window.

How effective is the Marquette Method?

In 1998, the Institute for Natural Family Planning (INFP) was established at the Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One year later, in 1999, Dr. Richard Fehring and his team launched the Marquette Model of Natural Family Planning. Dr. Richard Fehring has pioneered extensive research regarding the efficacy rates of the Marquette Model.

Here is the effectiveness at avoiding pregnancy:

• Regular cycles – 98.4% effective in perfect use, 98% effective in typical use
• Breastfeeding women – 98% effective in perfect use, 92% effective in typical use

A 2017 Study published in the American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing (Fehring & Schneider, 2017) demonstrated over a 98% efficacy of the Marquette Method of NFP in avoiding pregnancy using the monitor alone. It has also been shown to be 98% effective at avoiding pregnancy during the difficult breastfeeding and post-partum transition with perfect use (Bouchard, Fehring, & Schneider, 2012)