Part of the Symptothermal Method is taking your basal body temperature at the same time each morning after at least 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
For many postpartum parents, anyone breastfeeding, and shift workers, this makes the Symptothermal Method unattainable.
The Tempdrop is an innovative piece of Femtech that bridges this gap. It is a wearable thermometer worn in an armband each night. It intermittently takes your temperature throughout the night. It also measures environmental temperatures changes and has a sensor to log movement/restlessness. An algorithm then assesses these values to deliver an accurate basal body temperature reading in the morning.
This allows users to obtain accurate BBT readings that can be used with the Symptothermal Method – suddenly sleep-ins are attainable!
It’s important to note that the Tempdrop is not a Fertility Awareness-Based Method (FABM). It is simply a smart thermometer. You will still need to decide on a specific FABM and invest in an instructor or a method manual to learn how to safely and accurately chart your cycle for pregnancy prevention.
Tempdrop does not utilise bluetooth while operating so does not emit EMFs during the night. Users sync their tempdrop in the morning to find out what their basal body temperature was during the night.
Most excitingly, the Tempdrop directly syncs with Fertility Awareness charting app Read Your Body (which was originally crowdfunded by the Fertility Awareness community and remains my recommended app of choice).
As with all forms of Femtech, there are both pros and cons involved with using the Tempdrop. The Tempdrop app offers predictions and automatic chart markings. I urge new users (and even seasoned users), to ignore these predictions and utilise manual interpretation instead. All predictive apps have shortcomings that can place users at risk of unintended pregnancy. It’s always preferable to use the rules of the Symptothermal Method to decide each individual day whether you are fertile or not.
More importantly, the Tempdrop device has not been through a clinical trial to establish whether it would have any effect on the estimated 99.6% perfect-use effectiveness of a Symptothermal Double-Check Method if used in conjunction with a charting practice. This means that there is an element of unknown risk when deciding to use the Tempdrop. Despite this, the majority of my Tempdrop clients are safely and happily using the device and I am comfortable recommending it to those who truly require it.
Keep in mind: Anecdotally, I have heard reports of charters with a higher BMI struggling to get accurate temperature shifts with the Tempdrop device, which may be due to the increased distance between the sensor and the axillary artery.
Some people also report difficulties when it comes time to change the Tempdrop battery. Tempdrop has a great, responsive support team who are always only too happy to help if you have any troubles; however, it’s a good idea to be mindful that the device can be easily damaged during a battery change (this is one area where I would love to see some functionality improvements in future – maybe a hinge or clasp).
Tempdrop run a very helpful peer-support Facebook group where qualified instructors and Tempdrop staff are always available to answer any questions that users may have, and I recommend you join this group as soon as you purchase your Tempdrop.
Overall, I recommend the Tempdrop as an innovative, functional piece of Femtech for people that genuinely have no way to take their temperature at the same time each morning after at least three hours of quality sleep. Otherwise, I recommend oral or vaginal temping (especially during the first 3 cycles of learning where we are building habits!).
Note: If you are really struggling to gain accurate temperatures with oral temping and cannot afford a Tempdrop, please speak to your instructor about:
- Mouth breathing
- Vaginal temping
- Night temping
You may find that there are affordable ways to gain accurate temperatures without investing in a Tempdrop.
Alternatively, you can also look into learning a cervical mucus-only Fertility Awareness-Based Method (FABM), and you can find a list of instructors on the Find An Instructor page.
