What Is Fertile Mucus? | Cervical Mucus and Pregnancy

Fertile or cervical mucus is the gel or fluid-like substance or discharge from the cervix. Throughout the duration of a woman’s period, the amount and thickness of fertile mucus changes.

These changes are due to the fluctuating hormone levels throughout their menstrual cycle. The mucus is produced by the hormones which stimulate the cervix glands.

One of the ways to determine ovulation with cervical mucus, which can help you either achieve or prevent pregnancy. This method is known as cervical monitoring or fertility awareness. A lack of this substance can also be a cause of infertility. 

You can also opt for other birth control methods if you want to avoid pregnancy. For example, the pill, condoms or an IUD.

Let’s take a more elaborate look at cervical mucus and how it changes during the phase of your cycle.

Fertile Mucus Changes Experienced

Fertile or cervical mucus is different for each woman in terms of color, consistency and amount. Usual changes that you may expect during your cycle include:

• Before Ovulation: Before the egg is released, your body will produce mucus, or even before the start of ovulation. The mucus may appear yellow, cloudy or white in color. Its consistency can be gluey or stretchy.
• Right Before Ovulation: Your estrogen levels will rise right before the start of ovulation. The consistency of the mucus may appear slippery, watery, stretchy and clear, which resembles that of egg whites.
• During Ovulation: The clear and stretchy egg white consistency of fertile mucus will also be present during ovulation. The pH and texture of the mucus are essential for protecting the sperm. This is the reason you should have sex on ovulating days, especially if you’re trying to conceive.
• After Ovulation: After ovulation, there will be less discharge and the consistency will turn cloudy, thicker and creamy once again. During this time, some women experience dry days.
• During Your Period: You won’t notice the mucus during this time because it will be covered in blood.
• After Your Period: You will experience dry days after your period and you may not notice any discharge.

Learn more about Cervical Mucus

Fertile Mucus After Conception

Cervical mucus after implantation: why does it happen and what does it mean?

The changes experienced to cervical mucus right after conception may be an early indicator of pregnancy. Implantation is when a fertilized egg attaches to your uterus, after which, the color of your mucus will be gummy, thick and clear. The role is protect your embryo from bacteria that may enter through the cervix. 

It’s not so much a change in the type of discharge, but it’s the amount. You may experience an amount of cervical mucus similar to what you’d experience when ovulating, except that it will be at the wrong time of the month.

This increase in cervical mucus after implantation happens because of changes in hormones, namely estrogen and progesterone.

How Good of a Sign is Cervical Mucus After Implantation?

A very common question is whether or not increased vaginal discharge around the time that you might experience implantation is a strong sign of pregnancy, or not.

In reality, an increase in vaginal discharge and cervical mucus can be caused by a large number of factors, not just pregnancy. That’s why it’s important to take a pregnancy test if you suspect this, instead of just relying on things like increased discharge, or breast tenderness.

In addition, some people experience very little cervical mucus for whatever reason, even when they’re in the early stages of pregnancy.

If you’re looking for the tell-tale sign of pregnancy, it’s probably a missed period. That said, there are other reasons besides pregnancy that you may miss a period, so check in with your doctor if this happens.

What about Implantation Bleeding or Spotting?

Implantation bleeding may also occur in some women, which is about 6-12 days after conception. It resembles spotting more than a regular period. 

Implantation bleeding, unlike regular bleeding, should stop after 24 or 48 hours. You might even witness these changes before a positive pregnancy test.

Fertile Mucus During Early Pregnancy

The cervical mucus may change in both consistency and color in the first couple of weeks of your pregnancy. During this time, you may witness a yellow or white mucus known as leucorrhea. Your vaginal discharge may continue to change as your pregnancy progresses.

Do Birth Control Pills or IUD Have Any Effect on Fertile Mucus?

Birth control pills cause the cervical mucus to thicken, which prevents the sperm from reaching the egg. Your cervical mucus may have a different consistency when you’re on birth control pills than when you’re not.

How to Check For Cervical Mucus

There are some ways for you to check for changes to your fertile mucus. Be sure that your hands are washed before and after you try any of the following methods:

Toilet Paper

Use a white toilet tissue to wipe the opening of your vagina. Ensure to do this before you use the restroom to pee or anything else. Determine the color and consistency of the discharge or mucus on the tissue.

Manually

Insert a finger or two into your vagina, near the cervix to keep a daily track of your mucus. Note the color and consistency of the mucus on your fingers upon removing them from your vagina.

Learn How to Check Cervical Mucus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Gbj7deBkI

Inspect Panty Liner or Underwear

You can check for any changes to your discharge or mucus by daily examining your underwear. Either that, or use a panty liner to monitor the changes.

However, this method might not as reliable as the other ones due to the amount of time that gets passed and what colored underwear you may be wearing.

The Cervical Mucus Method for Getting Pregnant

So, you want to have a baby! Read more about how some people use this method to get pregnant.

This is a method where you track changes in your mucus to predict when you will ovulate. You will have to do this every day for various cycles. Doing so will help you understand a number of patterns. Once you know how to do it, this is one of the most successful natural pregnancy methods to use.

The key with the cervical mucus method is to track it for at least a few cycles so that you can easily see the patterns. Only 1 cycle won’t really tell you as much information as you’ll likely need. In addition, if you naturally don’t produce a lot of vaginal discharge, this method probably won’t work that well for you.

Factors that Affect Cervical Mucus

Some of the external factors that can impact your natural cervical mucus include the following:

• Breastfeeding
• Surgery on your cervix
• Douching
• Perimenopause
• Hormonal IUD
• Yeast infection
• STI

You can also use an app or an online tracker to keep track of the days that you may be most likely to ovulate. This way you could plan to have sex and is the best chance for you to become pregnant.

Determine Safe and Unsafe Days

Using either of these methods to track your cycle can help you determine “safe” and “unsafe” days. That is, days that you can easily get pregnant and days that you can’t. That said, it’s entirely possible to get pregnant at any point during your menstrual cycle.

So, this method is better used by people who are trying to conceive, and not those who are hoping to avoid pregnancy when not using any protection (condom, birth control, IUD, etc.).

If You Don’t Want to Become Pregnant

There is a 23 out of a 100 chance that women become pregnant when they apply the cervical mucus method in their first year. But if you wish to avoid getting pregnant, then use a birth control or backup method from the moment you experience at least four days after your supposed ovulation.

For the first several cycles of tracking, you can also use a backup birth control. Or better yet, you can ask your doctor to recommend the best birth control method for you.

I’m Not Producing Cervical Mucus: Why? 

Some people just produce less fertile mucus than other people. However, if you’re generally produced lots of it, but now find that you aren’t, it might be for one of these reasons.

Diet or Exercise

Extreme dieting, or excessive training regimes can put the body into starvation mode. This means that your body is focused on survival and it may not produce reproductive hormones as efficiently.

Namely, estrogen, the hormone responsible for cervical mucus may be quite low in these situations. You may also experience problems with ovulation and missed periods.

This could result in changes to your menstrual cycle. So, if you’re trying to have a baby, proper nutrition is key.

Stress

Like dieting, or extreme exercise, high levels of stress over a prolonged period of time can also impact your menstrual cycle.

Hormonal Issues

There are a number of reasons why the reproductive hormones (estrogen/progesterone) can get out of whack. However, this is one of the main reasons why you might have changes to your menstrual cycle.

Some Medications

There are some medications that can alter the amount of vaginal discharge you might have. You might notice that your cervical mucus is thicker than normal.

Check in with your doctor for all the details.

Treatment for Less Cervical Mucus

If you’re trying to get pregnant, and notice this sudden change, check in with your doctor. The cause is not easy to self-diagnose.

Even if you’re not trying to conceive, it’s never a bad idea to check in with your doctor for any sort of change to your cycle.

Some Ways to Increase the Quality of your Fertile Mucus

If you’re trying to get pregnant but are struggling with infertility, you may be ready to try anything! Although there isn’t a lot of science behind it, you may want to try some of these methods for improving the quality of your mucus. It’s certainly worth a try and maybe the mucus that your body produces will be more fertile.

Here are a few tips for getting started:

• Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water
• Ensure that your diet is nutritionally balanced. You don’t have to track every single thing you eat, but just pay attention to the food you eat and make sure you’re eating your fruits and veggies. Get enough Vitamin C and also eat lots of dark, leafy greens
• Don’t smoke or drink alcohol, and also limit caffeine
• Use sperm friendly lubricants
• Talk to a Naturopath for natural herbs and supplements you could consider
• Avoid feminine hygiene products filled with toxic chemicals. Instead, opt for organic or use a menstrual cup

Alternative Ways to Track Ovulation

You can also use the following methods to track your ovulation:

Period Tracking by Calendar

You can download and install free online ovulation calendars that can help predict when you will likely ovulate. To use this, you will have to enter the date of when your last menstrual period started and the average number of your menstrual cycle days.

Temperature

Use a special thermometer to keep track of your basal temperature on the same day you start ovulating because that is when your temperature will slightly rise.

Also, plan to have unprotected sex three days before ovulation. This along with the cervical mucus method will increase your chances of predicting ovulation successfully.

Fertility Test

Have your doctor perform a physical exam and some tests to determine if you’re ovulating and ensure that your hormone levels are normal. If you’re 35 years of age and are having difficulty in getting pregnant after six months or even a year, then visit your doctor right away.

What are Some Common Pregnancy Symptoms?

If you’re trying to get pregnant, you’re probably on high alerts for early pregnancy signs. The tricky thing is that many of them look very similar to changes that might happen to your body related to menstruation!

Here are the symptoms to be aware of that may help you detect and early pregnancy:

• Missed period, it’s obvious but also worth noting!
• Light spotting or implantation bleeding
• Nausea or vomiting, usually referred to as morning sickness, although it can happen at any time of the day
• Elevated basil body temperature
• Bloating
• Frequent urge to pee
• Gas
• Constipation
• Mood swings
• Food cravings, or aversions
• Lower back pain
• Tender swollen breasts
• Fatigue

Even if you do have many of these symptoms, the only real way to know if you’re pregnant is through a pregnancy test.You can get them over the counter at your local drugstore, but this testing method isn’t 100% accurate. Check in with your doctor for the more reliable one.

You may think you’re able to read the signs, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of wishful thinking!

Compare Home Pregnancy Tests

Vaginal Discharge Production Throughout the Menstrual Cycle

Every person is different, of course, but there are some common things that can happen with cervical mucus and vaginal discharge throughout the menstrual cycle. It’s regulated by changing hormone levels.

Here are the stage that many people go through:

• Menstrual flow, so you likely won’t notice any vaginal discharge
• Dry or sticky discharge, which is usually the least fertile time during your cycle
• Sticky, somewhat clumpy cervical mucus
• Creamy mucus
• Watery discharge in abundance
• Egg white cervical mucus (sign of ovulation) indicates the most fertile time of your menstrual cycle
• Return to dry and sticky, which can also indicate a less fertile time.
• Menstruation

Post-partum often has some unusual things going on in this area, as hormones are fluctuating wildly. This can results in increases, or decreases in what you’d normally expect. Check in with your doctor or gynecologist to find out what you might expect.

When to Visit Your Doctor about Vaginal Discharge

If you notice any abnormal discharge, inform your doctor immediately as it may be a symptom of infection. Be wary of the following irregular developments:

• itchiness or burning
• yellow, green, or gray mucus
• redness or swelling
• clump discharge
• smells or odors (STI’s or bacterial vaginosis are two common causes)

If you’re not pregnant and are bleeding outside of your normal menstrual period, then go visit your doctor. It’s usually a sign that something is not quite right, and it could also indicate some quite serious problems, including cervical cancer.

Fertile Mucus: Have your Say!

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