I know there is a rule of thumb and I can't remember if it's "Your temp rises .5 degrees for every hour later you temp" - something like that. And I don't have my TCOYF accessible right now.

I normally temp at 6:30. This morning I woke for some reason at 5, temped and it was 97.7. I rolled over, went back to sleep, and at 6:30 it was 98.2 which is what it was yesterday as well. That's a difference of .5 degrees over the span of 1.5 hours.

Is the second temp valid?

OK, I looked it up in TCOYF and "In general, waking temperatures tend to creep up about two-tenths of a degree for every hour you sleep in".

I am just starting to temp this month and I wake up at all different hours. This is going to be difficult for me!:crazy:

Does anyone know???? I know you are supposed to take your temp before you move or get out of bed. Let's say Lauren wakes up to move to our bed at 6:30 and I get up and get her and I take my temp at 8, the normal time. Is it accurate?

Dori, I'm not sure which site you are using to chart, but here is what Fertility Friend says on the issue:



When I wake up at a different time, should I adjust my temperature?

We are often asked whether temperatures should be "adjusted" when not taken exactly at the same time. Some simple formulas are sometimes applied to adjust for differences in waking time. We are often asked whether this is accurate or not and if it is worth correcting the chart.

We recommend against adjusting temperatures as in general the resulting temperature, though it may be more pleasing, is not more accurate. The reasoning behind our recommendation is based on the fact that the Basal Body Temperature variation with time is dependent on your own unique metabolism. While most women see a difference, some women do not see much dependence of the BBT with time and can live with a variation in time without masking their pattern. For many others even a 10-20 minute difference will have strong effects on their charts. Similarly, some women see an increase of their BBT with time while others may actually see a decrease. From the diversity of the charts that we have seen, it is quite clear that no simple generic formulas will be able to compensate for time differences.

Our advice is to use an alarm clock if necessary to try to keep the time as constant as possible. If you have an occasional waking time difference, just record the time but leave the data as measured and make a note if there are unusual circumstances. In most cases our software should be able to see your ovulation pattern despite a few inaccurate data points.

If you have inaccurate data points that are causing you to have an invalid or confusing interpretation, please ask for support to help evaluate your chart.

I hope it helps?

I have found that, for me, it's best for me to take my temp when I wake up, even if that's 1.5 hrs before I would normally temp. Usually, that temp is pretty accurate for me. My temp doesn't normally follow the 0.2 degrees per hour rule.

So, I personally never adjust my temps for early waking time. I would just mark them as a disturbance or make a note of it in my chart.

I'm the same way, Brooke......I rarely wake up at the same time, but I dont' think my temps change all that much, so I don't ever adjust.