Which Type of Cervical Mucus Is Most Fertile? (Episode 532)

Full Transcript: Episode 532

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack:

This is the Fertility Friday Podcast, Episode number 532.

In today’s episode, we are diving into cervical mucus and I’m kicking it off with a trick question: which type of cervical mucus is most fertile? So we are going to get into that and more in today’s episode.

I think a good place to start is to define cervical mucus. Cervical mucus is essentially a liquid gel. It has a really high concentration of water — anywhere from 90 to 99% water. And if you’ve observed your mucus, if you have tracked your mucus, then you’ll know that there’s two broad types. There’s the type that looks like creamy white hand lotion, and there’s the type that looks like raw, clear, stretchy egg whites. And it can present very, very differently in different women in terms of the quality of what you see, how much you see, how frequently you see it, when you see it in your cycle, when you don’t. So there’s lots of variation in terms of what it looks like in real life.

If you’ve consumed some of the most popular fertility awareness books, like Taking Charge of Your Fertility or like my book, The Fifth Vital Sign, then you can get the impression that there’s this very structured and specific way that mucus is supposed to show up in every situation. And so I have a lot of clients who will assume that, “Okay, so I’m supposed to have my period and then I’m supposed to have dry days and then I’m supposed to have the creamy stuff, which is supposed to then lead into the clear stretchy, and then I’m supposed to ovulate, and then I’m not supposed to see any.” And of course, that is one of the optimal presentations of mucus. But when you’re actually tracking in real life, it just is not always so neat and tidy. Real charts just don’t look like that.

So the question that I asked in my post — I got a lot of interesting responses from that — is which type of mucus is more fertile than the other type. So we have the clear stretchy versus the lotiony. And I asked this for a reason. This was one of the very first lessons that I learned when I started taking fertility awareness training in my early 20s. So this goes way back.

And the interesting thing is that when you’re using fertility awareness — actually, it doesn’t matter if you’re using it to conceive or to avoid pregnancy — what I always say is we can’t call your mucus before ovulation more or less fertile, because you can’t be more or less pregnant. You can only be pregnant or not. So in order to accurately define the fertile window, it’s basically a yes or a no. It’s: are you in the fertile window or not? And therefore, mucus in the pre-ovulatory phase — so before ovulation — you know, you’ve had your period, you start to see mucus — regardless of whether it is clear and stretchy or whether it is cloudy and lotiony, it’s just fertile. That’s what it is.

And that’s helpful from a practical standpoint if you’re trying to conceive or if you’re trying to avoid pregnancy, and especially helpful if let’s say your mucus isn’t that abundant, or maybe it’s not that optimal, or maybe you don’t see a lot of the clear stretchy, maybe you really predominantly are only seeing the lotiony. So it is really helpful from that respect just to get clarity on that.

And the natural question that comes out of that is, well, if you’re saying that — I mean, obviously you would assume that the clear stretchy is quote “more fertile” than the lotiony, right? Like of course that would make logical sense. So how do we talk about that? You know, then what is the point? Well, the clear stretchy is optimal when you’re trying to conceive because it is correlated with higher levels of estrogen, which can really help with timing. So in terms of timing and optimizing the timing, aiming for those days of clear stretchy in the greatest quantities is definitely optimal. But for the record, pregnancy can happen in any cycle with ovulation when sex happens up to five days before that ovulation date.

And I’ve seen a lot of different charts over the years. I’ve seen a lot of things that, if you are fairly new to fertility awareness or even if you’ve been charting your cycles for a while, things that you would just think are impossible. I’ve seen women conceive in cycles that we would call dry cycles. A dry cycle just means that you ovulated but you didn’t actually see any mucus — so you didn’t have any mucus that you could actually observe; if you were checking, those days were dry. That is something that happens for a specific reason. So when someone has a situation like that, typically they maybe just came off the pill recently and that has had a negative impact on their mucus. Maybe they are using antihistamines because they have allergies, and that is known to dry up mucus. Or maybe they have a history of cervical issues, cervical surgeries — if they’ve had a LEEP procedure or something like that, conization — and that, for some women, will have a negative impact on their cervical crypts and therefore they may not show as much mucus.

So it’s not normal just not to have any mucus, and there’s always an explanation if that’s the case. But the point is, although cervical mucus is really important for fertility and plays a key role, it is helpful to make this distinction between thinking that some mucus is quote “more fertile” than others.

So getting into the weeds a little bit — but the bottom line is that if you’re trying to conceive, mucus plays a really important role in timing as well as quality. And I think that we often get focused on just the quality aspect of it. So we want lots of clear stretchy, we want to have an abundant amount, we want to have many days of it. And if we don’t have a whole lot of days — like even if you are seeing it for three to four days but it’s not five or six, or if you see it only one time in the day but not two or three times or more — you kind of get focused on that aspect of things.

But from my perspective, from my standpoint, when I’m working with clients, what we really want to do is just let them know, like, okay, regardless of how much you see, if you see it and you’re approaching ovulation, that is to tell you the timing. So regardless of how much you see, if you only saw it once, don’t really stress too much about all of those details; just know that that is what corresponds to the correct timing.

So what we have is kind of two distinct roles of mucus. One, obviously, is the timing. And then the other — when mucus is not optimal — it can tell us a lot of information, whether it’s about cervical health, hormone health, a variety of other potential issues. So there’s two distinct aspects: there’s the timing aspect, and then the potential health implications or fertility implications of not having that optimal mucus.

But don’t think that if you have a small amount — I’ve had clients who don’t ever see the clear stretchy, at least in that post-pill transition where they’re not really seeing a whole lot. I’ve had clients who only are observing the creamy type mucus. I’ve had clients who really the only sign that they have in their fertile window is that kind of sensation of lubrication when they’re wiping, because they don’t really see that kind of stretchy egg white stuff that they can actually stretch between their fingers, because they’re just not making that much of it. So I’ve seen a variety of permutations of mucus. And the good news, again, is that pregnancy can happen in any cycle, as you know, as long as there’s ovulation.

And the other piece of good news is that your cervical mucus is one of the factors that contribute to your overall fertility — it’s not the only factor. So if your partner has really good, healthy sperm and you’re really healthy, even if the mucus isn’t great, pregnancy can still happen, and for many women it does. So it’s helpful to also know that everything doesn’t hinge on the mucus piece of it.

So, if you’re wondering, “Can I get pregnant if my mucus isn’t very abundant, if I don’t see it very much, but I know that I’m ovulating, and I do see it but I just see a little bit?” — I think that it can be a relief to know: yes, it can still happen. And if you’re timing sex correctly cycle after cycle and pregnancy isn’t happening, what I always say is that we have to start looking deeper to see what else is going on.

Now, when we get into the weeds with cervical fluid and we look at the different factors that can contribute to whether it’s scant mucus production, low mucus production, no mucus production, there’s a lot of different pieces of that. There’s a lot of different information that we can gain. And I feel like this gets into the concept of the menstrual cycle as the fifth vital sign.

Cervical mucus is really interesting because it can really tell us a lot about what’s going on. So for example, if you have some level of this lotiony mucus every single day, or most of the time, or if you notice that you didn’t used to have so much of it — all this quote “gunk” in your underwear, for example — and all of a sudden now it’s there all the time, that very simply could be a sign of an infection. Maybe you have a yeast infection, and maybe it’s not full-blown so you didn’t really think that it was yeast because it’s not really itchy, but you’re just noticing this increased amount of quote “discharge” that you’re seeing.

So from something just as straightforward as being able to identify if potentially you have an infection — even yellow mucus can be a sign of an infection. I know that there’s plenty of different views on yellow mucus, “Oh it’s normal, whatever,” but the amount of clients for whom we’ve identified infection based on the color of their mucus — like that yellow tinge would indicate to me that it’s not just a normal thing. That’s really interesting.

Certain mucus patterns can indicate even abnormal cervical cells, which is something that I’ve talked about in a number of different podcast episodes — so I’ll be sure to link those so you can, if this is something that you’re wanting to look more into. And also, if you have my book The Fifth Vital Sign, I talk about that in Chapter 11. So Chapter 11, if you do have the book, is a really good place to go for all things improving cervical mucus — like cervical mucus amount, boosting the quality and the quantity of your mucus, and really getting into some of the reasons why you might not be seeing optimal amounts.

And of course there are other situations where it could just be the impact of certain drugs. So it is important to know that if you recently came off the pill and you’re starting to chart and you’re really getting into it but you’re not noticing a lot of mucus — there is this post-pill transition phase that does last for several months, anywhere from I would say nine to twelve cycles. It can take for everything to normalize post-pill. And I’ve certainly seen a lot of that. I’ve seen a lot of clients come off the pill and even if they’re seeing mucus, it’s just not necessarily a whole lot of it, or not necessarily many, many days, or of that peak, clear stretchy. Or even if they do have plenty of days of the clear stretchy, maybe they’re only seeing it like once or twice. So that’s something to keep in mind as well.

Because if there are some of these other factors that are contributing to what you’re seeing — I’ve also had clients post fertility treatments who’ve had significantly lower mucus production, things like that — it is helpful to put it all into context. And again, the good news in that is that you don’t need to have perfect mucus to conceive.

Now, on the flip side, if you are using this method for birth control, it is equally important to be aware of what’s going on with your mucus. Because even if your mucus production is very scant or very low, pregnancy is still possible in any cycle with ovulation if you have unprotected sex within five days of that ovulation day. So it is entirely possible to get pregnant if you have sex during those days leading up to ovulation, even if you don’t have very much mucus, even if you only have the lotiony type mucus, even if you only have a little tiny bit that you saw that one time, or even if it’s totally dry.

Let’s say you came off the pill — I don’t want to make it sound like everyone who comes off the pill has no mucus, because that’s not true, but I have seen a certain percentage of clients who literally have nothing for a couple of months, just totally dry, but they’re ovulating, which we’re confirming with rises in basal body temperature and other signs. I think it’s more common to see mucus, but again, it usually takes a bit of time for the amount to really rebound. But the point is that if you’re avoiding pregnancy, it’s equally important to understand that even if you don’t have a lot, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be able to conceive.

So going back to the initial question that I brought up here, which was which mucus type is more fertile — again, what I always say is that you can’t be more or less pregnant, so we can’t really talk in those terms. Now, if I think back to my early 20s when I was learning fertility awareness for the first time, and I was with a little group and we actually took a course together, and it was a lot of fun — we always used to say, like, it was always like a joke amongst us: “Oh, mucus is fertile! All mucus is fertile!” We joked about making a t-shirt but we never got around to the t-shirt part. But really, it was one of those foundational pieces of understanding the method, because when you’re using that method for birth control, as soon as you get into your head about, “Oh well, it’s just a little bit,” or “Oh well, you know, the creamy stuff, it’s just not really that fertile, whatever” — that’s the kind of stuff that people say before they accidentally have sex on a fertile day and end up with an unplanned pregnancy. So whatever your goals are, it is helpful to know how that works and to kind of shift that language.

I feel like one of the natural questions that comes out of this conversation — I can just picture it already, emails coming my way — is: what do we do to improve it? You know, I’m looking at my mucus, I’m not seeing very much, I’ve got concerns, I don’t see a lot of egg white — how much is enough, and what do I do to improve it? And I think that what everybody wants is a supplement list of the magical supplements that we can take to boost the mucus production. But there are a couple of just pieces of information I think are useful for this piece of the conversation.

If we go back to the basics: when you are healthy — so outside of hormonal issues and post-pill stuff and other types of medications that could have a negative effect on mucus, so outside of all that stuff — if you’re just healthy and your cervix is healthy, no past cervical surgeries, none of that, just healthy, everything’s healthy — then your mucus production is actually an indirect measure, or indirect result, of your hormone cycle. So when you’re having a normal, healthy cycle, you’re approaching ovulation, your estrogen levels are rising because of your follicular development, that triggers the mucus production. And so therefore, when you’re seeing mucus throughout the cycle, it is actually a reflection of what’s happening hormonally.

So the first step to supporting optimal mucus production is actually supporting optimal hormone production. And so a lot of the things that we would need to do to achieve that — whether it’s eating a balanced meal with sufficient protein, to make sure we’re getting enough and giving our body the building blocks that we need to create those hormones, whether it’s getting enough sleep, sleeping in the dark to make sure that we’re again supporting optimal hormone production — those are some of the things that we want to put in place first before we jump to the magical supplement conversation.

Nutrients like folate, B vitamins, vitamin D — there’s a number of different nutrients that support cervical health, whether it’s indirectly or directly. And there are other supplements that are kind of well known to support cervical mucus production, things like that. But again, it’s a broader conversation.

And the reason that I talk about it this way is because I feel like a lot of women can get so focused on the mucus that it can really become this big piece where there might be something else that’s more important. So, especially for my conception clients — you’ll also notice that I’m always going on about sperm quality and talking about those kinds of things as well, because often there are other things that are also important, if not more important, whether it’s the foundational preconception nutrition piece of it to replenish nutrients — particularly if you were on the pill. We know that the pill depletes a whole slew of nutrients that are necessary for optimal conception. Whether you’re postpartum and you’re trying to conceive baby number two or three, as I record this, my daughter is 10 months old, so I’m right in there in the postpartum phase — but there are few things that will deplete nutrients to the same degree as growing a tiny human.

And so we could be focused on cervical mucus when really we need to be pulling out that lens a little bit, pulling it out a little bit so that we can look at the whole picture and really recognize some of the other pieces of the equation that are also important. And the reason I say that, again, is because pregnancy is possible in any cycle with ovulation, even if the mucus isn’t perfect. And the mucus, again, is a factor, but it’s not the only factor.

So hopefully that is at least the takeaway from today’s episode. Now, when it comes to cervical mucus, we can really get into those weeds. And if you’re wanting all the answers — if you’re looking at your mucus observations, your charts, and you’re wanting to understand, like, how do I check? Like all of the weeds — how do I check for it? How do I know? Internal or external? Paper, wiping? What does this color mean? What if it looks like this, what does that mean? And I saw mucus after ovulation — if you’re really, really getting into the weeds, those questions are all very, very specific to your situation. And there’s no way to create a podcast episode that actually answers every single question related to your specific situation.

So for those of you who are wanting to go into the weeds and really wanting to get to the point where you can master this conversation and feel really comfortable with basically anything that you observe — you know what it means, you know how it affects your fertility, you know how it affects your use of the fertility awareness method specifically, you know how to identify which days are fertile and not, how the rules apply — even in situations that the books didn’t prepare you for — that’s where my fertility awareness programs come in.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s episode. If you can think of somebody who you know would love today’s episode, feel free to share it. The share link is fertilityfriday.com/532. And if you’re loving the podcast, one of the best ways to show your support is to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. I make a point of reading all of the reviews, and it really helps for people who are looking for a new podcast to listen to, to jump into the reviews and get a sense of what it’s about.

I want to say a special thank you to Nerdus who left a review. She said: “Every girl and woman should utilize this. Listen to this podcast. Amazing help for girls and women of all ages to understand their bodies.” Thank you so much, Nerdus.

So with that said, I hope you have a wonderful weekend whenever you’re tuning into the show. And of course, as always, until next time, be well and happy charting.