Natural Family Planning (NFP)

[TheSurveyor]

What are my fellow Catholic brethren thoughts on so-called Natural Family Planning?

For the uniformed, it is the keeping track of the woman's menstrual cycle to figure out when she is the most fertile, so that the married couple can use that information to either increase or decrease their odds in conceiving a child after having sex. I have yet to be convinced that it's not some sort of contrived way to get Catholic to participate in contraception. I am no father, nor am I trying to become one; so I do not have that experience to sway my opinion.
In my opinion NFP falls into two paths; at best it takes away the faith in God's plan and is another attempt at man trying to assert control over his life, and at worst it becomes weird rule-lawyering situation where the couple can claim that they're good because they didn't use contraception.

 

[SeaEagle]

Here is Bishop Schneider's take on NFP. If you have a legitimate reason to use NFP, and your (traditional) priest agrees, then it would be alright.

Sadly this kind of prudence is rare, and I do believe NFP is abused regularly.

Catholics generally have no issue with contraceptive birth control, so that would be important to nail too.

 

[OhHeyCindy]

I used to worry about this , thinking things like “NFP is just another form of contraception.”

The thing is, The magisterium has ruled that it is a permitted way to space births, and that should be enough for us a Catholics. We give our ascent to that and we shouldn’t overthink it, trying to be our own magisterium.

 

[SeaEagle]

I used to worry about this , thinking things like “NFP is just another form of contraception.”

The thing is, The magisterium has ruled that it is a permitted way to space births, and that should be enough for us a Catholics. We give our ascent to that and we shouldn’t overthink it, trying to be our own magisterium.

But for how long may we space them out and why?

We must be open to life barring grave circumstances, no?

 

[TheSurveyor]

I used to worry about this , thinking things like “NFP is just another form of contraception.”

The thing is, The magisterium has ruled that it is a permitted way to space births, and that should be enough for us a Catholics. We give our ascent to that and we shouldn’t overthink it, trying to be our own magisterium.

Permission does not equal endorsement. And just like The Church has the ability to grant annullements, for “rare” circumstances, more often or not these “rare” circumstances tend to be not rare at all.

 

[OhHeyCindy]

Of course. @ both of you , i

It’s a case by case thing, a prudential decision on the part of the couple. I have more sympathy now for NFP being married with 2 kids and seeing the stress on my wife. Before we had kids I thought we would not NFP and instead have them in real quick succession. How hard could 1-2 kids be, I thought. But she simply isn’t ready for another child at the moment, (of course open to life if God so decides to work a miracle). Other moms are better at handling the constant stress of raising small children, and have less or no need for NFP. I think it really depends on each individual wife more than anything (her temperament and personality etc), and it should almost always be temporary, and you as the husband and her final authority should listen to her and discern if her reasons are valid. For me , seeing the toll pregnancies and constant care of infant and toddler takes on her , and wanting to giving her a break for the sake of her mental health, is a sufficient reason to delay her next birth.

Fwiw we didn’t use NFP at all in between the first 2 and they are still almost 2 years apart. If she is breastfeeding that’s Gods natural birth control for much of the first year.

My wife is only 26 and we have 2 already so even if we NFP for the next 1-2 years we will prob still (God willing) have 5-6 children. Not every couple has the proper personality or capability to have 10+ kids, and I think that’s fine.

God bless

 

[Tobit]

I don't see a problem with NFP. It is important for the husband and wife to have regular intimacy, but it's also important not to exhaust your mental and physical health with multiple children in quick succession.
With that said, God has given us breastfeeding - which so far has prevented another pregnancy, our baby is 8 months. We are ready for another when God wills it but I can understand why families might want more of a gap - especially in the context of a traumatic birth or an especially difficult baby.

 

[TheSurveyor]

I don't see a problem with NFP. It is important for the husband and wife to have regular intimacy, but it's also important not to exhaust your mental and physical health with multiple children in quick succession.
With that said, God has given us breastfeeding - which so far has prevented another pregnancy, our baby is 8 months. We are ready for another when God wills it but I can understand why families might want more of a gap - especially in the context of a traumatic birth or an especially difficult baby.

You see, reasons like that I can see as most justifiable. But for most of the time, it seems to come from financial incentives more often than not

 

[TheSurveyor]

Of course. @ both of you , i

It’s a case by case thing, a prudential decision on the part of the couple. I have more sympathy now for NFP being married with 2 kids and seeing the stress on my wife. Before we had kids I thought we would not NFP and instead have them in real quick succession. How hard could 1-2 kids be, I thought. But she simply isn’t ready for another child at the moment, (of course open to life if God so decides to work a miracle). Other moms are better at handling the constant stress of raising small children, and have less or no need for NFP. I think it really depends on each individual wife more than anything (her temperament and personality etc), and it should almost always be temporary, and you as the husband and her final authority should listen to her and discern if her reasons are valid. For me , seeing the toll pregnancies and constant care of infant and toddler takes on her , and wanting to giving her a break for the sake of her mental health, is a sufficient reason to delay her next birth.

Fwiw we didn’t use NFP at all in between the first 2 and they are still almost 2 years apart. If she is breastfeeding that’s Gods natural birth control for much of the first year.

My wife is only 26 and we have 2 already so even if we NFP for the next 1-2 years we will prob still (God willing) have 5-6 children. Not every couple has the proper personality or capability to have 10+ kids, and I think that’s fine.

God bless

Fair enough, but I still think this adds to my point that God will work in our lives and that this controlling mindset when it comes to NFP is unhealthy for the faith.

But to be fair, I can say the same thing about money and savings for myself as not having faith that God will provide.