Marquette Fertility Education.
St. Louis, MO

Achieving pregnancy naturally. Prevent pregnancy without contraceptives.

Marquette Method of Natural Family Planning

Marquette Method is a science-based, research-based, professionally taught modern method of NFP.

The Marquette Method (MM) uses the ClearBlue Easy Fertility Monitor and ClearBlue monitor sticks to measure hormone levels through a woman’s urine to more accurately pinpoint her fertility level for the purposes of trying to achieve or avoid pregnancy. The MM's algorithm which helps women identify their fertile window can be used with one, two or all signs of biological indicators. The algorithm and monitor provide couples with objective indicators of fertility that are unique to the Marquette Method.

How does the monitor work? After day 6 of the cycle, every morning the woman collects a urine specimen and then uses a test stick placed into the monitor until ovulation is identified.  The monitor measures estrogen and  Luteinizing Hormone (LH) in the urine. The monitor will register a LOW, HIGH, or PEAK reading based on hormone levels.  The trigger for a HIGH reading is an increase in estrogen found in the urine, which can happen in the days leading up to ovulation. The trigger for a PEAK reading is a surge in the amount of LH in the urine, as this LH increases dramatically and rapidly when the ovary is about to release an egg through the follicle. Once a PEAK reading occurs on the monitor, no more testing is required for that cycle. A pack of 30 monitor sticks will last for about 3 cycles.

A double-check method of monitoring the LH hormone is use of the Wondfo ovulation stick. These sticks are used only for LH but are less expensive ($18-$21/50 sticks) than the monitor sticks ($38-$45/30). The best level for monitoring ovulation is 25 miu/ml according to recent research (Leiva et al., 2017)--exactly the level that the Wondfo uses! The LH sticks are to be used with another sign of fertility such as mucus observation or with the Marquette Fertility Algorithm (Barron et al., 2018).

Hormone monitoring isn’t the only way to determine fertility when using Marquette Method though. Mucus readings can still be helpful. Observing mucus and temperature are secondary signs of fertility and may not be easy to interpret. Many women track both mucus and monitor readings. 

The additional sign made available through the self-monitoring of female hormones gives women and couples greater confidence in crosschecking various signs of fertility using the algorithm. Again, the MM can be simplified, and users can choose to monitor only one sign—they have the option of using additional signs if desired. An app for the I-Phone and Android are available for use. 


A woman may choose to chart any combination of the various signs of fertility integrated into the algorithm. For example, she may choose to chart all three signs, or simply just the monitor data.

At the end of the day, the most fertile sign(s) observed is recorded. With instruction, identifying fertile or infertile times becomes readily apparent for most couples. Personalized instruction is important for achieving high effectiveness and confidence in determining the fertile and infertile times of the cycle.