Product Review: Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor

In month 5 or 6 I bought the Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor after hearing stories about how many people it had helped get pregnant.  I had a suspicion that Mr. GG and I had been mis-timing things for potentially all of the first few months. (It's hard to time right when one month is 33 days and the next is 40!)

I was really excited to start using the monitor and eagerly awaited my egg each month, BUT I'm not sure I would recommend it.

Cost for Monitor: $115 (ebay)

Cost for 90 test sticks: $150 (wow...never added that one up before!)

Overall Grade: B-

To use the CBFM you POAS every morning starting at Day 6.  CBFM detects both Estrogen and LH.  Estrogen surges over a few days before ovulation.  When this happens, you get a high reading (2 bars out of 3).  LH surges right before ovulation. When this happens, you get a peak reading (3 bars with a little egg inside the 3rd one).

I did get a peak each month, but after I started charting I began to think the reading might not be occurring at the right time.  I trusted the "video game" as DH calls it so much, that we only did our business when it told us to. If it was wrong, we were not giving ourselves a proper chance.

But the worst part was peeing on a stick each morning.  I have longer cycles (average 33, max 40) so I had to POAS for like 15 days in a row.  That means not peeing in the middle of the night, POAS when half-awake in the morning.  Oh and it takes about 5 minutes for the machine to read the stick and if you don't take it out right away then you often get a mis-read.

I quit using it after about 5 or 6 months.  Apparently, $250 later...oh well, this kid will be worth the money : )