Birth control is certainly the key element of family planning, as it lets you plan the number of children you’ll have, and when you’ll get pregnant. But there’s more to family planning than just birth control.

Comprehensive family planning includes considering other factors that influence your chance of conceiving and delivering a healthy baby. 

At Naples Women’s Center we offer preconception counseling, which is another vital element of family planning. When you schedule a preconception counseling check-up, we’ll look for any health and lifestyle concerns that might negatively affect a future pregnancy and the health of your baby. This gives you time to get problems under control before getting pregnant.

When deciding which type of birth control to use, you’ll need to consider issues such as the effectiveness, which is different for each type of birth control:

• Intrauterine devices – nearly 100%
• Sterilization – nearly 100%
• Hormones (pills, injection, pellets, ring, or patch) – 91-94%
• Diaphragm – 88%
• Male condoms – 82%
• Female condoms – 79%

Your doctor can help with some decisions based on your medical history and pelvic exam. You can also count on getting a full explanation of any side effects that may be relevant to your health.

However, other factors are more personal. You’ll want to think about when you’ll want children because some methods can be reversed more quickly than others when you’re ready to conceive. It’s also a good idea to consider issues like whether you’ll remember to insert a barrier method every time you have sex or whether you’d prefer not to use hormones.

After you have a pelvic exam and talk with the doctor, you’ll have access to all types of birth control:

• Intrauterine device
• Oral contraceptives
• Hormone patch
• Hormone shots
• Birth control implant
• Diaphragm
• Vaginal ring