First time? 20 times? How long before you get pregnant? We have statistics for you.
Sometimes, you just get lucky. Other times, depending on hereditary factors, environmental factors, age, diet, health…conceiving is not so easy.
1) The major study of fertility today was by a group of German researchers from Heidelberg, in the journal Human Reproduction (2003).
Of the 346 women aged 20 to 44 in the study, 310 conceived in the first year. Of these…
38 per cent were pregnant after 1 month.
68 per cent were pregnant after 3 months.
81 per cent were pregnant after 6 months.
92 per cent were pregnant after 12 months.
In their conclusion, the researchers wrote, “Most couples conceive within six cycles with timed intercourse.”
This means timing sex specifically to coincide with ovulation — via the calendar method of tracking, via basal body temperature measurement, cervical mucus tracking or by ovulation predictors.
2) On the down side ― the average 30-year-old woman has only a 20 per cent chance of conception each month, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. By age 40, this figure declines to a 5 per cent chance each month.
Its booklet, Age and Fertility: A Guide for Patients tells us all that “a woman’s best reproductive years are in her 20s. Fertility gradually declines in the 30s, particularly after age 35. Each month that she tries, a healthy, fertile 30-year-old woman has a 20 per cent chance of getting pregnant. That means that for every 100 fertile 30-year-old women trying to get pregnant in 1 cycle, 20 will succeed, while the remaining 80 will have to try again.
“By age 40, a woman’s chance is less than 5 per cent per cycle, so fewer than 5 out of every 100 women are expected to be successful each month.”
It also reminds you that “Women do not remain fertile until menopause. The average age for menopause is 51, but most women become unable to have a successful pregnancy sometime in their mid-40s.”
“At the end of one year, about 85 per cent of couples will conceive as long as they are having regular intercourse...”
Local ob-gyn Dr Roland Chieng, of Roland Chieng Fertility and Women Care, urges his clients to give it at least two years, however.
“At the end of one year, about 85 per cent of couples will conceive as long as they are having regular intercourse, and this number shoots up to 90 per cent by the end of two years,” he explains. “At the end of the two years, the incidence doesn’t go up anymore.”
3) With these two lots of stats in mind, if you’ve been trying to get pregnant for over a year, without success, it’s time to get help. So, consult a doctor or fertility specialist.
Photo: iStock
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