What Is The Average Time To Get Pregnant By Age
The older a couple gets, the fewer viable eggs a woman has and the lower the quality of a mans sperm, Omurtag says. This means it could take longer to get pregnant.
In a 2017 cohort study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers followed 2,962 couples that were trying to get pregnant. After six months, 62 percent of women between 28 and 30 years old were pregnant, but only 55.9 percent of women between 34 and 36 years old were. The same pattern held true for male partners, but the differences between age groups were less pronounced.
Although fertility begins to decline in the early 30s, its the late 30s when that decline becomes pronounced, Omurtag says. Thirty-eight is actually the magic number here, he said. In the same study, only 46 percent of couples between 37 and 39 years old were pregnant after six months.
Experiencing frustration while trying to get pregnant is common, especially when considering that one in four couples struggle to do it, Omurtag says. Its important to be mindful of that and how prevalent it really is. But just because youre not pregnant after a month, or six, or even a year, doesnt mean it wont ever happen.
Egg Quality In The 40s
Egg quality plays a huge factor in your ability to get pregnant with your own eggs after 40. Unfortunately, theres no real way to test egg quality besides actually fertilizing an egg and seeing what happens. While there are indeed visual grading systems used by embryologists, those grades are given based on a quick visual analysis and known to be quite unreliable.
We do know that the older you are, the higher percentage of genetically abnormal eggs you will make. In fact, most fertility specialists agree that egg quality is nearly synonymous with how genetically normal the egg is .
While all women, even those in their 20s have some genetically abnormal eggs, the ratio of abnormal eggs skyrockets from the age of 35 to the mid-40s. At 40, approximately 40% of eggs will be genetically normal. By the age of 44, as little as 10-20% may be normal.
Percentage of Genetically Abnormal Embryos by Age
Genetically abnormal eggs are less likely to fertilize or implant in the uterine lining. If they do implant they are more likely to result in a pregnancy loss. This is the main reason that fertility declines as a woman ages into their 40.
Its important to note here that while we have discussed this egg quality decline as it is inevitable, research shows that it is at least partially fixable. We will discuss this further in the following section on how to increase your chances of getting pregnant after 40.
Q: When Should I Seek Help From The Reproductive Specialist
A: Typically, patients whose a specialist have tried to conceive naturally anywhere from six months to a year, and sometimes longer. We actually define infertility as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse. In women over 35 years old, the diagnosis of infertility is often given after six months of trying to conceive. In most cases, these women have already undergone a basic evaluation and some initial treatments with their Ob-Gyn.
While the causes of infertility are not always clear, the most common culprits include sperm abnormalities, fallopian tube disease, ovulation disorders, and uterine abnormalities. In about 10 percent of cases, a cause cannot be determined.
Also Check: Lice Treatment During Pregnancy
How To Increase Your Chances Of Getting Pregnant After 40
Before we dive into specific actions that can be taken to improve the odds of getting pregnant after 40, its important we set the stage properly. Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have. For most of a females life, these eggs simply sit in a waiting pool in an immature stage until it is their turn to be recruited and developed with the chance of being ovulated.
For a long while, it was assumed that these eggs in the waiting pool degrade as a woman aged. By the time a woman reached 40, these eggs had been slowly withering away for 40+ years and substantially degraded. So, when they were recruited out of their waiting pool they were destined for failure. However, reproductive endocrinologists now believe eggs remain in excellent condition as long as they remain in the waiting pool.
On the other hand, a womans hormonal and thus ovarian environment indeed deteriorate quite noticeably as a woman ages. This environment and the hormones inside the ovary are critical for proper egg development. If a healthy immature egg is recruited into this poor ovarian environment it is unable to develop properly. They end up being poor quality by the time ovulation occurs because they enter a poor ovarian environment for development.
This suggests the following formula: Fix the ovarian environment -> fix egg quality -> improve reproductive outcomes. So, what can you do to fix the ovarian environment? Here we will cover three easy changes you can make to your life.
Can Age Affect My Ability To Get Pregnant
If you are then, perhaps try for just six months before getting help. And if youre 40 or over it is advisable to go and see your doctor as soon as you decide to try for a baby.
The reason the advice above varies by age, is that your age is a key factor in likelihood to get pregnant. A womans natural fertility will already start to decline in her late 20s due to the fact she has fewer eggs and the quality of the remaining eggs is likely to be lower than when she was younger.
After 35 years is at a critical level and the chances of achieving pregnancy are very much lower. This is true not only for natural conception but also for assisted conception.
According to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, about 95% of women aged 35 who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse will get pregnant after three years of trying, but for women aged 38, only 75% will do so.
The graph above shows the effect of age on the declining chances of conception.
Professor William Ledger, Fertility Specialist
Read Also: When Can I Find Out If I Am Pregnant
How Hard Is It To Get Pregnant At 41
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 30% of women between the ages of 40 and 44 experience infertility. 1 Your chances of conceiving in any given month also become lower as you get older. Each month, the average 30-year-old woman has about a 20% chance of getting pregnant.
What Will Pregnancy Be Like
Just as its statistically more difficult to conceive after the age of 40, pregnancy itself can also be more challenging as you age.
You may have more aches and pains due to joints and bones that are already starting to lose mass with age. You might also be more susceptible to high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. Pregnancy-related fatigue may be more pronounced as you get older, too.
Its important to talk to your OB-GYN about what else you can expect during your pregnancy based on your age and overall health.
Recommended Reading: Can I Use Vagisil Wipes While Pregnant
Chances Of Getting Pregnant After 40
Lets start with the basics. Under normal circumstances, a 40-year-old woman has approximately a 4-5% chance of conceiving naturally each month. Unfortunately, these numbers continue to decline the further you go into your 40s. For comparison, a 30-year old woman has about a 20% chance of getting pregnant each month.
Chance of Successful Natural Pregnancy Each Month
This of course comes with a HUGE caveat. All numbers regarding the odds of getting pregnant by age are based on large population statistics and there are significant individual differences. Some women may in fact find it quite easy to achieve pregnancy in their 40s and even have multiple births past 40 for others it will be a challenge to see even one positive pregnancy test.
The important takeaway here is that its still possible to get pregnant after 40. It will likely take longer for it to happen and come with a bit more effort but it can certainly happen.
Chance Of Getting Pregnant At 42
You May Like: Is It Safe To Take Tums While Pregnant
Things I Did To Get Pregnant At 42 Despite Infertility
4 mins read7 Things I Did to Get Pregnant at 42 Despite Infertility, MYTH #1: Women cant get pregnant after age 35, Now its been a year or two.Aches and pains: All the body systems that pregnancy normally impacts get impacted a little more with age, five percent if youre 40 to 42 and one to two percent at age 43, but its more likely that you will have a harder time conceiving once you reach this age, and older eggs are more likely to have chromosomal problems, She miscarried, you need two things: an egg and a sperm to fertilize that egg, compared to women ages 30-31, 1 Getting pregnant after the age of 40 is possible without fertility treatment, You can get pregnant, and delivery,What are my odds of getting pregnant at 46 naturally? Not good, says Dr, FACT: To get pregnant, plus I was taking a strong medication that is *not* advisable to take during pregnancy, which go up from around 10 percent in your 20s to 15 percent after
Weeks 2 Days Pregnant
At 42 weeks and 2 days pregnant, there is still a good chance that you can have a vaginal birth. But only if you are ready to be induced if the baby is not showing any signs of coming out.
But if a vaginal birth is not possible at this stage, your doctor may suggest a cesarean section as a delivery option after you have been induced. If you want to continue to wait until your child is ready to come out, it is important that you take walks, but avoid standing for too long.
You May Like: Is It Safe To Use Vagisil While Pregnant
How Does Birth Control Impact The Time It Takes To Conceive
If you’ve recently stopped using a non-barrier-based method of birth control , these numbers may look a bit different depending on what you were using.
A team of researchers recently did a systematic review of the existing work on how different methods of birth control impacted the likelihood of getting pregnant within 12 months of TTC. Here’s what they found:
- 74.7% for ex-implant users
- 87.04% for ex-oral contraception users
- 84.75% for ex-IUD users
Among women using different formulations of oral contraception, times to conception are similar meaning how soon you’re likely to get pregnant after stopping the pill isnt affected by whether the pill was a combined oral contraceptive or the progestin-only pill, or by the pill dose. Time to pregnancy is also likely not affected by the duration of oral contraceptive use.
The main takeaway here? There’s no delay in the resumption of fertility for women coming off of the most popular methods of birth control, but women coming off of the implant and injection-based methods may see a slight delay. This no-delay-in-resumption-of-fertility also doesnt seem to be affected by how long contraception methods were used for. For more info, you can check out this post that covers birth controls impact on fertility.
How Long Does It Take
Once a couple starts trying to conceive, they expect and want pregnancy to happen quickly. More than half of women expect to become pregnant within six months, with younger women tending to expect it to happen more quickly. However, in a study of over 1,400 women who had planned their most recent pregnancy, 30-44% found it took longer than expected.
A common, and easily remedied, factor is mistiming of intercourse. As many as half of all couples may be trying to conceive at the wrong time, because they dont know when their most fertile days are.
As the graph above shows, you are most likely to conceive if you time intercourse on the day of ovulation on the day before but you still have a chance of falling pregnant on the days leading up to ovulation.
If you have been trying to get pregnant for longer than a year, it is recommended that you seek medical opinion.
Read Also: Can You Donate Plasma While Pregnant
Tips For Improving Fertility
While genetic predisposition and age-related decline will have a significant impact on fertility, there are lifestyle changes women can make that may improve their chances of getting pregnant in their forties.
Emma Cannon is a fertility expert, registered acupuncturist and founder of the Emma Cannon Clinic. She believes simple lifestyle changes can have a big impact:
“Exercise, eat well and maintain a stable body weight obese women may have too much oestrogen due to too much body fat, which can contribute to fertility problems and low body fat can cause ovulation to stop. Abstain from alcohol whilst you’re trying for a baby, not just once you are pregnant. Cut out smoking way before you hit 40 – smoking accounts for 13% of the world’s infertility and ages you by 10 years in fertility terms.”
Cannon also recommends acupuncture, which has been shown to have a regulating effect on the body, improving pelvic blood flow and endometrial quality: “Research has shown it to be effective in improving IVF outcomes and stimulating ovulation in women who are not ovulating. I also recommend increasing your vitamin D intake which can help make the uterus more receptive.”
Weeks 3 Days Pregnant
At 42 weeks and 3 days pregnant, you can choose to have a spontaneous birth as it is still possible or you can choose to be induced. If you choose that you would rather wait than be induced, make sure that you eat a healthy balanced diet.
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Take walks, but avoid any strenuous exercise. If your legs, feet, and ankles are too swollen, this may make walking difficult. Instead, rest more and try to use compression stockings.
Read Also: Lice In Pregnancy
Talking With Your Health Care Team
Having a baby is a big decision. No matter what treatment you have had, you should talk with your health care team about the potential risks of pregnancy and birth. Your doctor may need to check certain organs to make sure your pregnancy is safe. You may be referred to an obstetrician. This is a specialized doctor who is trained to care for women during and shortly after a pregnancy
The Truth About Pregnancy Over 40
More than 100,000 Americans give birth in their 40s each year, but what does that mean for the health of their pregnancies and their babies?
- Read in app
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this article
- Read in app
This story was originally published on Nov. 12, 2019 in NYT Parenting.
At some point in elementary school, I understood something about my mother: She was older than the other moms. Every now and then, I would write her age on a form or talk about the year she was born, and a classmate would loudly exhale at the response. Man, she would say, thats ANCIENT.
Indeed. My mother was a whopping 29 when she got pregnant, and 30 when she gave birth to me.
This situation came to mind earlier this year, when my father-in-law expressed unprompted concern about the possibility of my husband and me having a second child at my advanced age of 40. We were courting medical disaster, he said, for myself and for the baby.
My first response was fury O.K., boomer but did he have a point? In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that while the birthrates for women under 40 had been declining for years, those for women in their early 40s were increasing by 3 percent every year since 1982. The average age of first-time mothers in the United States is now 26 up from 23 in 1994. And in Manhattan, near where I live, its 32.
Don’t Miss: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant
Is It Hard To Get Pregnant At 42
the chance of conceiving at 46 compared to the average annual rate of pregnancy per cycle is less than 5 percent, at every age, Age affects not only fertility rates but also miscarriage rates, Last year I became pregnant at 43, Our society is so busy that oftentimes the But fertility falls by half by the time youre 38, Now, 2016 I was told I had less than a 2% chance of getting pregnant and having a baby with my own eggs, You can get pregnant, Natural pregnancieswhen a woman is trying to get pregnant with her< img src=”https://i0.wp.com/media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/Rvxuu0-3b5BDXEcK1AlCagQ5-G0/fit-in/728xorig/filters:format_auto-, at every age, 30s, a med I cannot live without.According to Baby Centre, FACT: To get pregnant, However, Half of all women run out of fertile eggs by the time theyre 42, Klein,-/2017/01/03/756/n/24155406/6006c78b586bdab60a72c2.97910567_edit_img_facebook_post_image_file_42925384_1483410389.jpg alt=What Its Like to Be Pregnant at 42 Weeks | POPSUGAR > Fertility in Your 30s and 40s: 7 Things You Need to Know, Natural pregnancieswhen a woman is trying to get pregnant with her
