How Many Days After A Period Is Safe To Avoid Pregnancy
Is your menstrual cycle regular? One can have either a regular or an irregular period cycle. A woman’s menstrual cycle can last from 21 days to 35 days, in general. However, an ideal menstrual cycle is 28 days.
Unprotected sex at any time during the menstrual cycle does not nullify the risk of getting pregnant, whether it is during the period, just after the periods, or any time.
Many of us might be wondering, “Is it safe to have sex after periods?”
Ideally, there is no terminology as ‘safe time’ to have sex without using contraception in the month. There are phases during the entire menstrual cycle when you are most likely to conceive and most unlikely to conceive.
If you are trying to avoid getting pregnant, you have a minimal chance of getting pregnant if you have sex within the initial seven days after periods, when the eggs are not released from the ovaries.
Nevertheless, if you have a shorter cycle, you may ovulate around this time, thus using appropriate contraception is necessary.
Age Is A Major Factor For Women
Youve probably heard the phrase your biological clock is ticking. This phrase refers to your fertile window. Women cant conceive after their menstrual cycles stop, usually sometime in your 40s or 50s. Men produce sperm throughout their lives, but women are born with a set number of eggs that decreases as you age.
At birth you have about two million eggs but naturally lose hundreds of thousands of them by the time you reach puberty, says Cross. Your body continues to lose eggs no matter what you do. And the rate at which women lose eggs accelerates around the age of 37.
The quality of eggs stored in the ovaries also declines over time. The eggs youre born with are naturally paused in the process of dividing their DNA, Cross explains. They complete that process, or ripen, when you ovulate them 20 to 40 years later. The longer eggs are stuck in the mid-division stage, the more likely that process will go wrong creating eggs with the wrong number of chromosomes. That results in not becoming pregnant, experiencing miscarriages or having babies with genetic syndromes due to chromosomal abnormalities.
The bottom line: The quality and number of eggs a woman has decreases throughout her lifetime and egg loss accelerates around the age of 37, which makes it more difficult to become pregnant.
How Do I Use The Calendar Method
Before you can use the calendar method as birth control, you need to keep track of the length of your menstrual cycles for at least 6 periods. You can do this with a regular calendar or our period tracking app.
Heres how you do it: Mark the first day of your period . Then mark the first day of your next period. Count the total number of days between each cycle .
You must chart at least 6 cycles, but charting a few more months is even better. Heres an example:
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First Day of Period |
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If all of your cycles are shorter than 27 days, the calendar method wont be accurate for you.
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What Happens After Your Period Ends
The complete shedding of the unfertilised female egg and your uterine lining symbolises the end of your period. After your menstrual cycle ends, the female genitals begin to prepare for another menstrual cycle. Your body begins to shift towards your most fertile period, where the chances of pregnancy are high.
Finding The Best Time To Get Pregnant
If you want to get pregnant and you have regular periods, the best time to have sex is the day before you ovulate. You also have a good chance of conceiving in the five days leading up to as well as on the actual day of ovulation. Basically, the more often you have sex during this window, the better. Frequent intercourse means increased sperm and, since sperm quality has a short shelf life, its good to strike when its fresh.
Many people use a variety of fertility methods and products to track changes to their basal body temperature and cervical mucus however, turning your journey into a complicated project wont necessarily help you get pregnant any more quickly. In fact, it could create obsessive behavior and be hard on your relationship with your partner. If youve already been tracking and collecting all of this data, your doctor will certainly take it into consideration. But if youre healthy and have regular periods, the most effective way to get pregnant is to simply stop using contraception .
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Other Fertility Factors To Consider
As a rule of thumb, your fertility should go back to the way it was before you started birth control. If you had regular cycles before, you should have regular cycles again.
Your age may also play a part. That is because fertility drops as you get older. This is especially true once you turn 35.
There has been a lot of research on the return of fertility after stopping birth control. A review of studies showed that birth control use does not harm fertility. Pregnancy rates within one year of stopping birth control look like this:
- Birth control pill: 72% to 94%
- Condom/barrier method: 94%
- Progestin-only birth control: 70% to 95%
- Natural family planning: 92%
- IUD: 71% to 96%
/5when Trying To Get Pregnant Timing Is Very Important
When you are trying to get pregnant, timing is the key. You can do everything right in the bed to maximise your chances of conceiving, but if your timing is not in sync with your ovulation cycle then all efforts will go in vain. Each month you get a brief window to conceive and if you miss the opportunity you will have to wait until the next one. While nobody can assure when you can really get pregnant, you can increase your odds of success by making some changes in the timing and frequency of your lovemaking sessions.
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Who Can Use The Safe Period Calculator
You need to ask your doctor about the efficiency of natural family planning methods. The doctor will do a check-up and let you know if these would be effective for you. Use the safe period calculator as a natural birth control method only after your doctor gives the go-ahead.
If your menstrual cycle is regular and falls in the average range of 26 to 32 days and if the variation between your longest cycle and your shortest cycle is about seven days, you should be reasonably safe using the safe period calculator method as birth control.
Days Before And After Ovulation
Ovulation usually occurs between days 11 and 21 of your cycle . The first day of your period signifies the beginning of your next cycle. When youre ovulating, an egg is released from your ovaries and moves down the uterine tube towards your uterus.
An egg lives 12-24 hours following ovulation, but sperm can live in the female reproductive system for up to five days after sex. Therefore, having sex from five days before or one day after ovulation can result in pregnancy.
A 2019 study found that women who have unprotected sex one day before ovulation had the highest probability of getting pregnant .
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Is It Physically Possible To Get Pregnant If Youre Not Ovulating During A Cycle
It is not possible to get pregnant in a cycle without ovulation. This is because in this type of cycle, no egg is available to be fertilized by sperm.
There are treatments available that can trigger a womans body to release a mature egg that allows for conception. If youve been trying to conceive for a while and think that ovulation issues may be present, get in touch with a health care provider.
What Is A Safe Period To Have Sex
A thumb rule If you are having sex, you can get pregnant! Despite all calculations and theories, there is no definite way to determine when a woman will ovulate, so many factors come into play. Most women ovulate 12 to 14 days before they begin their period, but some women ovulate at a different time. So, figuring out when it is safe to have sex yet avoid pregnancy is quite a guessing game.
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Best Time To Get Pregnant You Might Be Surprised
July 25, 2016, by
Timing sex correctly is critical to getting pregnant. If you dont have sex on the handful of days that youre fertile each month, sadly, you wont get pregnant. But figuring out when those fertile days are isnt always easy. Theres a lot of misinformation out there and the best time to get pregnant may not be when you think it is!
In this article, Ill be looking at some of the myths and facts around the best time to get pregnant, and how to ensure you get your timing right!
Understanding The Menstrual Cycle
The best way to understand when you are least likely to get pregnant is to understand the menstrual cycle and your best time to get pregnant. The menstrual cycle is typically 28 days long, but can range from 21 to 35 days in length. Day 1 is the day that menstrual bleeding begins. Around one week later, your hormone levels start to increase leading to ovulation. After ovulation, hormone levels decrease if there was no conception and the menstrual bleeding usually begins again 12 to 14 days later.
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Can You Get Pregnant Right After Your Period
You are moving into your fertility window, so yes, you can get pregnant right after your period. On a typical cycle that occurs every 28 to 30 days, the fertility window is usually between Day 11 and Day 21. Remember, sperm can live up to 5 days. If your period lasts for 5 to 7 days, and you have sex right after that, you are approaching your fertility window.
What Is A Safe Period
Safe period refers to the days when a woman has reduced chances of getting pregnant. So, if you do not want a baby and do not want to use contraceptives either, this is the time you should have sex with your partner.
Biologically speaking, this is the time whenthe egg is not present to be fertilised. If you have intercourse when there is no egg, you cannot get pregnant because this is the unfertile period in a menstrual cycle.
For most women, ovulation occurs approximately 14 days before the next menstruatal cycle starts. It is not easy to know exactly when you would start your next menstrual cycle . However, if your periods are mostly regular, it is easy to calculate the days of ovulation. To do this, you need to use the date of the previous menstrual cycle as a starting point. It is important to note that an egg can be fertilised only four days before ovulation and three days after ovulation. In other words, this is not the safe period, and so, you should avoid intercourse during this period.
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Too Much Or Too Little Sex
Sex is probably the most basic human need for pleasure and reproduction. And, people can be in the extremes when it comes to this .
Having too much sex: Some people believe that having more sex could lead to conception. But this may not always be true. Though frequent sex will not decrease the vigor of a mans sperm, it can cause potential health problems such as fatigue, dizziness, weak knees, and frequent urination. If you indulge in a lot of sex only to have babies, it could lead to BURNOUT . In this case, when the actual fertile window is open, either partner may not be interested in sex. And, as a couple you lose an opportunity to conceive.
Having too little sex: You may be cutting down on intercourse to save the sperm or you only have sex during ovulation. But staying without sex for many days may affect your conception. You could miss your fertile phase when sex is limited as you may not always be correct about your ovulation.
What next?
Try to have sex frequently and keep a close watch on your ovulation dates. If you have irregular periods or problems tracking your fertile window, use an ovulation kit. If the result shows that ovulation is due in one or two days, have sex during that time. Keep in mind not to have sex just for having a baby, because then you cant enjoy the process.
Who Cannot Use The Safe Period Calculator
Applying the same rule as aboveif you are in the regular 26-day to 32-day cycle and the variation between your longest and your shortest cycle is more than eight days, then it would be risky to use this method.
Do remember that because of hormonal changes, it would be wiser to wait for six months after childbirth to use this method.
Also, because of erratic cycles, this method is not suitable for teenagers or women on the verge of menopause. This method might not work for women who have erratic cycles because of conditions like PCOS and hormonal imbalance.
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Truth: Having Sex Every Day Doesn’t Get You Pregnant Faster
You certainty could have sex every day if you wanted to. But theres no evidence that it will help you get pregnant faster. Its much more likely to lead to burnout and frustration, especially if you dont get pregnant in the first month.
Sex every other day, or sex during your most fertile days, is all you need to conceive. In fact, if you had sex three times a week, youd still be likely to hit your most fertile time.
The reason why more sex doesnt necessarily mean youll get pregnant faster is that conception is about much more than timing. There are a variety of physiological factors that impact whether you get pregnant in any given month. If timing were all it took, more people would conceive the first month they tried.
How Effective Are Fertility Awareness Methods To Avoid Pregnancy
Because of many variable factors, the safe-days method is not 100% reliable. Some women trust this method completely. Hormonal changes and irregular periods can cause errors in calculating the infertile period. Condoms are the easiest option, but if you dislike using then the next best choice is oral contraception.
FAMs will work only if:
- You are meticulous with the safe period calculation and follow it accurately.
- Your partner is willing to follow the safe-days-only sex method.
- You use other forms of contraception on your fertile days.
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How Many Days After My Period Can I Get Pregnant
If you are planning to get pregnant, you should practice sex without contraception. A woman is more likely to conceive during the fertile window stage of the menstrual cycle, known as the ovulation phase.
Ovulation is a phenomenon when ovaries release the mature egg towards the fallopian tube .
If you have a regular menstrual cycle, you are more likely to get pregnant during the 10th-14th day, considering the onset of menstruation as day 1. However, the days can vary among each woman.
Sperms can survive in the woman’s body for 5-7 days. Thus if you have intercourse without contraception during the fertile window of the menstruation cycle, you are more likely to get pregnant.
Barrier Methods And Natural Methods
If you were using a barrier method, there is good news. These methods do not interfere with fertility. Barrier methods include:
Barrier methods block sperm from reaching your egg. These methods do not stop ovulation. Whether you are using them or not, your monthly cycle does not change.
As an added bonus, condoms also protect you from sexually transmitted infections . Left untreated, some STIs can lead to infertility.
Some people use natural family planning methods. If this is you, you may be able to get pregnant faster. Many of these methods have you keep track of your most fertile days. So now, just do the reverse. Instead of avoiding sex around those days, go try to make a baby.
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What Are The Advantages Of Using Fertility Awareness Methods To Avoid Pregnancy
If used correctly, FAMs can give you reasonable protection from an unwanted pregnancy.
Some advantages of using FAMs are:
- No expense
- No medication, therefore no side effects
- Greater understanding between a couple
- Some religious beliefs do not allow artificial contraception, so safe days method is a preferred option
Being Stressed Will Stop Me Getting Pregnant And Using An Ovulation Test Will Make It Worse
While stress is never healthy, unless its interrupting your periods or sex life it wont stop you conceiving. It has been suggested that using ovulation tests to time intercourse on the most fertile days can be stressful, but a study by Prof. William Ledger and Clearblue found that using these tests is no more stressful than trying to conceive without them. In fact, in this study 77% more women got pregnant in the group that were using the tests3. Also remember its normal for sex to start to feel mechanical if youve been trying for a baby for a while. This is something a lot of couples experience and it doesnt mean theres anything wrong with your relationship. Most couples accept that baby-making sex can be different.
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