Why getting pregnant isn’t always instant

Doctors often get asked by women who have recently stopped using contraception, why they’re not pregnant after just a couple of months.

It’s a common question and one that’s important to unpack.

We ask Tend GP Dr Eileen and OBGYN Dr Amelia Ryan for their advice.

Dr Eileen starts us off...

"First off, your ovaries don’t always release an egg every single month, though for most people, ovulation typically happens once a cycle. Being fit, eating well, avoiding smoking and alcohol can all support your overall health, but there’s another key factor: age.

As you get older, your ovaries and eggs age too, which greatly affects your chances of conceiving. At 25, you have about a 25% chance of getting pregnant each cycle. By 35, this drops to around 15%, and by 40, it’s down to just 5%.

These percentages refer to natural conception without fertility treatments. So if you’re planning a family, it’s worth knowing that the younger you are, the easier it generally is to conceive naturally.

Understanding this can help manage expectations and guide you on your fertility journey with confidence and care."

At our official launch event, Dr Amelia Ryan gets down to exact timing and tells us there is only 1 day per month that it is possible to get pregnant.

"Prior to having my children, I was petrified of getting pregnant and it came as such a surprise to me when I finally stopped contraception to conceive and discovered that sometimes it doesn’t happen the first time you try.

This is a common revelation and is in such stark contrast to the focus on contraception for young people. In fact, there is actually only 1 x 24 hour period each ovulation cycle where it is possible for an egg to be fertilised by a sperm that can lead to a successful pregnancy because when an egg is released, it will only survive for 24hrs.

Sperm can live in the genital tract for about 5 days. So it is actually important to have sex BEFORE ovulation to improve the chances of conceiving. Waiting until ovulation risks missing the chance.

When people talk to me about wishing to become pregnant, understanding ovulation and when it occurs is the most important learning to increase the chance of conceiving naturally. If you are not ovulating regularly, it is very difficult to optimise the timing of sex.

There are lots of options to improving knowledge in this area, including symptom monitoring like breast tenderness, vaginal discharge or basal body temperature. There are other tech options like cycle tracking apps like Flo or ovulation urinary kits or Oura rings.

Regular ovulation general reflects a healthy menstrual cycle and a healthy body."

‍