Women today wait until they are physically, emotionally, mentally and financially ready to get pregnant and have babies, so getting pregnant after birth control is something that most women may have questions about.
We look at different aspects that influence getting pregnant after birth control:
Type of birth control that was being used
Couples who have used barrier forms of birth control such as condoms, diaphragms, or female condoms may find that getting pregnant takes less time.
If however hormonal birth control was being used, either by pill, patch, injection or IUD, getting pregnant will take longer.
This is because a woman’s cycle and normal ovulation can take time to stabilize and normalize after coming off hormonal birth control.
If longer term methods of birth control like MIrena IUD have been used, getting pregnant may be very difficult and in cases impossible, which is why the manufactures advise this form of birth control to be used only after a woman has finished her family.
Similarly tubal ligation is considered to be a permanent form of birth control and pregnancy may be possible only in some cases.
How long will getting pregnant after birth control take if the pill was being used
It isn’t the hormones in the pills that delay conception since the hormones themselves will get out of a woman’s system in just a few days after stopping the pills. However the body takes time to get back to normal ovulation and the production of follicles.
For most women this takes, on an average about 2 to 3 months after they stop taking the pill for their cycle and ovulation to regularize. However for some women’s cycle to regularize, it may take only a couple of weeks whereas for other women it could take significantly longer.
It doesn’t matter how long a woman has been on birth control pills – a few months or many years. The chances of getting pregnant do not decrease proportionately with how long a woman has been on the pill.
However getting pregnant after birth control can be difficult if a woman has had fertility issues even before she went on birth control.
Is getting pregnant after birth control safe?
Many women have the apprehension that the artificial hormones they have been consuming as pills may somehow impact a future pregnancy or harm the fetus in some way. This is not so however and the hormones are out of the system as soon as the pill is discontinued. So it is actually safe to get pregnant as soon as the pills are stopped.
If injectible forms of hormonal birth control such as Depo-Provera have been used, it can take up to one year for the hormones to get out of the body and conception can take longer than the pill.
What other things should you keep in mind about getting pregnant after birth control?
Experts advise that a pre-pregnancy supplement of folic acid should be started soon after discontinuing birth control or even when still on the last cycle of the birth control pill. This helps reduce risk of miscarriage and certain birth defects.
