That epic moment when you decide it's time to stop birth control.
I still remember the day my husband and I were talking about stopping birth control and trying to get pregnant.
We were out to eat for breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast spots, talking about what the future would hold when we started our family.
And suddenly, baby fever set in BAD. I wanted to be pregnant yesterday and holding a baby in my arms turned from a distant dream to a near reality.
But here's something I didn't know during that conversation.
All forms of hormonal birth control suppress fertility, even after they are stopped.
Yes, some women may get pregnant the month after stopping the pill or getting their IUD out.
Or even get pregnant while using hormonal contraception.
But that's not typical. And it certainly should not be the expectation (but unfortunately, most women are not told what I'm about to tell you...)
In fact, even in women with all their reproductive ducks in a row -- meaning: hormones are all on point, ovulating healthy eggs each cycle, partner has top notch sperm, and all the other things that go into maximizing your fertility. These women have about a 25% of getting pregnant each cycle with correctly timed sex.
So chances that will not get pregnant the first, second, or even 3rd cycle that you are "trying" are pretty low -- even when fertility is optimized.
But add in a hormonal birth control, and the odds of conceiving in the first several months goes down even more.
The average time to pregnancy after stopping various forms of birth control (based on a study of 2841 women that looked at how long it took the average user to become pregnant after stopping various forms of birth control):
Condoms: 4 months
Progestin only pill: 6 months
Combination pill (estrogen + progestin): 8 months
IUD: 8 months
Implant: 10 months
Injectable contraception: 15 months
Bottom line: There is a 25% chance that a healthy woman will get pregnant in each cycle. In the months after coming off of hormonal birth control, that chance significantly declines and a woman can expect it will take longer for her full fertility to return.
Taking birth control may slow your time to pregnancy, but only temporarily.
The obvious good news is that this decline in fertility following hormonal birth control is temporary.
But, still is worth knowing when you are thinking about expanding a family.
Because there is nothing like that longing to get pregnant when you are ready to expand your family. And if it isn't happening in the timeframe you hoped or planned -- well, that can be stressful.
And stress is not good for hormone health -- and can cause significant issues with fertility.
If you are thinking about getting pregnant in the near-ish future and are still on the pill, there are a couple different ways to look at your situation:
You may choose to stop birth control ahead of when you want to start trying for a baby and use alternative means of contraception until you are ready to start trying (PS: don't get me started on the benefits of FAM!)
It may mean that you curb your expectations when you stop the pill to start trying for a pregnancy and realize it COULD take longer to get pregnant (and that nothing is wrong with your fertility -- it's just the expected post-pill sub fertility).
This is totally a personal decision between you and your partner.
And regardless of what you decide, this information can save some stress and heartache when it you're ready to get pregnant.
Sending all the fertile vibes,
Kaylee
Citation:
M.A.M. Hassan, S.R. Killick, Is previous use of hormonal contraception associated with a detrimental effect on subsequent fecundity?, Human Reproduction, Volume 19, Issue 2, 1 February 2004, Pages 344–351, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deh058
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