Can you try to conceive right after stopping the birth control pill?

Question

My wife and I want to start trying for our first baby in January.

Her last birth control pack runs out in early January.

She has been on the pill non stop for around 5 years.

Can we start trying right away?

And will it take a long time to conceive since she has been on the pill for 5 years?

Answer 1

You can start trying at anytime after she stop's the pill, depending on her body you may conceive the first month or it may take awhile. You can get a basal body thermometer and take her temp evey morning, have her watch what her body is doing, and a great book to read is..Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weshler (about $25 @ a local bookstore) Good luck TTC!!

Answer 2

Any doctor will tell you it's not good to start trying right away after getting off birth control. The best thing to do is wait a few months. You should give it some time so the hormones from the pill are completely out of her system. There could be an increased chance of a difficult pregnancy if your wife conceives with some of the hormones from the pill still in her body. If her pack runs out in January, why not wait a month and start trying in February? Since she has been on the pill for 5 years there is a chance she won't get pregnant right away anyway. However there have been cases of females getting pregnant immediately after getting off the pill. It all depends on your wife's body because every female is different. Good luck!

Answer 3

Not EVERY doctor will tell you to wait after going off the pill. My OBGYN informed me that you are more likely to get pregnant the first month after going off the pill becuase you are more likely to ovulate that month. In fact, women who don't ovulate regularly are sometimes put on birth control pills for one month to help them ovulate the following month. Also, the pill only stays in your system for 24 hours, which is why you have to take one everyday to prevent pregnancy. My OBGYN is continually updating his education and learning about the latest research in fertility. I had many issues interfering with conception, so had it not been for my Dr., I probably would have never conceived.

I would recommend your wife to set up an appointment with her OGBYN to consult with him/her about ttc. He/she may want to run some routine tests to find out if there is anything that could interfere with conception, such as a hormone imbalance. Make a list of all the questions for the Dr. before the appointment. You may want to join her for the appointment.

It's great that you're thinking this far ahead. I would recommend making healthier lifestyle choices (if needed) and have your wife start taking pre-natal vitamins now. You can by OTC ones which are fine, but when she gets prenant she should take the Rx ones because they contain more folic acid, which is important in early fetal development. Best of luck for quick conception and a healthy baby.

Answer 4

There's no way for any of us to know if it will take a long time to conceive. One of you may have fertility problems, or you both could be fertile myrtle. It's possible to get pregnant right after stopping birth control, but I would wait a few months so her body can get regulated again.

Answer 5

Yes some women can conceive right after stoping the pill or even on the pill . juse depends on who you are and wh at your take.
I'd stop taking the pill go see the doctor and have her get a paps smear and you the guy get a sperm count sometimes it's not just the women.
but no it's never too late just depends on you.
good luck

Answer 6

i stop taking the pill April 30 - 2006
and found out i was pregnant July 5 - 2006
but i had a miscarrage on July 18 th - 2006
some ppl say that i should have tryed to wait at least three months after the birth control. ask your doct. about that.
and god be with yall,,,,

Answer 7

It is a possibility. However, they recommend that women wait about 3 months after stopping the pill before actively trying to conceive. Also, the pill can cause early abortions/miscarriages and when taken before the first full term pregnancy, increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer later on and can cause permanent infertility (miscarriages) and even strokes/death.
Here is an excerpt from an article (study cited and named within):
"If a woman takes the oral contraceptive pill before her first child is born, she suffers at least a 40% increased risk of developing breast cancer. If she takes oral contraceptive pills for four years or more prior to her first baby, she suffers at least a 72% increased risk according to the meta-analysis by Romieu (1990) [Romieu I, Berlin J, et al. Oral contraceptives and breast cancer. Review and meta-Analysis. Cancer. 1990; 66: 2253-2263. ].

Women who took oral contraceptive pills early in their lives and who develop breast cancer generally develop more aggressive breast cancer and have a poorer prognosis."

Taking the pill for more than 5 years was my mom's only risk factor. No one told her that it was linked to breast cancer. She died when I was 16. She was only 48 years old. I'm really sorry if this is all really scary, I just feel that the pharmicuetical companies seem to control both media coverage and doctors' knowledge of breast cancer (Doctors' classes are often spondered by pharm. companies) and women arn't being fully informed before they make decisions about their bodies. And what sort of husband would ask his wife to put herself at risk like this just to make sex more "convenient?" Certainly not a real man! And yet no one is telling men about this either!

My husband and I practice Natural Family Planning or NFP to determine when I am fertile and we time when we have intercourse to avoid getting pregnant (in the past) or to try to conceive (starting this month--yay!). Here's the jist: we track my basal body temperature (temperature of me while at rest--sleeping) and my mucus discharge. My temperature (like every woman's) rises at least .4 degrees after I've ovulated--this information is useful to determine ovulation, although only after the fact--so it helps with determining when those final 3 days of fertility are. My discharge (like every women not contracepting) becomes wetter, first thicker and then slippery. Also, a woman's cervix rises as she becomes fertile and opens a little (allowing more sperm to enter). I use the combination of these signs to determine my first days of fertility (I've never been off by more than 2 days and I've always played it safe if I wasn't sure). One plug for NFP: it doesn't introduce any un-natural chemicals into a woman's body, it encourages men to be involved in family planning and it can help couples avoid pregnancy AND achieve it depending on how they use it.
Do NOT use a computer's or online ovulation calculator. This is basically the rhythm method (even though the website does not differentiate b/w the two, they are VERY different--the rhythm method is MUCH less effective--more like 60%. NFP is about 98% effective--but you do need to take a class from an informed instructor to be sure you are practicing it correctly). I'm providing a link below with more information about NFP. I hope you've found this helpful!
God Bless and Good Luck!