Everyone’s body is different. We all respond differently to things like medication, contagious illnesses and injury recovery. For instance, some people experience cold symptoms for just a few days, while it may take up to two weeks for others to be completely symptom-free. While a health care provider can give you general time frames on how long it will take to heal from a sprain or an infection, that’s not always the case for conceiving a child.
While it can be comforting to know exactly how long it will take to achieve conception, there is a pretty large time frame, often reaching more than a year. There are plenty of factors that can affect that window, but it’s important to not give up hope. Even when a couple struggles to conceive after a year, there are treatment options that can help with infertility.
Read on to learn about how long it can take to get pregnant and the factors that can play a role in the time frame.
What is the general timeline for getting pregnant?
Let’s start off by discussing how long the process of fertilizing an egg takes. It can actually take two to three weeks after sex before you become pregnant.
On average, it takes up to 45 minutes after ejaculation for the sperm to reach the egg. But if the sex takes place before ovulation, then the sperm can live up to five days to wait for an egg to fertilize. Once the egg is fertilized, it takes three to four days for it to travel to the uterus and then another three to four days to be fully implanted into the lining of your uterus.
The amount of time that it takes to conceive ranges from person to person. On average, most couples with a woman under 40 can become pregnant in less than one year of having sex on a regular basis without a form of birth control. There’s a 30% conception rate after just one month of trying and 75% after six months.
How age helps determine how long it takes to get pregnant
When discussing the length of time it takes to get pregnant, there are many factors that you should consider. As we’ve already touched on earlier, age plays a large role in the time frame of conception. While most women under 40 are often able to conceive in under one year, the probability continues to decrease as you get older.
About 1 in 4 women who are part of a healthy couple in their 20s and early 30s will conceive during a single menstrual cycle. About 1 in 10 will conceive during any single cycle by the time they’re 40.
A female’s fertility is at its peak in their 20s and starts to decline at the age of 30. Your egg count, known as your ovarian reserve, gets lower as time goes on. Women are born with about 1 million eggs, but that number declines as they age. By the age of 37, women have just about 25,000 eggs left. But it’s important to remember that the quality of your eggs is more important than the quantity, as it only takes one healthy egg to get pregnant.
3 factors to consider in the time frame of getting pregnant (besides age)
Even though many people don’t become pregnant as soon as they start trying, there are a few factors to think about when it comes to how long it takes for you to conceive. While age plays an essential role in the time frame, other factors to consider include:
- Stress — If you’re dealing with a lot of difficult situations at one time, such as being overwhelmed at work or financial issues, your stress hormones can disrupt your ovulation cycle. Anxiety can also affect fertility.
- Ovulation timing — You’re the most fertile on the day that you begin ovulation, as well as the five days leading up to it. If you’re not timing your sexual intercourse around ovulation, it may take longer to conceive.
- Birth control effects — Before starting to try conception, many women take a birth control method for years. It’s possible that there are residual effects from birth control that are still lingering. Most women are able to become pregnant within a year of stopping their birth control.
Fertility Cloud can help if it’s taking too long to get pregnant
Even though everyone becomes pregnant in their own time, you should take action after one year without conception. If you’re 35 years old or younger and unable to conceive after one year of trying, you may be dealing with infertility. If you’re over the age of 35, you may be infertile after six months of regular sexual intercourse without conception. But you shouldn’t give up hope.
At Fertility Cloud, our fertility specialists can help you explore the options available to help increase your chances of conceiving a baby.
Contact our team by phone today for more information or book an initial appointment online with a fertility specialist.