That epic moment when you decide it's time to stop birth control.
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I still remember the day my husband and I were talking about stopping birth control and trying to get pregnant.
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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.
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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.
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But here's something I didn't know during that conversation.
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All forms of hormonal birth control suppress fertility, even after they are stopped.
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Yes, some women may get pregnant the month after stopping the pill or getting their IUD out.
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Or even get pregnant while using hormonal contraception.
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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…)
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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.
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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.
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But add in a hormonal birth control, and the odds of conceiving in the first several months goes down even more.
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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):
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Condoms: 4 months
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Progestin only pill: 6 months
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Combination pill (estrogen + progestin): 8 months
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IUD: 8 months
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Implant: 10 months
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Injectable contraception: 15 months
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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.
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Taking birth control may slow your time to pregnancy, but only temporarily.
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The obvious good news is that this decline in fertility following hormonal birth control is temporary.
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But, still is worth knowing when you are thinking about expanding a family.
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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.
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And stress is not good for hormone health — and can cause significant issues with fertility.
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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:
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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!)
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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).
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This is totally a personal decision between you and your partner.
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And regardless of what you decide, this information can save some stress and heartache when it you're ready to get pregnant.
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Sending all the fertile vibes,
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Kaylee
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Citation:
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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