Increasing the chances of conceiving naturally Part II

When should you be having sex?

A woman is generally fertile during the 6 days prior to ovulation. Her fertility declines dramatically once she has ovulated. Wilcox et al. (1995) extensively studied 221 presumed fertile women and determined that the 2 days prior to ovulation was the most fertile period—this is the best time to get pregnant. (You can use this online fertility calendar to help identify when this time will occur for you.)

In a woman who is ovulating on day-14, the chance of getting pregnant is 3.2% on cycle day-8 and 9.4% by cycle day-12 and less than 2% by cycle day-21.

Aging generally does not affect the days when a woman is fertile (“fertile window”). However, the likelihood of success decreases with increasing age.

It is not always easy to predict ovulation, especially in patients with irregular menses. For most couples, the best advice is to increase the frequency of intercourse beginning after the woman has stopped her menstrual bleeding.