When is the best time to get pregnant?

By Dr Irina Webster

How many women (and maybe men) want to know the answer to this simple question?

But is this question really simple to answer? For some people maybe yes. But for others who have been trying to conceive for a long time and have never succeeded it is not.

So, when you are likely to conceive? Of course it is at ovulation time when an egg is released and ready to be fertilized. But why is pregnancy so difficult to achieve sometimes?

What happens is: when a woman is young (in her twenties) she ovulates nearly every month, excluding the time of severe stress, illness or other changes that affect ripening and releasing an egg.

The older she becomes her ovulation comes less often. Some women may have a chronic condition or illnesses that can also make ovulation irregular.

So a women in her late 30s or 40s who are still trying to get pregnant but can't despite of having frequent intercourse, may experience ovulation only once in 2-3 months, in some cases maybe even less often.

This makes it very easy for a couple to miss their 1-2 days of peak ovulation time to make conception happen.

For this reason it is really important to know the exact ovulation time to conceive or you are just wasting your efforts.

It is scientifically proven now, that in order to achieve a healthy viable pregnancy you need freshly released egg and sperm. What does this mean - freshly released?

Sperm life span is about 3 days after ejaculation. Sperm is considered to be freshly released in the 1st and maybe 2nd day. On the third day sperm becomes old and potentially defective. Even if old sperm fertilizes the egg, the pregnancy is likely to abort in the early stages (often it appears as a heavy period, heavier than usual).

What should you do to avoid this happening?

In order to avoid fertilization with old defective sperm, you should avoid sex 3-4 days before ovulation occurs, then start having frequent intercourse the day before ovulation and at the time of ovulation. After ovulation you should abstain for 1-2 days again to avoid impregnating an old egg.

For example, if your ovulation occurs on day 14 you should:

- abstain on day 11-12 (to avoid old sperm)

- have frequent intercourse on day 13 and 14

- abstain again on day 15 (to avoid old egg)

This scheme will ensure fertilization occurs when a fresh egg and sperm are present and avoids fertilization of an old egg with old sperm which normally result in early miscarriage.

This example shows you that there is only two days in a cycle you are likely to get pregnant with a viable pregnancy. But if ovulation occurs only once in a two-three or a four month period, it will be even harder to get pregnant if you don't know exactly your ovulation time and have frequent intercourse exactly at the time of ovulation.

To sum up, if you have been trying for a long time to have a baby and it is not happening: then it is a sure bet you are missing the vital times (especially in cases of unexplained infertility). You need to learn your exact ovulation time or you will continue to miss.

Secondly, you should avoid conception with old eggs and old sperm as they are potentially defective and often don't progress to a healthy pregnancy.

Dr Irina Webster MD is the Director of Women Health Issues Program which covers different areas of Women Health. She is a recognised authority in the natural fertility area. She is an author of many books and a public speaker. Learn more about infertility problems Dr Irina Webster believes that the majority of women health problems can be treated naturally without drugs or surgical treatment.