Chances of getting pregnant after 3 years of trying

Many women try for a baby after 35. Almost one in four (24%) pregnant Australian women are aged 35 and over. But there are risks and challenges you need to know about.

If you've been trying to get pregnant for six months or more, you should see a doctor to discuss your fertility.

It can be harder to get pregnant than when you were younger. You're at your most fertile in your early 20s. In general, fertility starts to decline faster after the age of 30, and declines more significantly after the age of 35.

The older you are, and your partner is, the more likely it is to take a long time to conceive.

Why does your fertility decline?

At birth your ovaries have all the eggs you will ever have — between 1 million and 2 million. By puberty, half of them will be gone. As you get older, the number of eggs continues to reduce. Also, your eggs age as you do, and older eggs don’t fertilise as easily.

But still, you only need one.

Improving your chances of becoming pregnant

You’ll have a better chance of getting pregnant if you understand your menstrual cycle. The average cycle is 28 days, but it can vary from anywhere between 20 to 40 days for some women.

If your cycle is regular, then you can know that you probably ovulate 2 weeks before the start of your next cycle. So you can work from that and work out the best time to have sex.

Also, both you and your partner should be as healthy as you can be. Apart from anything else, this really will help your chances of getting pregnant. You can both:

  • quit if you smoke, and avoid passive smoking
  • be a healthy weight
  • avoid alcohol
  • eat a healthy diet
  • check for and treat any sexually transmitted infections

When should you ask for help?

If you’re over 35 and you’ve been trying to get pregnant for six months or more, you should see a doctor.

For women under 35, the usual advice is to try for a year first, unless you know you have issues like endometriosis or other conditions that can affect your fertility.

Treatments

There are many options available for women who are having trouble getting pregnant. The treatment depends on the cause, so first you'd want to look into why there's a problem.

First, you and your partner would have a number of fertility tests, which might include sperm tests, checks for sexually transmitted infections, and possibly an ultrasound.

Depending on the results, your doctor might suggest treatments such as:

  • hormone therapy
  • IVF and variations such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
  • artificial insemination

These treatments can all work. None is guaranteed.

For example, most women have a 33% chance of taking home a baby after one IVF cycle, and 54% after 8 cycles. But for women aged 40 to 44, this decreases to 11% after one cycle and about 38% after 8 cycles.

If you get pregnant?

If you are over 35 and have become pregnant, it’s important that you get good antenatal care, as there are a few things that you need to watch out for, such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and the chance of twins.

You might also want to talk to your doctor or midwife about genetic counselling and tests like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.

More information

For more information and advice, call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436.

Scientific data

One study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, followed women who were trying to get pregnant by having sex at the time in their monthly cycle when they were believed to be most fertile. Of the 346 women in the study, 310 conceived in the first year. The breakdown was like this:

38 percent were pregnant after 1 month.
68 percent were pregnant after 3 months.
81 percent were pregnant after 6 months.
92 percent were pregnant after 12 months.

In their conclusion, the researchers wrote, “Most couples conceive within six cycles with timed intercourse.” After a year of trying without conceiving, experts say you should see a fertility specialist.

Not-so scientific data

We decided to take this (very excellent) question to moms and moms-to-be on The Bump Facebook page. (Keep in mind that these aren’t the most reliable results, seeing that if they’re our friends on Facebook, they’re more likely to have gotten pregnant, period. But at least it gives you a real-life example.) This is what they said:

34 percent of those who were trying were pregnant in the 1st month.
23 percent got pregnant in 1 to 3 months.
8 percent got pregnant in 3 to 6 months.
10 percent got pregnant in 6 to 12 months.
8 percent got pregnant in 1 to 2 years.
16 percent took more than 2 years to get pregnant.
1 percent tried but never conceived.

Reasons why

“With my son, we tried for seven months with no luck. I broke down and bought the Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor, and it worked in the first month.” — calgal1683

“For my first son, it was two and a half years, and he was a complete miracle. We were told that the chances of us conceiving naturally were less than 1 percent.” _— kellyloveszach _

“I got off the Pill in August after we got married and just let nature take its course. We got very lucky and it happened on our first try.” — runnergrl6675

“We weren’t actively trying, or charting, but we weren’t trying to prevent either. If it happened, it happened. It only took us six weeks from the first time we had sex completely birth-control- and condom-free.” — sunset+skies

“This pregnancy, I got my BFP on the ninth month trying to conceive. My husband and I were shocked because we anticipated it taking a full year again. With my daughter, it was 13 cycles before I got pregnant.” — EmmysMom08

“I finished my last pack of birth control pills in the month of April. We started trying to conceive in May, and I got pregnant in the fifth month of trying. I used an ovulation predictor kit after the third month of trying, and I’m glad I did because it helped me realize that I ovulate later in the month than is considered traditional.” — march2008

“I was ovulating 18 days after we got married, and that happened to be the day we got pregnant. We are so very blessed.” — wkfouts

“I got pregnant in the first month of trying. We were completely shocked because my first child took 11 months to conceive and my second child took a year to conceive.” — Baby4OT

Get pregnant faster

Want to up your chances of getting pregnant faster? Follow these steps:

• Naturally boost your fertility using these strategies.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.

Plus, more from The Bump:

How long does it take the average Trying couple to get pregnant?

Most couples are able to get pregnant within six months to a year. If you're unable to conceive after a full year of trying, it's a good idea to consult a fertility specialist. Sometimes there's an obvious cause of infertility, like a physical problem with the ovaries, uterus, or testicles.

Can it take a few years to get pregnant?

If you're under 35 and in good health, it's perfectly natural for it to take up to a year. It can take longer if you are older, however, for women aged 38, 67% who have regular unprotected sexual intercourse will still get pregnant after two years of trying2.

Is it normal to take 2 years to conceive?

Taking up to two years to get pregnant is normal for some couples. It may feel far from normal if it's happening to you. But it doesn't necessarily mean you have a fertility problem . About half of the couples who don't get pregnant within a year of trying will conceive the following year, if they keep trying .

How many times do couples try to get pregnant?

02/6​The study On an average, couples have sex 78 times from the time they start trying to the time they get a positive result. These 78 times are spread over 158 days or about 6 months. A study surveyed 1,194 parents and found that most couples have sex 13 times a month while they are trying to conceive.