Q&A: How long after stopping the Pill can I try to get pregnant?

The answer to this question will vary from doctor to doctor. What I tell my patients is to wait until there have been three spontaneous cycles off of the pill before actively trying to conceive. Since the very egg one conceives with begins its maturation a few months before actually being released, waiting three months will allow conception with an unpolluted egg, so to speak. Is there anything overwhelmingly scientific to back up this advice? Not really, except it makes sense to try to ovulate with an egg that is pristine.

Of course, this flies in the face of the fact that many children are born every year who were conceived while their mothers were on the pill!

Some doctors recommend waiting six months; some say three. It's not really a hard and fast rule. One thing, though, that is scientifically proven—take folic acid (at least 600 micrograms daily—or 0.6 mg) in a prenatal vitamin during your non-contraceptive time. It will greatly decrease the risk of miscarriage, neural tube defects, and other abnormalities if you're on folic acid at the time you conceive.