Not Pregnant Yet? Keep Calm and Carry On!

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Still not pregnant after months of trying? If you're under 30, experts say keep on keeping on—at least a little longer.

The Scoop

When you've been trying for months to get pregnant and you're just still getting the result you want, it's all too easy to start feeling a little anxious about your fertility—or you may even be at the point of considering fertility treatment options. But the best course of action when your efforts to conceive don't seem to be working? If you are in your 20s or early 30's, fertility experts say to just keep trying a little longer.

The reason why? According to a study from the University of Queensland in Australia, researchers report that half of women who say they have been trying for at least a year to become pregnant eventually do, despite not undergoing any type of fertility treatment. For worried couples who think fertility treatments may be their only option at this point, researchers also report that conception rates among women who continued to try to conceive naturally were only slightly lower than women who immediately opted for fertility drugs or in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

"Many women aged up to 36 years with a history of infertility can achieve spontaneous conception and live birth without using fertility treatment...," explains lead researcher Danielle Herbert, of the University of Queensland School of Population Health in Brisbane (via EmaxHealth). He clarifies that this is because many women are sometimes diagnosed as "infertile" when they are really "subfertile," which means they can eventually become pregnant.

Your Fertility

When is it time to get help? Researchers note that if a woman does not have any obvious health problems, including regular menstruation, and their partners have a normal sperm count, they should remain optimistic that they can get pregnant on their own. To rule out any problems, make an appointment for a preconception checkup for you—and your partner.