When it comes to planning a family, it seems that everyone you know has advice. But there are many popular misconceptions about conception, so to increase your chances of becoming pregnant it is important to separate the facts from the fiction.
Your friends and family may have lots of helpful advice about how to best conceive a child, but is everything they tell you completely accurate? The problem with conception is that what works for one person may not necessarily work for another; one person's experience with conception will not be identical to your own.
Some commonly accepted "facts" about pregnancy that should be taken with a grain of salt include:
"You will become pregnant if you have intercourse exactly 14 days after your period."
While it is true your chances of conceiving a child are far greater if you have intercourse while you are ovulating, following the 14 day rule is not necessarily useful. Unless you have a perfect 28 day cycle, which is unlikely, ovulation will not necessarily occur on the 14th day. It is better to use ovulation tests to determine when you are most fertile and plan your efforts according to your own body. However, it is also important to understand that even if you do have intercourse at the exact right time, conception is not guaranteed as there are many other factors that come into play.
"Once you stop using birth control methods you can get pregnant right away."
This may be true for barrier methods of birth control such as condoms, but hormonal forms of birth control may continue to affect your body after you have discontinued use. The pill and other hormonal methods of birth control affect your body’s hormone levels and natural cycles, so it can take your body a bit of time to re-adjust and regulate itself again. It is different for different people, but be aware that your body may need time before it is possible to conceive.
"The more often you have sex the greater the chances of conception."
Timing is far more important than frequency when it comes to conceiving a child. You are most likely to conceive when you are ovulating, so it is important to understand your cycle and use ovulation tests to determine when you are most fertile, and to concentrate your efforts around this time in cycle.
"You'll have a better chance of conceiving if you relax and stop worrying about it."
Many well-meaning friends will tell you not to worry, but even assuming this were possible, there's no clinical evidence that it makes a difference. Of course, extreme stress and clinical anxiety can affect your ability to ovulate in very rare cases, "worrying about it," especially if that worry takes the form of monitoring ovulation and timing intercourse to coincide with your most fertile time, can only help.
"Too much sex can lower your chances of getting pregnant"
While technically it may be true that if a man ejaculates too frequently his overall sperm count in subsequent ejaculate will decrease, this is not usually something to worry about when trying to get pregnant. The fact is, men can replenish their sperm count within two days, and one study found that couples who had daily intercourse had the highest fertility rates.
"Certain positions are better for conception."
When you are ovulating, your cervical mucus becomes a different texture with an increased ability to "catch" sperm, so chances of conception are greater. Therefore, you don't need a special position to keep the sperm in. although it is true that sperm deposited closest to the cervix will have the best chance of fertilizing the egg, so using positions that allow for deep penetration or tilting your pelvis upwards may help.
"Both partners need to have an orgasm in order to conceive"
Obviously, the dad-to-be must have an orgasm in order to conceive. It's helpful for mom-to-be to have an orgasm since it helps sperm move up the reproductive tract, but it is not explicitly necessary.
"If you have sex early in your fertile period, the baby will be a boy; later, a girl."
There's an old wives' tale that "boy sperm" (those with Y-chromosomes) swim faster than their female counterparts, but extensive research has found no clinical basis for this old myth.
"If your first baby was conceived easily, your second will be as well."
Unfortunately, just because your first baby was conceived easily, things could have changed since then. Many couples are diagnosed with secondary infertility, which is infertility after already conceiving a child.