The Science of Healthy Living

We interviewed a bunch of medical professionals to arrive at 5 tips that will help you get pregnant fast and easy.

We interviewed a bunch of medical professionals to arrive at 5 tips that will help you get pregnant fast and easy.

In general, people have many questions about how to get pregnant, especially if they have any underlying condition. Taking proper care of your body is a good first step to optimize your fertility. But what else can you do to improve your odds of having a baby?

One important advice for a woman who wants to get pregnant is to get to understand her body, specifically her menstrual cycle, according to Dr. Mary Ellen Pavone, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, and medical director of the in-vitro fertilization program at Northwestern Medicine's Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility division in Chicago, USA.

1. Take Note of menstrual cycle frequency

Any woman who wants to have a baby should monitor whether the first days of her periods tend to occur the same number of days apart every month, which is considered regular. Conversely, her periods may be irregular, meaning her cycle lengths vary from month to month. By tracking this information on a calendar, a woman can better predict when she might be ovulating, which is the time every month when her ovaries will release an egg. There are also some apps that can help with the tracking, such as GlowOvulation period tracker.

A woman's egg is fertile for only 12 to 24 hours after its release, according to the American Pregnancy Association. However, a man's sperm can survive in a woman's body for up to five days.

2. Have Steady Sex during the days of the Fertile Window

The "fertile window" spans a six-day interval  the five days prior to ovulation and the day of it, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Every month, a woman is most fertile on these days.

Most women today are turning to new technology tools, such as fertility-tracking apps and websites, to help them keep tabs on when they may be more likely to conceive, but a 2020 review in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health suggests that there is limited independent research on their accuracy. In a study published in 2016 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, scientists analyzed 50 popular fertility-tracking websites and apps with a hypothetical woman, and found that the results varied wildly, with many mistakenly tagging days outside of the fertility window, Live Science reported.

When a woman has identified that fertility window, should they have sex every day? Research has shown that there hasn't been a big difference in pregnancy rates between couples who had sex every day during the "fertile window" (37%) compared with couples who did it every other day (33%), Pavone said. "And having sex every other day might be easier for a couple to pull off," she added. 

Researchers evaluated hundreds of fertility and menstruation apps in the Apple app store, particularly for the quality of the app. The app quality score was based on several factors, such as the app’s usability, accuracy of information and tools provided, general features and specific fertility features, they reported in 2019 in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada. While 31 of the apps showed serious inaccuracies, a few rose to the top. Here are the top 3 starting with the apps with the highest AQS scores: 

Glow Ovulation, Period Tracker

Fertility Friend FF App

Clue: Health & Period Tracker

There are plenty of pregnancy myths and old wives' tales about conception. For example, there's no evidence that sex position will influence a couple's chances of having a baby, nor does a woman lying on her back for a certain amount of time after intercourse increase the odds of conceiving, Pavone told Live Science. 

But she said there are some water-based vaginal lubricants that can decrease the movement of sperm, so Pavone recommended using Pre-Seed rather than Astroglide or K-Y Jelly when lubrication is needed.

3. Get a preconception checkup.

Before you officially start trying, get a checkup. Ask your doctor about prenatal vitamins that have folic acid , which helps protect against some birth defects, such as spina bifida . Folic acid works during the early stages of pregnancy, so that's why it's important to make sure you're getting enough folic acid even before you get pregnant.

 "Do this the cycle before you start trying," says Paula Hillard, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University. "If you have any underlying medical problems, they need to be under control before you can safely become pregnant."

4. Do not worry about the best positions for getting pregnant.

Myths abound about the best positions for getting pregnant, but they are just that -- myths. There is really no scientific evidence saying that the missionary position is better than the woman being on top when it comes to maximizing your chances of making a baby.

"Very rarely, a woman's cervix is in an unusual position where certain positions can make a difference," Goldfarb tells WebMD.

Certain gravity-defying positions, such as sitting or standing during intercourse, however, may discourage sperm from traveling upstream. "It's a matter of gravity [and] you don't want all the semen to run out -- and semen are quick little critters," Hillard says.

5. Stop The Birth Control Pills

If you're popping birth control pills, pass on your prescription a few months before you start trying to conceive, suggests Christopher Williams, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist in private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia, and author of The Fastest Way to Get Pregnant Naturally. The same advice goes for other forms of hormonal birth control too. (You should stop getting Depo-Provera about nine months before.)

"After you've been using birth control for a while, it may take your body a few cycles to start ovulating regularly and be primed for pregnancy," Dr. Williams says. This gives you time to track your cycle and figure out when you ovulate, which is key for timing your baby-making.

But remember: Once you stop using birth control, it's possible to get pregnant at any time!

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