IN THIS ARTICLE
Finding the right form of birth control is crucial when avoiding pregnancy is the goal. There’s a lot to consider when choosing what works best for your body and your lifestyle, but many women may not factor into their family planning how long it will take to get pregnant after stopping birth control.
However, once pregnancy changes from something to be prevented to something you are actively seeking, you may find yourself wondering how your birth control impacted your fertility and how soon you might be able to get pregnant. The good news is that most healthy women under the age of 35 are likely to get pregnant within a year of stopping birth control. Not all birth control methods are created equal, however — the return to fertility can be longer after stopping some methods than others. Let’s take a closer look at how quickly your body can be ready for a baby after a few of the most common forms of birth control.
Nonhormonal methods
If you and your partner use a nonhormonal method of birth control, including natural family planning, condoms, diaphragms, or spermicide, you’ll be back to regular fertility the moment you decide to stop using that method. Couples who have been using fertility awareness methods that involve tracking the woman’s cycle may actually get pregnant faster than average, as they are experienced in successfully identifying the most fertile days of the month.
After an IUD
An IUD can be a great longer-term birth control option, with the most common ones lasting from 3 to 5 years, but once it is removed, it doesn’t have a long-term impact on your fertility. Once your IUD is removed, your fertility will return to normal and you can get pregnant as early as your next cycle. According to Dr. Jingwen Hou, an OB-GYN with Kaiser Permanente, some “20% percent of the people conceived within one month of removing an IUD.”
Taking out the implant
The birth control implant, also known as Nexplanon, is a tiny rod that releases hormones that prevent pregnancy and can remain in the body for up to five years. It can be removed at any time. Once removed, a woman may be able to get pregnant as early as her next cycle, as the hormones do not remain in the body after the implant is removed.
Life off the pill
Doctors used to advise that women wait a few months after stopping the pill to try to get pregnant, for fear that the hormones in the pill might increase the risk of miscarriage. We now know that those hormones don’t remain in your system and that there is no reason not to start trying as soon as you are ready. Once you stop the pill, you have the potential to get pregnant as soon as you ovulate, usually about two weeks after your last pill. It may take longer for women whose cycles weren’t regular prior to being on birth control (and you should see a doctor if your period hasn’t returned after three months). For those who are ovulating, conception can happen fairly quickly. While it can vary by age, about half of women get pregnant in the first three cycles after stopping regular-dose or low-dose birth control pills.
Women who use a birth control patch or a vaginal ring, both of which prevent pregnancy in similar ways to the pill, can also expect to see a quick return to fertility — usually within the same three-month window described above.
Stopping the shots: Depo-Provera
Women who don’t want to take a daily pill may opt for the Depo-Provera shot, which provides effective coverage and requires only four shots per year. Women who use Depo-Provera for longer than a year often report that they no longer have a period, which can last for a few months after stopping the shots. Depo-Provera shots have the longest-lasting effects on fertility of all of the major forms of birth control. Although some women are able to get pregnant soon after ending the treatment, it can take up to 10 months from the time of the last shot for many women to return to fertility. For a small number of women, regular ovulation doesn’t return for up to 18 months. If you’ve been using Depo-Provera, you’ll want to plan for a longer path to pregnancy than women who use other methods.
