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When planning for baby number two, women with a history of fertility issues may question how getting pregnant for a second time will be different than the first. The decision to expand the family is an exciting one. However, for couples who have experienced infertility in the past, preparing for a second baby can cause fear, anxiety and uncertainty.
Thankfully, second-time parents have experienced pregnancy before, which can help relieve the stress of the unknown. Taking the time to consider the factors that can affect a second pregnancy can give couples an idea of what to expect this time around.
It may be important to some couples that their children be close in age, motivating them to expand their families more quickly than others. While the decision is ultimately a personal one, not waiting long enough between pregnancies can be risky for both the mother and baby, especially if the previous pregnancy was strenuous.
Research suggests that ideally, women should wait 18 months between pregnancies. The interpregnancy period for women who have a history of infertility issues is not any longer or shorter than for women without.
Pregnancies less than 12 months apart can put infants at risk of congenital disorders such as preeclampsia and in some cases developmental disorders such as autism. Studies found that short interpregnancy intervals carry a 3% increased risk of preeclampsia and two to three-fold increased autism risk. Babies conceived within six months of a previous birth have an 8.5% risk of being born prematurely and the risk of miscarriage in these pregnancies increases by 230%.
Having a baby is no easy task and while it may be natural for new moms to shift focus from caring for themselves to caring for their new baby, it is important that women dedicate enough time after giving birth to recovering both physically and mentally.
Research shows that mothers need at least 12 months post-birth to fully recover in the following ways:
While not waiting enough time between pregnancies is ill-advised, waiting too long to get pregnant carries its own set of risks. One study found that women waiting 72 months or longer between pregnancies were at a higher risk of stillbirth than women who waited less than 6 months. This can be traced back to physiological changes affecting pregnancy in older women.
Couples on their second pregnancy have naturally aged since the birth of their first baby, which automatically decreases fertility in both partners. Parents who experienced fertility issues with their first baby should also take into consideration the role of aging in infertility.
Women who used ART, such as IVF, for their first baby may be worried about how this might affect their chances of having a second child. While there are no guarantees, a recent study published very positive results for IVF baby number two, reporting 43% of women had another baby after just one frozen embryo transfer. After six cycles of frozen embryo transfer between 61% and 88% of women had a baby.
It is important to note that these results differ when using fresh embryos, with successful birth rates standing at 31% after one IVF cycle. Frozen embryos are advantageous especially for women who are older at the time of the cycle than they were upon freezing the embryos.
IVF technology has advanced immensely, giving women with fertility issues a much greater chance at having children than ever before. That being said, science cannot prevent the aging process altogether and women who know they want to have a second baby should not wait too long before starting the process again. The study showed that success rates decreased with age, with women aged 40 at a 20% chance of getting pregnant with fresh embryos.
Women who experienced fertility issues with their first baby are likely familiar with the potential causes of primary infertility and how these factors might affect a second pregnancy. After giving birth, however, women can sometimes sustain damage to their reproductive organs caused by complications during pregnancy or surgery, posing a different set of infertility risks.
Some of the leading causes of reproductive organ damage are:
For parents that experienced difficulty with conception or pregnancy in the past, the thought of going through a similar process again may bring up more feelings of anxiety than excitement. Fertility problems can be traumatic and isolating, leading some to self-blame.
It may be hard to remember, but millions of couples face fertility issues each year. Some may find comfort in the fact that they are not alone in their struggles and can look to support groups or counselors. Building strong support networks either through therapy, friends, or family, can help cope with feelings of fear and loneliness surrounding the topic.
Some may prefer to keep their fertility treatments private. In this case, strong communication between partners is important to maintaining emotional health in the relationship. Setting realistic expectations before trying for a second child can help prepare for emotions that may arise, no matter the outcome.
Sometimes fertility can take center stage, making it easy to forget the importance of self-care. Mothers need to take care of themselves by exercising, eating right, and getting proper rest. Anxiety can negatively affect fertility, so while it may seem difficult, relaxing can actually make a difference.
Becoming as informed as possible can help empower couples by allowing them to make the right decisions depending on their situation. Consulting a fertility specialist is the best way to determine the best course of action.
Families that take time to do their research can regain a sense of control and calm. No matter the chosen path to becoming a second-time, we hope your experience is as smooth as possible.
For couples who conceived easily and naturally and had a healthy birth for their first, or even second and third, children, secondary infertility (SI) can be a huge shock. But the truth is that secondary infertility occurs approximately as often as primary infertility.
Secondary infertility means that a couple was unable to conceive after 12 months of unprotected sex, after having previously had one or more healthy pregnancies and births. Some couples with secondary infertility are able to conceive, but experience miscarriages and/or stillbirth that prevents them from reaching a live birth.
Some couples have secondary infertility after multiple previous healthy births.
Note that it’s only called secondary infertility if your first birth occurred naturally. If you used fertility treatment like IVF to get pregnant the first time round, then any struggles to get pregnant a second time are considered part of your primary infertility.
It’s generally thought that secondary infertility affects about as many couples as primary infertility. One study from 2006 reported that 3.3 million women suffered from secondary infertility, and that secondary infertility now accounts for 60% of all cases of infertility.
Another study revealed that among women aged 20-44, 10.5% experienced secondary infertility, while a report from the CDC calculated that 39% of women with fertility issues were suffering from secondary infertility.
It’s clear from these figures that a significant number of couples experience secondary infertility, but it goes under the radar of society far more than primary infertility.
Secondary infertility can originate in either the woman or the man.. It’s estimated that SI cases are divided roughly equally between male-caused infertility, female-caused infertility, and secondary infertility due to unknown causes.
When secondary infertility originates in the woman, it can be caused by:
Secondary infertility that originates in men can be caused by:
The good news is that treatment for secondary infertility can have higher success rates than those for primary infertility. That’s because it’s usually possible to identify a specific cause for SI, and once the cause has been dealt with, fertility levels return.
In general, treatments for secondary infertility are similar to those for primary infertility.
When secondary infertility is caused by adhesions in the uterus or testicular varicocele, surgery to remove the scar tissue, fibroids, or other blockages, and to fix enlarged veins in men, can be very successful.
When secondary infertility originates in the woman, they are often given medications such as clomiphene and letrozole to increase and speed up ovulation and overcome ovulatory disorders.
When SI originates in men, they may be given antioxidants and anti-aging medication to improve sperm quality.
Depending on the cause of the SI, couples might be counselled about changing their diet to lose weight, reducing their caffeine and/or alcohol intake, and/or avoiding certain pollutants.
Timed intercourse together with ovulation monitoring can also help couples with secondary infertility to conceive.
Intrauterine insemination, or IUI, is when sperm is surgically placed within the fallopian tubes to increase the chances of fertilization. It’s been found to be very successful among couples with unexplained secondary infertility, with one study reporting IUI success rates of 47.4% among couples with SI, in contrast with 8.4% among those with primary infertility.
If other approaches don’t result in a healthy pregnancy, couples with secondary infertility are often advised to try IVF. IVF can be more successful among couples with SI than those with primary infertility.
Secondary infertility might be less talked about than primary infertility, but it can be just as upsetting for couples trying for another baby. If you’re struggling to conceive after one or more healthy births, take heart from knowing there are many successful treatment options which can help you build the family you dream of. Whatever path you take to adding to your family, we hope it’s as smooth as possible.
If you’re in a toxic relationship with a partner who’s physically, mentally, or emotionally abusive, or is hyper-controlling when it comes to money, sex, or daily life, it’s probably best to delay trying to start a family until your relationship reaches a more healthy place.
But a toxic relationship can spring up in almost any area of your life: at work, with your boss or a colleague; with your siblings or parents; or with someone you think of as a friend.
If you’re in a toxic relationship, you might find it hard to concentrate at work, difficult to enjoy yourself when you’re with your friends, and even struggle to sleep well at night. But have you considered that your bad relationship could also be affecting your ability to conceive?
Having a conversation with a toxic friend or relative can be incredibly stressful, and stress can impact fertility levels. Even seeing them or just thinking about them can raise your levels of alpha-amylase and cortisol, the primary stress hormones, and trigger your brain to release adrenaline which preps your body’s “fight or flight” response.
As well as leaving you feeling jumpy and exhausted, when these hormone levels are elevated, it throws your body’s hormone balance out of whack and that can affect production of vital reproductive hormones.
Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) is the substance your body produces to trigger the release of sex hormones like estrogen, which controls a woman’s menstrual cycle and ovulation, and testosterone, which governs men’s sperm quality and sperm count. Scientists have suggested that higher stress hormone levels could interfere with GnRH production, and thus affect both male and female fertility.
When men experience high levels of stress, it can also boost the release of glucocorticoids, which are steroid hormones that influence testosterone and thus affect sperm production.
Being in a toxic relationship means that you are frequently attacked, demeaned, undermined, and generally made to feel worthless and like a failure. No matter how much you tell yourself that “it’s them, not me,” or how many times your friends and partner reassure you, this kind of attack can drag down your self-esteem and trigger depression, anxiety, or both.
Both depression and anxiety can affect your fertility. As well as causing stress hormone levels to rise, anxiety disorders can be accompanied by an imbalance in your estrogen or testosterone levels.
Depression can interrupt the regular functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is the central system controlling the menstrual cycle, or disrupt the body’s ability to regulate the luteinizing hormone that is responsible for ovulation.
It might not be the relationship itself which affects your fertility, but the way that you cope with its impact on your life.
If you’re in a toxic relationship, there’s a good chance that you’ll use alcohol, cigarettes and tobacco products, and “comfort foods” to help yourself calm down and recover from a painful interaction.
Although moderate drinking hasn’t been found to have much effect on either male or female fertility, drinking too much — defined as 4-6 drinks a week or more — can be harmful. One study found that women who drink more than 4 alcoholic drinks weekly are more than twice as likely to have a miscarriage as woman who don’t drink, and women who are heavy drinkers could experience menopause at an earlier age.
For men, heavy drinking is often associated with erectile and ejaculatory dysfunctions, which make it difficult to conceive, while long term, heavy alcohol use can lower testosterone, cause testicular atrophy which damages sperm production, and trigger liver dysfunction, which in turns leads to hormonal imbalances when the liver can’t metabolize estrogens effectively.
However, if you’re undergoing IVF, even one extra drink a day for women can significantly affect your chances of success. It’s also known that moderate to high alcohol consumption during early pregnancy can damage the unborn fetus and cause alcohol-related birth defects.
If you quit smoking, you’ll know how easy it is to restart when times get stressful, but any amount of cigarette smoke can make it harder to get pregnant. One study found that if one member of the couple smokes, it can take them around twice as long to conceive than for non-smoking couples.
For women, the chemicals in cigarettes can harm the ovaries and produce poor-quality eggs, as well as disrupting your brain’s endocrine function which is responsible for producing and releasing sex hormones.
Men who smoke are affected too. Cigarette toxins can damage the DNA in sperm and reduce sperm quality, affecting their ability to fertilize the egg and increasing miscarriage rate when conception does occur. 120,000 men in the UK aged 20-39 are infertile because of smoking.
When men and women turn to food to soothe their feelings, they are very likely to eat foods that are high in fat, sugar, and chemicals, speeding up weight gain and obesity which in turn affect fertility.
One study found that your chances of getting pregnant naturally within 1 year (the definition of normal fertility) drop by about 5% for every extra BMI point a woman has above 29. Men who have a BMI of over 25 could see sperm counts fall 22% and sperm concentration drop 24%.
Women who become obese, or eat far too little, could experience anovulation, where the ovaries stop producing eggs on a regular basis or quit altogether.
It’s not surprising that people in toxic relationships have trouble sleeping, because their anxiety and stress levels are so high and they struggle to wind down enough to sleep. But the body uses sleep to regulate hormone production, so if you’re not sleeping well, it can throw your sex hormones out of sync.
Finally, toxic relationships have a way of taking over your life. Everything you do revolves around your reaction to the last incident, or your attempts to avoid having another bad interaction, to the extent that you can’t even enjoy sex. Less sex is practically guaranteed to lower your chances of conceiving.
A toxic relationship can even end up poisoning the other, healthy, relationships in your life, causing your stable marriage or partnership to fall apart.
There’s any number of reasons for leaving a toxic relationship, but it seems like you can add fertility to the list. If you’re hoping to start a family, whether through IVF or by conceiving naturally, removing toxic relationships from your life can only be a good move. We hope your path to parenthood will be smooth and stress-free.
It’s common knowledge that smoking cigarettes can reduce a woman’s ability to conceive. But as the e-cigarette craze continues sweeping the globe, the trend raises questions about the impact of consuming tobacco and nicotine in other forms, such as vaping, for women trying to conceive.
So, how does vaping really affect fertility?
The negative impact of smoking on fertility can’t be overstated. Multiple studies and meta-analyses have found that:
With cigarette smoking linked to both troubles in conceiving and negative outcomes for pregnancy, doctors recommend that women who are trying to get pregnant stop smoking. Even a few cigarettes a week can put a roadblock between a woman and a healthy pregnancy.
It’s clear that smoking reduces the chances of becoming pregnant naturally. Can the same be said for women who are trying to conceive via assisted reproduction?
An American study of women undergoing IVF treatments found that smokers experienced lower rates of success. They had a 50% reduction in implantation and ongoing pregnancy rate, compared to women who did not smoke during their treatment cycle.
Strikingly, the study found that women who had stopped smoking shortly before their treatment cycle had the same rates of implantation and full-term pregnancy as non-smokers, illustrating just how damaging smoking is for fertility.
That conclusion was confirmed by a Danish study, which found a direct link between smoking and unsuccessful fertility treatments. Tobacco use before and during pregnancy lead to higher rates of maternal, fetal, and infant morbidity and mortality, the researchers wrote, along with lower rates of pregnancy.
Often touted as a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, vaping refers to consuming tobacco via an electronic device. There are a number of vaping devices on the market. Some are visually similar to traditional cigarettes, while others are sleek, futuristic-looking devices.
Unlike cigarettes, these battery-powered devices heat up cartridges filled with liquid, turning them into vapor which is then inhaled by the user.
Because the most damaging chemicals in cigarette smoke -- carbon monoxide and tar -- are not present in vape smoke, the UK’s National Health Service has recommended that smokers try vaping as a tool to wean themselves off cigarettes.
However, vaping is not harmless. Vape liquid contains large amounts of highly addictive nicotine, and initial studies have linked the practice to lung irritation. And because vaping is so new, the long-term effects are still unknown.
While research is ongoing, it appears that yes, vaping can lead to fertility difficulties.
A recent study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society found a correlation between e-cigarette use and embryo implantation. Researchers found that mice exposed to e-cigarette vapor had major delays in the onset of their first litters, along with difficulties in embryo implantation. In pregnant mice, vaping “caused changes in metabolic, inflammatory, neurological, and pulmonary factors within exposed offspring.”
In other words, there was a strong connection between delayed pregnancy, impaired implantation of embryos, birth defects, and vaping. The negative impact on both fertility and fetal health should serve as a caution for women who vape that are considering becoming pregnant.
Researchers from Oregon State University found in a meta-analysis that “e-cigarette usage during pregnancy will be as harmful to fetal lung development as is conventional cigarette usage.”
But it’s not just women’s fertility that’s impacted by vaping. Men who use e-cigarettes daily were found to have poorer quality sperm and lower sperm counts than non-smokers.
A Polish study noted that vaping liquid contains a range of harmful substances that have the potential to affect fertility, including “endocrine disruptors, which disturb hormonal balance and morphology and the function of the reproductive organs.”
Although e-cigarettes may be safer than traditional cigarettes, nicotine is definitively linked to health risks for both pregnant women and their fetuses.
Some of the dangers for babies exposed to nicotine in utero include:
For women who are trying to conceive, there’s a clear link between smoking and a higher chance of ectopic pregnancy. Nicotine has been found to cause a spike in abnormal sperm morphology among male mice, and it’s likely that also applies to humans.
E-cigarette liquid is largely unregulated, which means that it’s hard to know just how much nicotine one cartridge contains. This lack of standardization adds another risk factor for women who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant.
Absolutely!
If you’re thinking about becoming pregnant, this is an excellent time to put the vape down and embrace a nicotine-free life. While it’s tempting to think that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking, the truth is that vaping can also seriously hurt your health - not to mention that of your future baby.
There are many resources available to help you kick your tobacco habit before you become pregnant. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is one option, but you should consult with your doctor about the best plan of action for you.
Cutting out nicotine doesn’t just raise your chances of becoming pregnant - whether you’re conceiving naturally or using reproductive assistance - it can also increase the likelihood of carrying a baby to term. Not to mention that your baby will have a smaller risk of potential issues upon birth.
Although research is still ongoing into whether or not e-cigarettes are safer than traditional smoking during pregnancy, there’s plenty of evidence that shows any nicotine consumption can negatively affect the health of both mother and baby.
For many couples who are trying to start a family, that 40th birthday can loom up ahead like a fertility cliff. Becoming pregnant between the ages of 20 and 35 may well be the ideal, but we all know that life doesn’t always work according to plan.
Let us give you some positive encouragement, for a change: even though it’s far easier to become a mother for the first time at a younger age, it can be safe to become a mother after 40.
Pregnancy is not always an easy experience even for younger women, and you’re likely to feel the impact even more when you’re past 40. But you can take steps to lower the effects of pregnancy on your health.
Pregnancy hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and relaxin soften the ligaments, which increases the risk that you could strain a muscle. At the same time, your larger stomach changes your posture and balance, which could put an additional strain on your joints.
Pay attention to the way you sit and stand, so that you don’t accidentally strain a muscle or harm your joints. Try to avoid lifting heavy objects past your first trimester.
Exercise plays an important role in a healthy pregnancy. It raises your mood, helps you sleep better, and helps reduce the potential backaches, nausea, and constipation that often accompany pregnancy. According to the Mayo Clinic experts, regular exercise could even help you have a shorter labor, avoid a C-section, and lower the risk of developing gestational diabetes.
In general, healthcare professionals agree that you can continue any exercise program, but should be careful about taking up a new kind of workout during pregnancy. It’s not a good time to try to reach your peak fitness goals, though; just maintain your current level.
Some of the best workouts for a healthy pregnancy include:
No matter how you slice it, you won’t have as much energy during pregnancy as you normally do, nor will you be as energetic as 20-something expectant mothers. Don’t push yourself to do more; it’s not a competition. Instead, allow yourself plenty of time to rest.
It can be difficult to get enough sleep during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester when every position feels uncomfortable, so take naps and rest as much as you can.
The awkward truth is that the older you are, the higher your risks of a pregnancy ending in miscarriage, rising from about 18% for 30-year-olds to 38% when you reach 40 and 70% at age 45.
Chronic conditions like thyroid disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure all add to the risk of pregnancy loss, so if you’re otherwise healthy you’ll be better placed to give birth to a healthy baby. However, it’s not always clear what causes a miscarriage.
The risks of stillbirth, on the other hand, aren’t much higher for women aged 40+ than for those in their 20s — until you reach the 39th week, that is. From week 39 and on, the risks of stillbirth among the over-40s are double those of someone aged 35. For this reason, best practice in the UK is to induce older women once they reach this point in pregnancy.
The statistics show that if you’re giving birth past the age of 40, you’re a lot more likely to need interventions like a C-section, forceps, or vacuum delivery. The chances of needing a c-section double for women aged over 40.
Here are some of the reasons:
But don’t let minor side effects scare you. Assisted birth interventions and C-sections are safe and usually bring favorable birth outcomes. Here’s what you should know regarding the risks of birth interventions.
The risks to your health
When you have an intervention like vacuum or forceps delivery, it can raise the risk that you’ll have a 3rd or 4th degree vaginal tear, which takes longer to heal and can cause temporary incontinence. You’re also at a higher risk for blood clots, so it’s even more important to keep moving, and you ought to consider wearing compression socks. If you follow medical advice postpartum, however, you’re unlikely to experience any long-term effects.
A C-section is a surgical procedure, so like any surgery, there are risks of infection, surgical injury, and having a reaction to the anesthesia. But that said, the risks of serious harm following a c-section are very low. Choose a doctor whom you can trust, and follow all the advice you’re given about post-surgery care.
The risks to your baby’s health
It’s rare for a baby born through a C-section or assisted delivery to suffer any serious or long-term ill effects. After a forceps or vacuum delivery, your baby might have marks on their head and/or face, and/or small cuts on the face and scalp, but these all heal quickly. Some babies develop jaundice after an assisted birth.
After a C-section, a few babies develop transient tachypnea, which is a breathing problem, but it too resolves itself within a few days.
Conceiving a healthy child
The older you are when you conceive, the higher the chances of having a baby with a chromosomal defect. That’s because your eggs are older too, and their quality isn’t as high as for younger eggs. Older eggs are less likely to divide correctly during gestation, and that’s what causes chromosomal defects.
The most common chromosomal defect is Down’s syndrome, also known as trisomy 21. It’s what happens when the 21st chromosome produces three copies of itself in every cell, instead of just two. The risk of giving birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome is 1 in 1,250 if you’re aged 25, but it’s 1 in 100 when you’re 40 years old, and 1 in 60 by age 42.
If you use your own eggs that you froze when you were younger, you can lower this risk. It’s also particularly important to carry out prenatal screening for Down’s syndrome and other chromosomal issues once you’ve passed 40.
Overall, studies have found that babies born to mothers aged over 40 are 35% more likely to spend time in intensive care, more likely to have a low birth weight, and 70% more likely to be born with a medical issue.
There are a number of conditions which women can develop during pregnancy, and your risk of experiencing them does rise when you’re over 40. But much depends on how healthy you are before you get pregnant, and how well you take care of your health during pregnancy.
If you’re otherwise healthy and fit, you don’t have high blood pressure or other chronic health conditions, and you’ve conceived naturally, there’s no reason why your pregnancy should be higher risk than that of the 30-year-old in the next room.
Preeclampsia is a serious condition that’s caused by having high blood pressure, and can develop into organ damage. When you’re pregnant, the strain on your heart goes up massively, plus your body produces more progesterone which also pushes up your blood pressure and cholesterol. For women who already have high blood pressure or heart issues, that’s sometimes enough to cause preeclampsia.
Your blood pressure (hypertension) generally increases as you get older, and a lot of people aren’t even aware that they have borderline hypertension. When you’re aged over 40, the risks of developing preeclampsia shift from 3-4% to 5-10%.
But there are steps you can take to lower the risk:
Women who are over 40 are four times more likely to develop gestational diabetes — a type of diabetes that only affects pregnant women — than younger women. It goes away after you give birth, but it can increase the risks of developing type-II diabetes postpartum.
You can reduce your risk, however, by paying attention to your diet. Cut the amount of sugar, red meat, and high-cholesterol foods you eat, and increase the amount of fiber. One study found that women who ate 10 grams more fiber per day lowered their risk of gestational diabetes by 26%.
Exercise also helps decrease the risks of gestational diabetes. Studies found that women who were the most active before getting pregnant cut their risk of developing gestational diabetes by up to 55%, and exercising in early pregnancy can also help lower your odds. It seems that the exercise you do before getting pregnant has a bigger impact than exercising during pregnancy.
Placenta praevia happens when the placenta doesn’t move up and away from the opening of the uterus. It can cause a rupture, leading to severe bleeding and possibly preterm labor.
Placenta praevia occurs when your blood (vascular) system can’t support the uterus to expand enough to accommodate your baby. Older women have a higher risk of vascular disease, which in turn increases your risk of placenta praevia.
There’s no specific treatment or cure for placenta praevia, although maintaining a healthy lifestyle which protects your heart and vascular system can help. It’s important to consult your doctor if you have any vaginal bleeding, and get regular ultrasounds so that placenta praevia can be spotted before it causes a serious health issue.
If your doctors suspects placenta praevia, they will avoid performing vaginal exams and recommend that you avoid sex and exercise, to reduce the risk of triggering a hemorrage. In some cases, you might be put on bed rest for the remainder of your pregnancy, to help make sure that you reach term and deliver your baby safely.
Although the risks are higher when you become a mother after the age of 40, there’s no reason to give up on starting a family, either through IVF or by conceiving naturally. Take steps to live as healthy and active a lifestyle as possible, both before and during pregnancy, and carry out all the health checks and screenings recommended by your doctor. We hope your pregnancy and birth go as smoothly as possible.
Maintaining good health is always a concern, but when you’re pregnant or trying to conceive, the world can feel like it’s full of germs and infections.
It’s an understandable feeling. There are some diseases and bacteria which can cause serious problems for you and/or your baby, but that healthy people would ordinarily shrug off.
But most of these health threats can be kept away by following good hygiene practices and getting vaccinations on time. Here are some of the diseases that can be harmful during pregnancy, and what you can do to protect yourself and your baby.
Chickenpox is usually harmless for children, but it can cause serious damage if you catch it while you’re pregnant. If you get infected with chickenpox before your 28th week of pregnancy, there’s a 2% chance that your baby could develop foetal varicella syndrome (FVS), which can harm their skin, eyes, legs, arms, brain, bladder and bowel.
If you catch it between 28 and 36 weeks, your baby will be infected too, but he/she won’t be born with any symptoms. However, it could become active while your child is still a baby or toddler, and cause painful shingles.
If you catch chickenpox after week 36, your baby will be infected and could be born with active chickenpox.
If you didn’t catch and recover from chickenpox yourself as a child, you should get vaccinated before you start trying to conceive.
Whooping cough (pertussis) has been rising in the last few years, with a serious epidemic in 2012 that saw 10 times as many cases as normal in the UK, and more annual cases than any year in the last 60 years in the US.
Whooping cough isn’t dangerous during pregnancy, but it can be fatal for your new baby. Babies under 6 months are too young to be vaccinated against the disease, but they are protected by your antibodies.
You were probably vaccinated against whooping cough when you were a child, but by the time you come to start a family, your antibody levels have dropped. They are usually high enough to protect you from the disease, but don’t provide enough protection for your newborn baby.
That’s why public health authorities in many countries recommend that women get a booster shot some time between 16 and 32 weeks of pregnancy.
It takes 2 weeks for antibody levels to peak and transfer to your baby. Then your baby has whooping cough antibodies in their own system to keep them safe until they can be vaccinated themselves.
CMV, or cytomegalovirus, is a common virus that’s part of the same family of diseases as cold sores and chickenpox. Once you’ve caught CMV, it remains dormant in your system but it can be reactivated if you get exposed to the virus again.
Most people catch CMV and have nothing more than a cold. But if you catch it or get reinfected when you’re pregnant, your baby could be born with congenital CMV, which can cause blindness or visual impairment, hearing loss, epilepsy, learning difficulties, or more serious birth defects. CMV can also cause stillbirth. It’s worst for babies whose mothers hadn’t been infected with CMV before, and catch it for the first time during pregnancy.
CMV is only harmful to your baby if it’s active while you're pregnant. The dormant virus isn’t dangerous.
Around 1 out of 150 babies is born with congenital CMV, and around 20% of those have birth defects or long-term health problems. Disabilities caused by CMV are more common than those caused by Down’s syndrome, spina bifida, or cystic fibrosis, which are all better known than CMV.
CMV is highly infectious, and it’s passed on through bodily fluids like urine, mucus, saliva, and tears. Small children often catch and pass on CMV, so you should be particularly careful if you come into contact with them.
Currently, there’s no effective way to treat CMV in babies or in pregnant women, although giving babies antiviral medication shortly after birth can reduce the severity of their symptoms. To prevent catching it, you should
Wash your hands regularly with soap and hot water, especially after changing diapers or wiping a child’s nose
Avoid sharing food, plates, or silverware with young children while you’re pregnant
Avoid kissing a child on the face
Flu is no fun at any time of life, but it’s particularly serious during pregnancy. Pregnant women are at a higher risk of developing complications from the flu, and it could cause your baby to be born prematurely, with birth defects or low birth weight.
Flu can also cause stillbirth. The best protection is to get the flu vaccine. One study found that stillbirth rates fell by 51% among women who received the flu vaccine
Most women are vaccinated against rubella in childhood, in which case you’re immune for life. But if you haven’t been immunised and you didn’t catch it as a child, you should get vaccinated before trying to conceive. It’s not recommended to get vaccinated during pregnancy.
If you develop rubella during your first 4 months of pregnancy, you could experience a miscarriage or have a baby with serious birth defects like heart damage, brain damage, vision problems, or deafness.
Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by parasites that are found in cat faeces, so it can be present in cat litter, in the soil, and in children’s sandpits that cats might use as their toilet. It’s usually a mild disease, unless you’re pregnant. Toxoplasmosis during pregnancy can cause blindness, intellectual disabilities, and other birth defects in your unborn baby.
To avoid coming into contact with anything that could transmit toxoplasmosis, you should:
Get someone else to clean the litter tray if you have a cat
Wear gloves if you’re gardening or handling newly-dug vegetables, and/or wash your hands well afterwards
Make sure that all vegetables are washed thoroughly before you eat them.
Group B streptococcus, or group B strep, is a common and usually harmless bacteria that’s present in the bodies of around 30% of people. You wouldn’t know that you have group B strep unless you get tested.
Group B strep doesn’t harm you or your baby during pregnancy, but if you have group B strep, it can infect your baby during birth. This happens in approximately 1 out of every 1,750 pregnancies.
Babies infected with group B strep can develop meningitis, blood infections, and/or pneumonia, causing long-term disabilities in around 1 out of every 14 babies who are infected. Approximately 5% of babies with group B strep die from the disease. But most babies make a full recovery if they are treated early with antibiotics.
Group B strep is effectively treated with IV antibiotics during labor, so it’s recommended that every woman get tested for the bacteria between her 35th and 37th week of pregnancy. The bacteria grow fast, so testing earlier could mean that infections go unnoticed. If you have group B strep when you give birth, there’s a 1 in 400 chance that your baby will be infected, but if you get IV antibiotics, the risk drops to 1 in 4,000.
Listeriosis is a type of food poisoning caused by listeria. Listeria can be found in:
Soft cheese
Raw, unpasteurised milk and dairy products made from raw milk
Pate and deli meats and other chilled ready-to-eat foods
Chilled smoked seafood
so it’s best to avoid these foods. It can also live on the surface of fruits and vegetables, so wash all fruit and vegetables before eating them or handling them without gloves.
Although listeria is rare, even a mild case can cause serious damage to your baby, resulting in miscarriage, stillbirth, and severe illness in your newborn.
A number of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be harmful to your foetus or newborn baby. It’s best to always practice safe sex, including using a condom.
Chlamydia is particularly common, and you might not know that you have it. If you’re concerned that you might have been infected with chlamydia, ask for a test during pregnancy. It can cause premature birth, miscarriage, birth complications, and eye infections or pneumonia in a newborn baby. Chlamydia can be successfully treated with antibiotics before and during pregnancy to prevent you from passing it on to your baby.
Hepatitis B can be caught by contact with infected blood or sexual relations with someone who has the disease. If you have hepatitis B, you’re likely to pass it on to your baby. In that case, your baby will be given a vaccine at birth and at intervals during their first year, and it’s very effective at preventing them from developing long-term infection.
You might not know that hepatitis B is in your bloodstream, so it’s important to get tested for it during pregnancy. Women who are exposed to it during pregnancy can take antibodies that help reduce the risk of transmitting it to their baby. If you’re in a situation that increases your exposure to hepatitis B, you should get vaccinated before you try to start a family.
Hepatitis C is another blood-borne disease that’s transmitted through having sex, sharing needles, or getting a blood transfusion from someone who has the disease. The risk of passing it on to your baby is a lot lower than for hepatitis B, but if it happens there’s no effective cure.
Genital herpes are transmitted through having sex with someone who has genital herpes sores. If you catch genital herpes for the first time during your last 6 weeks of pregnancy, it could infect your baby with neonatal herpes. Neonatal herpes can be fatal if it goes untreated, but antiviral medication is very effective. The risk of transmitting it is a lot lower if you’ve had genital herpes before.
If you have genital herpes sores towards the end of your pregnancy, your doctor might recommend a caesarean section instead of vaginal delivery, to reduce the chances of infection.
The Zika virus is spread by infected mosquitoes, although you can also catch it through having sex with someone who’s infected. Zika disease is usually mild, but if you catch it while pregnant it can cause serious birth defects, like microcephaly, seizures, developmental disabilities, and blindness, as well as stillbirth.
ZIka outbreaks are common in some parts of South and Central America, parts of south and southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and some Pacific Islands. They’ve also occurred occasionally in some parts of North America, but the risks of catching it there or in the UK or Europe are very low.
It’s best to avoid traveling to areas where Zika is widespread during pregnancy, and to use mosquito repellent and to cover up if you are in an area with an outbreak.
Fifth disease, also called slapped cheek disease, is caused by the type B19 human parvovirus. It’s common among young children and it rarely provokes any serious effects, but it can cause miscarriage if you catch it when you’re pregnant.
Many women are already immune, because they caught it in childhood. There’s no vaccine against Fifth disease, so avoid being around anyone who might have it. You can also reduce the risk of catching it by washing your hands thoroughly.
Although there are a lot of dangers around you when you’re pregnant, the right precautions can help you keep yourself and your baby healthy and safe. Whether you’re hoping to conceive naturally or planning to undergo IVF treatment, we hope your pregnancy and birth go smoothly and without anxieties or health scares.
Anyone who’s struggling to conceive knows that the entire experience can be extremely stressful. It’s not surprising that anyone finding it difficult to start a family feels a lack of control that fosters anxiety and potential depression.
One study found that women who are grappling with infertility show similar levels of depression to women who are fighting cancer. Another study found that women who were undergoing IVF treatments and had higher signs of stress (both self-reported and clinical) were less likely to get pregnant after their first IVF cycle.
It doesn’t help that some of the medications that are used to increase fertility, like clomiphene, leuprolide, and gonadotropins, have side effects that include increasing anxiety, depression, and irritability.
So it’s not surprising that stress and infertility go hand in hand. The big question is: does infertility cause stress, or does stress reduce fertility?
It’s not an easy question to answer.
The easiest way to measure stress is to ask the people involved to rate how stressed they feel (self-reported stress levels). The trouble is, this measure is not objective and could therefore be under- or over-reported.
It’s more scientific to measure levels of stress hormones. Stress triggers the release of two hormones:
The challenge here is that cortisol is released in pulses throughout the day, so levels can fluctuate significantly from hour to hour, making it tough to be sure of an individual’s long-term cortisol levels.
Alpha-amylase is more constant, but scientists still aren’t confident about its reliability in representing stress levels.
Most studies try to measure both self-reported stress levels, and at least one stress hormone level.
So far, studies haven’t been conclusive. 2010 saw the first study to find a link between stress levels and fertility outcomes. It tracked both cortisol and alpha-amylase levels and concluded that women with higher levels of alpha-amylase saw a 12% drop in their chances of becoming pregnant. However, this isn’t a statistically significant difference.
A later study in the US found that women with the highest levels of alpha-amylase took 29% longer to get pregnant than those with the lowest levels, but it didn’t take sufficient measurements to be confident of the results. Another one in China found that couples with higher levels of the enzyme had more difficulty conceiving than those with lower levels, but it didn’t rule out the impact of other factors on the delay in conception.
In case you might think that stress only affects women’s fertility, some studies have shown that stress could affect sperm production. The amount of sperm produced, their shape, and how fast they can swim all affect chances of conception. Unfortunately, however, the evidence isn’t clear cut for male fertility, either. A study from 2014 found that life stress affected the speed and shape of sperm, but not sperm concentration, while an earlier study found that men with 2 or more recent stressful life events showed lower sperm concentration and lower sperm motility (speed), but that sperm shape wasn’t affected.
An analysis of scientific studies from 1978-2014 discovered that couples undergoing fertility treatment who also received mindfulness training or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy were more than twice as likely to get pregnant than those receiving no such therapy. The study concluded that the more anxiety was reduced, the greater the improvement in pregnancy rates.
Although the jury is still out about whether stress really does affect fertility, it is thought that alpha-amylase and cortisol could interfere with the production of GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone), which is responsible for the release of sex hormones.
In this way, it could affect the menstrual cycle and ovulation in women, and the quality and count of sperm in men. Stress may also increase amounts of steroid hormones called glucocorticoids, which control the secretion of testosterone and thus affect sperm production.
Many doctors agree that stress on its own isn’t likely to affect fertility levels. What matters is the ways that you respond to feeling stressed.
For a lot of people, high stress levels lead them to:
all of which can lower your chances of getting pregnant.
If you’re trying to get pregnant, whether you’re hoping to conceive naturally or starting IVF, it seems safe to say that the less stressed you are, the better your chances of conception. It’s never easy to relax, but take the time to do activities that calm you down. We hope your path to parenthood will be smooth and stress-free.
If you’re trying to start a family or hope to have more children, and you’re approaching (or passed) the big 4-0, you’re bound to have heard at least once that it’s a lot more risky to have a baby when you’re the other side of 40.
Actually, you’ve probably heard it many, many times. It pushes your stress and anxiety levels sky high, but is there any real truth to it? And if so, just how much risk are you facing if you get pregnant after the “big 40 deadline”?
Many IVF clinics won’t treat women over the age of 50, because the risks are simply too high. The Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine advises doctors against IVF for women over age 50. But if you’re aged between 40 and 50, and you’re eager to have a family, how safe is it to do so? No one can give you a definitive answer, but here are the main risks to consider.
First of all, your background health makes a huge difference to the risks you and your baby could face. If you’re healthy, have no chronic conditions like high blood pressure, and conceived naturally, there’s no reason why your pregnancy should be higher risk than if you were a decade younger. Women who have some background health issues and conceived with the help of IVF could have a very different experience.
The older you are, the higher your risks of developing certain common complications of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and placenta previa.
Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy condition that is caused by high blood pressure. It can cause permanent organ damage and is potentially fatal for both the mother and the fetus. The only way to treat it is to deliver your baby, but that poses its own dangers for a baby that hasn’t yet reached full term.
Blood pressure (hypertension) generally rises with age, and many women have borderline hypertension without being aware of it.
Being pregnant puts a huge strain on your heart, far more than even strenuous exercise. At the same time, your body produces more of the reproductive hormone progesterone, which raises your blood pressure and cholesterol. If your blood pressure is already borderline or high, or you have heart issues, this can be enough to push you into preeclampsia.
If you’re aged 40+, your risk of developing preeclampsia jumps from 1.5% to 4.6%. However, if you’re otherwise healthy and your blood pressure is good or low, your age only slightly increases your chances of developing preeclampsia.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that only affects pregnant women. Although you can develop it at any age, even when you eat a healthy diet, you’re four times more likely to experience it when you’re over 40 than when you’re in your 20s or early 30s.
During pregnancy, your uterus has to expand massively to accommodate the fetus, which requires a healthy and effective blood (vascular) system. The older you are, the greater your risk of vascular disease, which affects major organs like the uterus, as well as your heart.
If your vascular system isn’t operating at full power, you might develop placenta praevia, which is when the placenta doesn’t move up and away from the opening of the uterus. As it tries to expand, it can rupture, causing severe bleeding and bringing on premature labor.
Women over 40 have a seriously increased risk of placenta praevia, compared with women under 30.
Anything that affects your health, as the gestating mother, can also affect the health of your unborn child. Preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and placenta praevia can all bring on preterm labor, which could harm your baby.
Studies have also found that if you’re giving birth for the first time at age 40 or over, the baby’s birth weight is likely to be significantly lower.
Overall, one study found that babies born to mothers aged over 40 were 35% more likely to need to spend time in intensive care, and 70% more likely to be born with some medical anomaly.
As you get older, your eggs get older too. That makes it harder for you to conceive, because there are fewer follicles left to develop into eggs, but it also affects the quality of the eggs that remain. Lower quality eggs are less likely to divide correctly during gestation, increasing the risk of chromosomal defects.
Down’s syndrome, or trisomy 21, is the best known and most common type of chromosomal defect. It happens when the 21st chromosome divides into three copies instead of just two, in every cell. When you’re aged 25, the risk of giving birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome is just 1 in 1,250, but that rises to 1 in 400 at age 35 and 1 in 100 at age 40. By the time you’re 42, you have a 1 in 60 chance of giving birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome, and a 1 in 12 chance at age 49.
Other less-common chromosomal defects include trisomy 13, or Patau’s syndrome, and the even rarer Edward’s syndrome or trisomy 18.
Older women are far more likely to suffer a miscarriage than younger women.
If you’re aged 30, the risk that your pregnancy will end in miscarriage is around 18%, but it rises to 38% if you’re 40, and almost doubles to 70% for women aged 45.
It’s not always clear why this happens. Chromosomal defects often trigger a miscarriage, and those are more common among mothers aged 40+. Another issue is that the older you are,
the more likely it is that you’ve developed a chronic condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or thyroid disease, which can complicate your pregnancy and increase the risk of pregnancy loss.
The risks of stillbirth also rise, especially once you pass your due date.
Up until 39 weeks of gestation, a 40-year old woman has a similar stillbirth rate to that of a woman in her 20s at 41 weeks. But once you pass week 39, your risks of stillbirth spike to double those of a woman aged 35. That’s why it’s better to induce labour in women aged 40+ once they reach their due date.
For a variety of reasons, women aged over 40 are more likely to experience complicated birth that requires interventions like forceps, vacuum, or a caesarean section. Some of the reasons include:
You’re approximately twice as likely to need a c-section if you’re over 40.
Although c-sections and assisted deliveries usually bring favorable birth outcomes, it’s worth remembering that it takes longer to recover from a c-section than from a vaginal birth, and that assisted deliveries like forceps increase your risk of tearing.
Oddly enough, yes. When you’re over 40, you’re naturally more likely to have a multiple pregnancy, although scientists aren’t sure why.
A multiple pregnancy can increase your risk of miscarriage. Multiple pregnancies are also more likely to be born with a low birth weight, which is associated with complications like cerebral palsy and learning difficulties, and 5% more likely to develop congenital anomalies.
In general, maternal mortality is 2.5 times higher for multiple births than when you give birth to a singleton baby.
There’s some evidence that women who have a baby aged over 40 are more likely to develop certain health complications after giving birth. If you’ve had gestational diabetes, you’re at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes postpartum.
That said, although the higher risks of having a baby when you’re over 40 are real and serious, celebrating your 40th birthday isn’t in itself a reason to decide not to start or add to your family.
If you’re trying to get pregnant, either naturally or through IVF, it’s best to have a thorough screening first so that you’ll be prepared to deal with the impact of any health risks on your pregnancy and birth. And if you’re already pregnant, do take all the health checks and screenings recommended by your doctor. We wish that your pregnancy and birth experience is as smooth and healthy as possible.
We’ve all been bombarded with messages about the dangers of smoking for several decades, but there’s one issue that tends to fly under the radar: the impact that smoking has on your fertility.
It’s estimated that over 1 billion people worldwide regularly smoke tobacco every year, but many people aren’t aware that it can harm their chances of conceiving and giving birth to a healthy baby.
Most couples who have regular, unprotected sex will succeed in getting pregnant within one year. But for people who smoke, it can take approximately twice as long to get pregnant. Another study found that women who smoke are less fertile than non-smokers.
Contrary to popular myth, low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes pose the same danger to fertility as traditional cigarettes.
There’s no amount of cigarette smoke that is safe for women who want to start a family.
Even if you smoke only one to five cigarettes a day, you’re still at risk of ectopic pregnancies or premature birth. Secondhand smoke also harms your fertility, such as if your partner smokes, or if you work in smoke-filled conditions.
When you smoke, the toxins in the cigarettes enter your body and pervade every part of your system. As a result, smoking affects your fertility in a number of different ways.
Poor quality eggs
The nicotine, cyanide, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals in cigarette smoke can harm the ovaries, producing poor quality eggs that are less likely to be fertilized and develop into a healthy fetus.
Early menopause
Every woman is born with a finite number of follicles, which develop into eggs. These are your ovarian reserve. Eggs die naturally throughout your life, and once they have been used up, you enter menopause. Women who have completed menopause can no longer become pregnant.
A number of studies have found that women who smoke have a significantly lower ovarian reserve than non-smokers, because the toxins in cigarette smoke cause the eggs to age and die off faster than normal. On average, smokers enter menopause more than 1 year earlier than non-smokers.
Disruption of the hormonal balance
The chemicals present in cigarette smoke also interfere with your endocrine function, which is the part of your brain which is responsible for producing and releasing sex hormones. Oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) govern your menstrual cycle, ovulation times, and uterine development in order for you to become pregnant.
Damage to the fallopian tubes
There is also evidence that smoking affects the fallopian tubes, increasing the risk of lesions. It’s thought that this is why smoking raises the incidence of ectopic pregnancy, which is when an embryo implants in the tubes rather than the womb.
Ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening, or permanently damage the fallopian tubes to the extent that future conception is impossible.
Lower embryo implantation rate
Cigarette smoke and the toxins that it contains can affect the behavior of the cilia, which are tiny “hairs” that line the fallopian tubes and transport the egg and embryo to the uterus. When the embryo settles in the uterus, it’s “implanted,” and can continue to grow and develop into a healthy baby. In women who smoke, implantation rate drops by over 20%.
For women who smoke or who spend a lot of time in a smoke-filled environment, cigarettes can continue to cause harm even after conception.
It’s not just women who need to stop smoking before starting a family. Male fertility is also affected by cigarette smoke. Out of the 8.75 million men in the UK aged 20-39, 120,000 of them are infertile because of smoking.
Cigarette toxins like cadmium and cotinine damage sperm DNA, which can then cause problems with fertilization, embryo development, and embryo implantation, hampering attempts to become pregnant and increasing miscarriage rates.
Cigarette smoke negatively affects semen and sperm quality, causing:
Surprisingly, all these effects have been spotted in men whose mothers smoked half a pack of cigarettes or more every day while pregnant and/or breastfeeding, even if the men themselves didn’t smoke, which shows just how far the effects of smoke can reach.
As well as reducing your ability to conceive naturally, smoking also harms your chances of getting pregnant through IVF.
It’s been found that smokers need twice as many cycles as non-smokers before they can conceive. Women who smoke need more ovary-stimulating medication, and still see 30% lower pregnancy rates.
Even when women stopped smoking many years before receiving IVF, there’s some evidence that the difference may still be noticeable. There’s also a recent study that found that smoking at any point in your life can harm your placenta, which can affect your ability to carry a baby to term as well as harming the health of the fetus.
Men who smoke see much lower success rates in assisted reproductive technologies like IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
As a result, in the UK couples who smoke, or where one partner smokes, aren’t entitled to any free IVF cycles.
The good news is that when you stop smoking, your fertility can recover very quickly, although you can’t undo all the damage. Sperm and egg DNA improve, sperm quality rises, and female hormonal balance returns, although some aspects of harm, like your reduced egg supply, can’t be fixed.
If you’re thinking of starting a family, it’s best to stop smoking as soon as possible. Women who have stopped smoking don’t see any significant drop in their fertility compared with women who have never smoked.
Whether you’re hoping to conceive naturally or thinking or starting IVF, quitting smoking will give you the best shot at growing a healthy family. We hope that your path to parenthood will be easy and worry-free.
If you’re trying to start a family, you are probably vaguely aware of the onset of menopause as you consider your timing. It’s like a huge “end” sign in the race to have children. For most women, menopause occurs between 45 and 55 (on average at 51), but some women find that it appears much earlier than expected, which could potentially throw a wrench into your family planning preferences.
Doctors distinguish between early menopause, which happens between the ages of 40 and 45, and premature menopause, also called premature ovarian failure (POF) or premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), which occurs before the age of forty.
Studies have found that around 5% of women experience early menopause, and another 1% experience premature menopause.
For many women, early or premature menopause is idiopathic, which means that there’s no known medical cause. That said, there are a number of issues that can lead to early menopause or POI:
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy often bring on menopause because the treatment can damage your ovaries and stop them from ovulating. In these situations, it’s possible for your body to recover and begin ovulating again, although you might still struggle to get pregnant because of other ways that the treatment impacted your reproductive organs.
Genetic and chromosomal disorders, like Turner’s syndrome, can affect the ovaries from birth and bring on early or premature menopause.
Autoimmune diseases like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and thyroid diseases are signs that your immune system has malfunctioned in some way and is attacking your body instead of the disease. In these cases, your immune system could also attack your ovaries and prevent them from working properly.
Infections, like mumps, malaria, and tuberculosis, can damage the ovaries, but this is very rare. HIV and AIDS that are not controlled properly with medication can also bring on menopause.
Surgery to remove the ovaries inevitably causes menopause.
Smoking can speed up the degeneration of follicles (premature eggs). A woman is born with one million follicles on average, and these slowly dwindle over time. Follicles aren’t just used up through ovulation and menstruation; they go through a process called atresia, which means that the egg follicles simply degenerate and die. If you smoke, you speed up this process.
A Danish study found that there’s a link between your mother’s age at menopause, and your own ovarian reserve, which means the number of eggs that remain in your body. If you have a family history of early menopause, you’re likely to have a lower ovarian reserve than average, have trouble conceiving at a younger age than average, and experience menopause yourself at an earlier age than average.
It’s rare for menopause to occur completely overnight (in fact, that would only happen if your ovaries were surgically removed). Women go through a period called perimenopause, which is when you’re still ovulating, but far less frequently. During this time, your periods become irregular and spaced further apart.
Perimenopause can last as long as six years or more, and during this time it is still possible to get pregnant, but it’s far more difficult.. One study found that between 2.2% and 14.2% of the women involved conceived naturally and gave birth to a healthy baby.
If your periods become noticeably longer or shorter than usual, or stop entirely for three cycles, you could be entering perimenopause. You might also see some of the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, insomnia, headaches, anxiety, and joint pains.
Once you’ve gone through menopause, you won’t be able to conceive naturally, but you can still successfully start a family by using IVF with either donor eggs, or your own eggs that you froze at an earlier point in life.
You might have heard about hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, which is often recommended for women who experience early menopause. However, HRT is only prescribed to address various other health issues associated with menopause, like osteoporosis and an increased risk of cancer, in addition to managing its symptoms. It doesn’t improve your fertility.
If you:
it’s wise to consider freezing your eggs as soon as possible.
When you freeze your eggs in your 20s or 30s, egg quality is higher, which improves your chances of success when you use them later to get pregnant via IVF. Egg quality can drop well before menopause, which means that even if you do get pregnant during perimenopause, you’ll have a higher risk of miscarriage and of the egg failing to divide properly, resulting in the wrong number of chromosomes in each cell in the embryo.
The chances of going through early or premature menopause is something that you should bear in mind when you think about your path to growing a family. We hope that whatever you choose, your journey to parenthood is smooth and successful.
