Causes of infertility
Testing for infertility
Treatments for infertility
Emotions and infertility support
Most people take it for granted that they can have children at some stage in their lives. This may be part of a careful plan after meeting someone they love and deciding when they are ready to be a parent, or perhaps something they just presume will happen at some time in the future. However, for some people having a child is not as straight forward as they expected and as months of trying to conceive pass one by one, they begin to ask themselves "Is everything OK?" with hopes turning into frustration, anger and despair every time the woman's period arrives.
Conceiving a baby depends on many factors. These include the man having a healthy
reproductive system and producing healthy sperm, the woman producing healthy eggs and having
fallopian tubes that are not blocked, so the sperm can fertilise the egg. The woman's body producing hormones that allow her to have a
menstrual cycle and to
ovulate and for couples to
time sex for conception. A healthy, fertile couple have about a 20% chance of conceiving each month. Bearing this in mind, about 60% of couples usually conceive within 6 months of trying and a further 25% conceive after 12 months of trying. It is estimated that about 10 to 15% of couples will have some type of fertility problem during their reproductive years.
The medical definition of infertility is when a couple does not conceive after 12 months of having unprotected sex during the woman's
fertile phase each month. After this time you may wish to consider seeking medical advice. However, if the woman is in her late 30's to early 40's, you may prefer to seek advice after about 6 to 8 months, to allow you more time to determine if there are any health problems affecting your fertility. If the woman has experienced three consecutive
miscarriages she should also seek medical advice.