When Is the Best Time for Trying for a Baby?

When is the best time for trying for a baby?

So, you want to get pregnant. You hear all these stories of people falling pregnant that it just seems like it will happen quickly and easily.

The truth is that it can take a year of trying for a baby to actually conceive one. This is perfectly normal. If it takes much longer, you should consider talking to your doctor.

However, for now, let’s assume that it’s going to take you up to the year. You want to know the best time for trying for a baby. Yes, there is a best time within your monthly cycle.

Your Most Fertile Window

During your cycle, you have a window of opportunity when you are at your most fertile. You need to have intercourse when the egg has been released from the ovaries. From there, it has roughly 24 hours.

That window isn’t big, but the good news is you have around six days because sperm can last that long. It’s best to have intercourse six days before ovulation, and then every day leading up to it so you have the best chance of conceiving.

Of course, if you can’t be bothered with the calculating of days, you could just have intercourse every two or three days and you stand a good chance of conceiving during the month.

Working Out Your Ovulation Window

If you’re looking to calculate your best time, you need to know when you’re ovulating. In most cases, this is 14 days before your period. For the average woman, a cycle is around 28 days, but you could be different. Some women will have 25 day cycles, while others have 40 days.

The easiest way to work out your ovulation window is by using an online calculator. I like Baby Centre’s calculator, but will also verify my results with other ones online. You simply add in the date of your last period and the length of your cycle. The cycle length is the time between the first day of your last period and the first day of your next one.

You will then get a list for the next six months of the best dates for trying for a baby, and the expected due date if you are successful.

Ovulation Testing

But how else can you tell if you have the right date? If you’ve gone a few months of trying for a baby in your window and you know your dates are right, you may want to try some of the other methods to tell when you’re ovulating.

The first is through checking your basal body temperature. This will increase just as you are ovulating. The second is by using the ovulation tests from the supermarket. You use these just like you would a pregnancy test.

What About Irregular Periods?

For those women who have irregular periods, I understand the frustration. You may have 30-day cycles one month and then 40-day cycles the next. This causes problems when working out your ovulation date.

It may be worth working out your ovulation period from the shorter cycle to the longest one. It will appear that you have a longer window, but this isn’t really the case. This is just your possible window. From there, you can either use the ovulation tests or just have intercourse every two to three days during the larger window.

The latter may be more effective. You have a lower risk of missing the days that you really needed to have intercourse.

Good luck in trying for a baby. Now you know the best time to conceive, you can get to work and be able to share the news that you’re having a baby.

Image from Pixabay.

Copyright Alexandria Ingham, 2014. All rights reserved.