Trying to Conceive After a Miscarriage? Here's how Long Couples Should Wait Before Getting Pregnant Again

Miscarriage often brings with it a great level of sadness and loss for the expectant mother. However, a new study conducted by the National Institutes of Health has found good news: there are higher chances of successfully conceiving a baby right after a loss.

The study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, looked into the traditional advice of waiting for at least three months after a miscarriage before attempting to have another pregnancy and found that women are more likely to be pregnant again if they try within the first three months, compared to women who wait longer before trying.

“Couples often seek counseling on how long they should wait until attempting to conceive again,” study senior author Enrique Schisterman, Ph.D., chief of the Epidemiology Branch at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), explained in a press release.

“Our data suggest that women who try for a new pregnancy within three months can conceive as quickly, if not quicker, than women who wait for three months or more,” he added.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data coming from the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction (EAGeR) trial conducted in 2007 to 2011. The trial evaluated the effect of aspirin on the reproduction of 1,228 women who had a record of pregnancy loss.

For the new study, however, the researchers concentrated only on the 1,083 women who had experienced pregnancy loss during the first 20 weeks of gestation. These women had no potential complications brought about by miscarriage. They were followed for up to six menstrual cycles and, if they got pregnant, they were also followed until the outcome of their pregnancy is found out.

The researchers found after the follow-up period that more than 76 percent of the women attempted to conceive within three months after a miscarriage. They were also found to be more likely to get pregnant compared to the women who waited longer than three months before attempting at 69 percent versus 51 percent, respectively.

Additionally, those who tried getting pregnant within three months after a miscarriage were found to have more pregnancies leading to live birth compared to those who waited at 53 percent versus 36 percent, respectively.

However, the researchers noted that these findings are primarily indicative of the physiological and not the emotional side of miscarriage.

“While we found no physiological reason for delaying attempts at conception following a pregnancy loss, couples may need time to heal emotionally before they try again,” lead author Karen Schliep, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the NICHD Epidemiology Branch at the time of the study, said.