What is a Fertile Window? The Best Time to Have sex to get pregnant Naturally

UPDATED ON 05TH APR. 2024

As a fertility specialist and as someone who has been counselling couples for fertility and ideal time for conception I find this topic to be an extremely important topic in today’s time and age. 

There is a huge gap between knowledge and information. Young couples especially tend to get severely misguided by placing their precious and blind faith in some of the apps that are available for them to try to predict their exact time of ovulation. They then try to have “programmed sex”, and almost always fail to forget that the majority of these calculations are often vague.

As a result of this, it is often seen that a lot of young couples who are planning for conception mis calculate and then do not get the desired outcomes of fertility due to having intercourse in the not so ideal time.

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Here I shall try to touch up on, the best time to have intercourse or sex if you are planning for conception and how you as a couple can successfully try to make the best use of the fertile period. 

It is important to understand that the normal sexual frequency is approximately 2 to 3 acts of intercourse in a week. As the relationship matures and the number of years of marriage increases, it is often seen that this sexual frequency goes down. 

Before following and understanding what is the best time to have sex, it is also important to understand that as couples you should have undergone something called “pre-conceptional counselling“.

Preconception counseling gives you a broad overview of your reports, counseling which are predominantly related to your fertility. Fortunately a lot of young couples these days opt in for such testing. 

It is important to understand that to achieve a natural pregnancy especially when the couple has normal reports, the concentration of sperm in the female reproductive tract is very very important.

The sperm usually stays alive inside the female reproductive system for approximately 24 to 48 hours. However it is very important to understand that the egg which is released, only carries the potential to be fertilized within 12 hours of its release.

The exact time of ovulation is almost impossible to predict. As a result of this it is important that the couple has sex everyday or every alternate day during the fertile window.

Fertile window is usually that period of the menstrual cycle, which is typically close to the mid-cycle. Just to cite an example if we were to speak of a regular 28-day menstrual cycle, then the fertile window is usually calculated from day 11 to 16 of that particular menstrual cycle. We shall cover more on how to calculate your fertile window in the subsequent chapter. 

There is no specific time of the day that is considered to be the best time to have sex. As long as the sexual frequency is maintained, especially during the fertile window, it is considered to be more than enough, to achieve a conception. 

Also Read:  How To Get Pregnant Faster?

Couples must also remember that if this protocol is followed correctly and they strictly adhere to it, then a couple with normal reports usually has a 7 to 10% chance of conceiving naturally in every cycle. Every couple should try to follow this window at least for 6 to 9 months, before seeking an opinion from a fertility specialist.

As the age of the female partner increases the chances for natural conception may go down by a bit. The critical age for a female partner in India is considered to be age 35. The usual peak of fertility in Indian women occurs between the age of 27 to 33 years. 

Apart from this is also very important to understand that there is good harmony between the couple, they are cozy and comfortable with each other during the fertile window.

Science is now beginning to show that the comfort between the couples, reduces the amount of stress during this window and ensures optimal fertilization thereby helping the couple to conceive naturally. Having a healthy lifestyle, and practicing meditation and yoga also greatly benefit the couples during this fertile window. 

Some couples also seek medical help where we perform, follicle monitoring, which is essentially tracking your ovulation through the ultrasound, which is the best predictor for mapping the window of ovulation precisely.

At Shree IVF Clinic Mumbai, our advanced units of fertility, we add follicle monitoring with Doppler studies and other advanced parameters, which further add to the accuracy in improving the outcomes for couples who are planning for a natural conception.

However, I once again restate that couples should seek medical attention only after 6 to 9 months of having attempted sex during the fertile window and not becoming pregnant.

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