The Fertility Calculator
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Estimating Your Odds of Getting Pregnant
Hi, I’m Katelyn and I created this pretty awesome “how long until I get pregnant?!” calculator.
Just fill in your age, and the calculator will estimate the odds of becoming pregnant within either 1 month or 1 year. Trust me, the odds are probably a lot better than you think!
Estimating Your Odds of Getting Pregnant
Hi, I’m Katelyn and I created this pretty awesome “how long until I get pregnant?!” calculator.
Just fill in your age, and the calculator will estimate the odds of becoming pregnant within either 1 month or 1 year. Trust me, the odds are probably a lot better than you think!
The Easy Way to Boost Fertility
Did you know that the easiest way of seeing huge gains in your fertility is by taking a daily prenatal vitamin? Even before you’re pregnant! -read more about why-
My favorite might be the Smartypants Prenatal Daily Gummy (affiliate link) because it contains methylfolate and DHA Omega-3, both extremely important in boosting your fertility.
And don’t forget to stock up on my favorite and totally awesome pregnancy test: First Response Rapid Test (affiliate link). They can can tell you whether you’re pregnant DAYS ahead of other brands (read more about why).
Worried or relieved?
Now that I’ve either made you feel very relieved or incredibly panicked… let me tell you how this calculator works and what these numbers actually mean.
The odds generated from the calculator are based on averages taken from several scientific studies.1,2
This means that while it’s a great indicator of how likely it is that the average person of your age will conceive, it’s not personalized specifically to you.
It may take you longer than the average couple, or you could get lucky and get pregnant on your very first try.
You vs. Your Friend
Most animals have a very high chance of conceiving, but we humans are somewhat lacking in our ability to get pregnant easily!
Some of it has to do with just plain ol’ bad luck, and for some it has to do with underlying fertility issues. For others, optimizing your fertility may be as simple as learning more about your fertile window!
Even though there may not be anything wrong with your fertility, sometimes you just have bad luck. Let me explain what I mean…
Just for fun; let’s assume you are a true fertile myrtle and have a whopping 50% chance of getting pregnant every month (an unrealistically high number, but hear me out!), and let’s assume your friend has a more realistic 16.7% monthly chance of conceiving.
To put it another way: you’ve been given a coin and need to toss heads, while your friend was given a dice and needs to roll a six.
You: You flip the coin and it lands on tails (not pregnant).
Your friend: She got lucky and rolled a 6! (pregnant!).
Although you had a higher likelihood of getting pregnant sooner, in the end, there’s still some luck involved.
Even though there may not be anything wrong with your fertility, sometimes you just have bad luck. Let me explain what I mean…
Just for fun; let’s assume you are a true fertile myrtle and have a whopping 50% chance of getting pregnant every month (an unrealistically high number, but hear me out!), and let’s assume your friend has a more realistic 16.7% monthly chance of conceiving.
To put it another way: you’ve been given a coin and need to toss heads, while your friend was given a dice and needs to roll a six.
You: You flip the coin and it lands on tails (not pregnant).
Your friend: She got lucky and rolled a 6! (pregnant!).
Although you had a higher likelihood of getting pregnant sooner, in the end, there’s still some luck involved.
Most animals have a very high chance of conceiving, but we humans are somewhat lacking in our ability to get pregnant easily!
Some of it has to do with just plain ol’ bad luck, and for some it has to do with underlying fertility issues. For others, optimizing your fertility may be as simple as learning more about your fertile window!
Your Fertile Window is Shorter Than You Think
Did you know that only 13% of women are able to predict the date of ovulation? Even worse, close to half of all women have trouble identifying their fertile window!3
Fun fact:
Do you think you ovulate on the 14th day of your cycle? Chances are, you’re not! Less than 10% of women ovulate on day 14!4
You can only get pregnant 5 to 6 days of your cycle, that’s it! So knowing exactly when you’re in your fertile window is crucial!
And if you don’t have sex when you’re in your fertile window? Well, it’s just not going to happen, you won’t get pregnant.
What is the One Thing You Should do to Get Pregnant Faster?
By far the most valuable thing you can do to increase the odds of conception is to educate yourself on how to recognize your most fertile days!
And the most reliable way is by using ovulation predictor kits (OPKs). I’m not talking about the fancy digital ones. They’re less sensitive and often don’t work for women with low levels of LH or those with PCOS.
I’m talking about those simple paper strips that cost 10 or 20 cents a piece! I know what you’re thinking, you’ve tried them and didn’t like them. Or you felt that they weren’t reliable. Or you thought they were just too confusing.
I’m going to tell you that they CAN work for you and they don’t have to be confusing AT ALL! You just need to know how to use them the right way. Unfortunately, the OPK manual doesn’t tell you how to use them correctly and many women end up missing their fertile window if they follow the directions.
So to change that, I created OPK Secrets. It’s an 8-step video course that’ll get you from beginner to expert in no time! You’ll find everything from when to start testing, to how to correctly identify the start of your fertile window, when to have sex, how to use OPK apps, which brands are most sensitive, and lots more.
Want a sneak peak?
OPK Secrets is my simple, no-BS, online video course made for women like you. You’ll get 8 amazing video lessons, tons of bonuses and answers to all your OPK questions!
Just Try it Yourself
Not ready to commit to a full-blown course? Just get started by yourself! All you need is some OPKs (also known as LH test strips) and you can experience how this is the #1 thing you can do to get pregnant faster. I tested many brands, and one of my favorites is the Pregmate Ovulation Test Strips (affiliate link).
Your questions answered
How do I calculate my odds of getting pregnant?
Fill in your age in the calculator at the top of this page. The odds of getting pregnant per month or per year are estimated using data from large studies which tell us the chance of conceiving at different ages.
What is the best age to get pregnant?
Most importantly: the best age to get pregnant is when YOU are ready. But when it comes to your fertility, it’s easier to get pregnant the younger you are. That’s because the younger your are, the more high quality eggs you still have, and the lower the risk of pregnancy complications/miscarriage is. Our fertility gradually declines starting from a very early age. But we do see a more rapid decline around age 35.
But age just number, your health is a big influence too! Download my preconception guide to find out what you can do to improve your fertility.
When does fertility start to decline?
Fertility start to rapidly decline after age 35. But it’s not a sudden cliff, you can absolutely still get pregnant after 35, but the time for planning and the time for action starts right now.
Does fertility decline in men?
Yes, studies show about a 4% decrease in the odds of getting pregnant with every increasing year of a guy’s age. That makes sense as sperm count and quality decreases about 1% per year too, depending on what measure you look at.
Men over 45 years old have a fivefold increase in the time in takes to get pregnant, compared to men less than 25 years of age.
What’s the oldest you can get pregnant?
Technically, your clock doesn’t run out until you hit menopause. The average age of menopause is 51, but this varies a lot.
Ever read about celebraties getting kids well past age 50? They probably conceived through donor eggs and IVF!
I’m 40, can I only get pregnant with IVF?
Women can still get pregnant at age 40 (or even older). But the odds go down a lot each year so time is no longer on your side. Use the Fertility Calculator to estimate your odds of conceiving.
But once you hit age 45 you have to do everything right and also be incredibly lucky to get pregnant naturally.
How do I increase my odds of getting pregnant?
Your best bet to greatly increase your odds of conceiving is to accurately find your fertile window. The easiest way to do this is with Ovulation Predictor Kits (also known as OPK’s or LH test strips), but many women use them incorrectly. Studies show that correctly identifying your fertile window can more than DOUBLE your odds of conceiving.
References and other stuff for data nerds…
This Fertility Calculator is based on work done by two groups of researchers. First, the odds of becoming pregnant in any given month -by age- were estimated from Johnson et al. (2012). To extrapolate these odds (the so-called intrinsic conception rate) to the 1-year mark, the method described in Sozou et al. (2012) was used.
There are a few assumptions to the calculator:
1. We assume there are 12 cycles in 1 year, which means there are 12 ~30-day cycles in a year. If your cycles are longer, you may have fewer chances to conceive, and if your cycles are shorter, you may have a few extra shots at getting pregnant.
2. All estimates are based on numbers derived from many women. This means that since most couples in the general population don’t have fertility issues, the odds of conceiving are probably lower if you have a known fertility issue.
3. But… the model also assumes that you’re not doing anything special to try to conceive. For example, no timing of intercourse and no estimating when the window of peak fertility is.
This is good news because the odds of conceiving could go up substantially so long as you know what to look out for and know what to do (think: more sex, better timing).
References:
1. Johnson et al. (2012). Delayed Child-Bearing. J Obst and Gyn Canada, 34(1), 80–93.
2. Sozou et al. (2012). Time to Pregnancy: A Computational Method for Using the Duration of Non-Conception for Predicting Conception. PLoS ONE, 7(10), e46544.
3. Wilcox et al. (2000). The timing of the “fertile window” in the menstrual cycle: day specific estimates from a prospective study. BMJ, 321(7271), 1259-1262.
4. Zinaman et al. (2012). Accuracy of perception of ovulation day in women trying to conceive. Cur Med Res and Op, 28(5), 749–754.
The Fertility Calculator is a fun way of estimating fertility, but in no way does it represent your odds of conception. There are many factors that come into play, far beyond just your age. Information found on this page, website, and calculator are not medical advice.