AIBU to ask how often condoms fail when used correctly?

[Sacmagique75]

I did not go back on to hormonal contraception after the birth of my last child. We use condoms, and are very careful in the use of them. I felt confident this would prevent pregnancy. My period is just over a week late and for the past few years I have had very regular cycles. At the moment I’m too scared(?) to take a pregnancy test. Just wondering if I’ve been a bit silly believing I can’t possibly be pregnant. For completeness- never had a split or one come off during or anything that would remotely lead me to believe it hadn’t been used properly, but obviously Google is telling me they are only 98% effective so I guess I’m interested to hear from people who have fallen pregnant while using condoms correctly.

A friend of mine fell pregnant using condom correctly and I fell pregnant whilst on the pill.

Google is correct, out of 100 couples who use the pill / condom correctly, around 2% fall pregnant per year.

I have never got pregnant while using condoms and I have got pregnant 3 times while on the mini pill.

I’ve fallen pregnant while on the pill and while using a condom.

I've used condoms only as contraception for over twenty years and never got pregnant.

I always give this link to my patients when they are considering contraceptive options as it has the failure rates of each method. With perfect use, condoms have a >98% success rate but with typical use, it’s about 85%.

www.contraceptionchoices.org

Every time you have sex there's a possibility of becoming pregnant. You know that if you used condoms correctly the odds are massively against it, but there's still a small possibility. No one's stories on here are going to tell you what you need to know. Be brave, do the test and put yourself out of your misery. No point in wasting a day sitting worrying when you may not need to.

Oh goodness me 😬

The stats don’t really matter if you’re part of the 2% failure rate. No contraceptive is 100% apart from permanent sterilisation. If you’re having sex you’re taking a risk. By using a belt & braces approach (eg pill + condom) you’ll decrease the small chance of getting pregnant, but not to zero. Just do a test. The stress of guessing could end up delaying your period further!

You are totally right. Ideally, I don’t want to be pregnant. And I guess I’m afraid to take the test incase it’s positive. At the moment there is hope im not and it’s just a late period, but as each day ticks on I’m starting to get a bit anxious. I’ll buy a test

We used them for yrs, only had 1 split and I had to take the MAP. I eas always worried about the 2%.

The relief now he had a vasectomy is unreal.

I have fallen pregnant whilst using a condom correctly (although my husband and I knew it had torn during sex and decided to carry on, knowing that we didn't mind if it resulted in pregnancy).
I also had a condom tear with an ex, although to be fair, I don't honestly know whether he had done something to it because he was a controlling freak - I took the morning after pill after that one as there was no way I wanted a baby with him, but I'm not sure whether you can count that incident as a condom being used properly.
I'm 47 now and my husband and I conceived again whilst using Desogestrel after I had a small bout of illness (so small I hadn't even thought about it with terms of contraception) - although sadly we lost the baby.

Does anyone still use diaphragms? I used them for years without any accidental pregnancies, but I was apparently a rarity at the clinic (stopped about 20 years ago as in menopause). I see from your link that they are rated as effective as condoms.

I think I’ve seen about three patients for diaphragms in as many years!

I wouldn’t fancy using them as my own method because of the faff involved with spermicide and leaving them in for a certain period of time after sex and I wouldn’t want to risk dislodging it my own baby is a mini-pill baby (completely my own fault because I screwed up with timings but DP and I were over the moon anyway!) so whilst the methods themselves work, it’s mostly user-dependent unless it’s an implant or coil.

Most people who claim they got pregnant using a condom 'correctly' were very much not, in fact, using a condom correctly. Similarly, most people who claim they got pregnant on the Pill weren't actually taking it correctly or were taking other medication or herbal supplements or had a stomach bug that interfered with it.

See in my mind, if you knew it had torn, I wouldn’t count that as used correctly. Not saying you didn’t use it correctly but what I mean is that you knew in the moment it had failed if you noticed the tear. I’ve never had a tear or anything that would make me suspect sperm could get through!

I also should have said, sorry for your loss. Posted in haste x

We have used condoms as our only form of contraception for 18 years and never fallen pregnant whilst using them (took a break when pregnant with youngest but that was less than a year off as conceived in the first cycle). I’m still presumably fertile (mid 40s with very regular periods) and they’re still effective. We use them very carefully- to the point where if there’s any doubt it’s been put on inside out, we’ll bin it for a new one just in case there’s any trace of semen, even before the event.

Just coming back to update: I took a digital test, not pregnant. Thank you so much for all your replies. I will certainly be doing some further research into additional non-hormonal birth control!

This just happened to me - still no idea how as condom was intact and used properly but apparently didn't work