Conception timeline?

[karendickinson]

Wanting to try for a baby, and this sounds ridiculous but I'd like baby to be born in certain months more than others (not a January baby, it's such a dreary month for them to have their birthday) but if we want to aim for certain months that line up with the fertile period, what's the average amount of time it takes to conceive?

Days? Weeks? Months?

Anywhere between ten minutes to never conceiving. There is no way of calculating an average

Agreed.

Took us years.
I was just grateful for a baby, didn’t matter in the end what month.
Had a healthy baby after 10 years of utter misery of multiple miscarriages and long periods of infertility in January in the end.
Best month of our lives.

If doesn't work like that. It's one thing you can't control.
Most people conceive within one year. Each cycle has a 20% chance of pregnancy.
DS took 5 months to conceive. We're now on cycle 9 trying for dc2.

Be grateful if you can have a baby! Don't be fussy about birthdays.

I think you may change your mind about preferences for birthdays if you have trouble conceiving, or it takes more time than you are expecting. Missing a cycle to avoid a particular birthday could start to seem too much of a wasted opportunity. Only you will know how important the birthday thing is for you. For what it’s worth, I have conceived first time both times (though I am pregnant at the moment so not taking anything for granted yet), and with this pregnancy I did basically ‘choose’ the month. But my experience isn’t ‘normal’ and won’t make any difference to you. Wishing you the best of luck!

I started out naively like this. We wanted a baby to be older in the school year so they would have a head start with sport etc. Started TTC 9 months ago and still trying, now couldn’t give a toss which month they were born and just hoping we are lucky enough to have a baby.

Congratulations @imaginethemdragons I bet that January certainly wasn’t dreary!

We are having a September baby and I’ve lost count of how many people said ‘well done’ because apparently it’s an advantageous month academically. We didn’t care, that’s just when it happened. We lost one before and that would have been a May baby. I think worrying about what month your baby is born in only happens when you’re starting out, and you have no idea of the pitfalls of ttc. For what it’s worth the first baby took one month to conceive and the second three. But having lost the first I was so grateful to be pregnant with the second I didn’t give a shiny shit what month they’re born in.

I have a January birthday and it’s always been a bit rubbish, but I’d just take extra care not to make it rubbish if I had a child born in that month.

We were wanting to avoid busy months with lots of other family birthdays ideally but wouldn't have not tried that month as we wanted a baby so much it wouldn't have really mattered that was just the ideal

I agree that once you start TTC you will forget all about what month you want to conceive.
DS1 - happy suprise
DS2 - took 4 months
This time we've been TTC for 16 months with no luck. So nobody can estimate how long it will take really

There's no way of knowing how long it will take. I started off wanting a sept/Oct/nov baby so that they would be older in the school year. 14months down the line and no hint of a bfp! I now just want a baby and couldn't care what month they were born in!

8 months twice, first was a mmc. From start to birth was 27 months. I I was grateful to have a successful pregnancy, never mind worry about what month would be birth month. For the record, my husband and I had fertility tests and we both had excellent fertility at the time, it really is luck when you fall pregnant. My next pregnancy take weeks or longer than 8 months to conceive.

Also, babies can be very overdue or very early. You might not want a January baby but that January baby could suddenly be a Christmas Day baby.

It can take 12 months to conceive if actively trying and have no issues. So just assume that if you start today, you may give birth in June 2023.

DD1 was unplanned and loves her January birthday. She likes being one of the first in the year to have a birthday and she likes not having to wait long after Christmas. She’s 7.

DD2 is September. I’m a teacher so didn’t want an June/July/August baby. We started TTC in December 2018, aiming for a September baby. Had a chemical miscarriage. TTC every month after that and finally conceived in December 2019 and DD2 was born September 2020. Any month would have been perfect after that first miscarriage. We just happened to conceive in the month we’d originally wanted one year after starting.

My first took 2 cycles to conceive and he was supposed to be a late July baby but ended up being an early June baby.
It took a year to conceive once we started trying again only to lose them and this happened another 2 times. They would have been September, December (due on my birthday) and May babies.
My last was a surprise as I was too ill from liver problems to realise I was pregnant. That baby was due in late August and was born late July.
After all of that I'm just glad to have any children at all especially since both of my surviving children also nearly died 3 weeks after birth.
Don't try for certain months, babies don't work like that. They arrive when and if they arrive no matter how much you try to control it

Not only is it impossible to tell how long you might take to conceive, but the baby may not come on time. You could plan for a Feb baby but if they decide to arrive 4 weeks early or 2 weeks late and you end up with a less favourable month, will it actually matter to you?

I was 3 months early. Due in September, born in June.

I started like you- wanted a September/October baby. Got pregnant first month of trying and was due start of October. Miscarriage at 13 weeks.

Now trying again and couldn’t care less when baby was due, just want a baby.

When I first started TTC I had the same mindset and wanted a baby due in certain months only.

Very quickly I realised it wasn't that simple and now I couldn't care less what month my baby is born.

I have been trying for over a year and had one MMC. I never thought TTC would take so long when I am only 23 and healthy.

Good luck:)