Did it take you over 7 months age 40 to get pregnant?

[Sara1003]

How long did it take you at 40 to get pregnant. 7 months trying and wondering if should go to IVF.

Five years ago reading on here all the people getting pregnant easily over 40 I truly believed it would happen for me. I think generally most women will manage to conceive going by things I read online anyway. But going by mine and my friends experiences it seems much harder. I’m not sure why. I tried from 39 until 44 and have only ever managed miscarriages. No successful pregnancies. Out of 3 friends who started trying from age 35, 2 needed IVF. One it worked first time aged 37. The other needed 4 attempts and it worked finally aged 40. One friend conceived easily at 35 and 37 both first time trying.
I know its all anecdotal. But in my friendship group 3 out of 4 struggled aged 35+ and never conceived naturally. And 1 out of 4 (me) was never successful even with fertility treatments.

I have no idea what caused my miscarriages. Could be age. Could be bad luck. There’s no way to know unfortunately either. Maybe if I’d have been younger I would have succeeded eventually. Or maybe I would have been one of those unlucky ones who never would manage no matter what.

With any one at any age, you won’t know which camp you’ll fall into until you try. It could be too late for someone at 40. But it might have already been too late for them at 30. Until they try they’ll never know.

It took me 9 months (started trying at 39, was 40 by the time I conceived)

That's not really true. It's massively variable from woman to woman.

The 5% stat is per cycle. I listened to a podcast recently that said 59% of 40 year olds would be pregnant after 12 months of ttc. In my case (41) it’s taken 5 months and one miscarriage.

Also, as older women, our partners tend to be on the older side too yet sperm health is rarely discussed as a factor.

I just got my BFP in our fourth cycle trying, but first month of prioritising DH’s sperm health (supplements and cold packs on testicles) so may be something, may be coincidence.

0 time.
Straight away once we decided to start trying. In fact it was within that month, DTD once that month, maybe I was incredibly lucky.
I had lots of issues with my first pregnancy tho.

I'm 42, have been trying for #3 for near 3 years now after a surprise pregnancy/early miscarriage in March 2022. It's been 37 or 38 cycles. Mind you #1 took 10 (over 16 months) and #2 took 12 cycles.

On the other hand, I know soooo many women (both friends and family) who have had kids over 40...

Advice for ladies going to the doctors. Say you have been trying for 1 year and you will get referred quicker

Oh and forgot to say - it took me 1 year to fall pregnant at 33. Everyone is different regardless of their age. Good luck to you hopefully not much longer now xx

If you haven't had a baby in the last few years I would get both of you checked out as a precaution. The last thing you want to be doing is wasting time if there is an issue that needs IVF because there isn't years to try treatments after like when issues are noticed at eg 30.

Took me around 5 months of fairly half hearted trying aged 40. The first month we tracked ovulation resulted in dc2.

I think it’s impossible for anyone to know. We tried for two years for number 2 at 35 and had two miscarriages within that time. We then stopped for various reasons. I’d imagine my chance of conceiving at 40 would have been close to zero. However, my luteal phase was short 9-11 days) even in early 30s when trying for number one. So that was already a sign I had problems with my fertility. By the time I was 40 luteal phase was more like 7 days max.

Four months at 40, same again (as far as I can tell) at 42.

Took 3 months of trying at 37 and 4 months of trying at 40.

I’d also add age is no guarantee as I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) for 13 cycles at 35

Took me 14 cycles at 39! Don’t give up hope x