How reliable is withdrawal method?

[tulipsandteacups]

Me and bf used this for 8 years and I never got pregnant then first time "leaving it in" (lol sorry) , I got pregnant.

Makes me wonder:.... has anyone got pregnant whilst using the withdrawal method for contraception?

Exact same situation as you, here!

Hmm interested to see peoples answers

I think withdrawal on its own doesn't work but if you have a regular cycle and can track ovulation then abstaining/using a barrier method on your fertile days can work.

There's lots of information about it now, not sure I'd trust it but lots of women use it instead or hormonal contraception.

Just using the withdrawal method all month will mean you become a parent though!

96% effective with perfect use, 80% effective with typical use.

Compare to condoms that are 98% effective with perfect use and 87% effective with typical use.

People like to shit on withdrawal but I think that's due to a campain to try to discourage teenagers from using it since it can be really tempting to stay in at the last moment.

We’ve been using this method for the past 10 years with no pregnancies.
We conceived both of our children the first month of trying so know that we are fairly fertile.
I have a very regular cycle and can tell when I’m ovulating but we still use this method at this time of the month.
However neither of us are bothered if we fell pregnant again, if we were I think I’d want to use a different type of contraception.

Some guys pre-cum has sperm in it apparently. Some guys don’t. So what works for one couple may not fit another???

We also use the withdrawal method and has been successful so far (5 years of marriage). I think it is actually quite reliable tbh.

Friend used it as a “method” for four years and then got pregnant and had an abortion which was pretty upsetting for her.

I’m really shocked at the replies as I have two friends with babies born as a result of this method! Maybe they are really bad at it 🙈

Been using this 'method' for two years now with no accidents, definitely don't want to get pregnant and it hasn't happened.

Maybe some guys are better at pulling out earlier rather than leaving it to the last minute

DH and I have been using it since 2015 so 8 years now. And in the early years of our marriage, we had sex daily.

We have used this method for the past 16 years. I got pregnant both times when he didn't withdraw and we now have 2 kids.

Withdrawal was fine for me and one particular partner but it depends how good they are at pulling out in time.

Wow - that's offensive.

I used this method for 10years and only got pregnant when planned. So used it around pregnancies obviously. Then I did get pregnant. Was complete shock as didn’t have any ‘whoops left that a bit late’ moments or anything like that. She’s now 7 and my husband had a vasectomy when she was 6 weeks old. I didn’t want to risk it again.
However I would say it’s pretty reliable for the amount of times we didn’t get pregnant vs the 1 time we did haha!

Don’t wanna jinx but we’ve been using this method as I’m horrendous with hormonal contraceptives for about 4 years. No pregnancies
bf is pretty good at pulling out

Withdrawal worked well for us for years, then I got pregnant easily when we started TTC. I think it relies on the man having good self control!

Appreciate this is a slightly old thread but we've used withdrawal for about 5 years with no problems, nor do we avoid fertile days of the month. The only times I've been pregnant have been planned. I do appreciate why it's not a particularly recommended form of contraception though, there's definitely more risk of "user error" than other methods and I think that's why it gets a bad reputation. But it's been absolutely fine for us.