Has anyone got pregnant whilst on the mini pill by not taking it at the same time each day?

[jennymac]

I have only been on it a few months and generally take it at 10.30pm each night. I have taken it later a few times when I have been out and forgotten (about 3.30am) and was wondering how risky this is? My DH and I are at the stage where we can't decide whether to have a dc3 or not so if I did get pregnant it would be fine (ish!) but just wondering if anyone has been caught out by doing this?

Isn't the idea of the mini pill that you need to take it within two hours of the same time every day or you are at risk of pregnancy?

It happens to plenty of people.

Its up to you whether you take extra pre-cautions after you have missed/taken one later.

Maybe it would be a good idea for you to set a alarm on your phone. Just a reminder if you are prone to forget like me . :)

Yes, I did.

I got pregnant on the mini pill by taking it perfectly. I then had a mc a few weeks later. I suppose given my experience, as soon as you don't follow the guidelines it must be extremely ineffective. I will never trust it again tbh.

You have a 3 hour window in which to take your progesterone-only pill (POP) except for Cerazette which has a 12 hour window.

The mini pill doesn't rely on stopping you ovulating each month like other hormonal contraceptives (the exception being cerazette which does and has a 12 hour missed pill window). It's main mode of action is to thicken the mucous in your cervix and make it inhospitable to sperm. Taking it later than the 3 hour window stops this happening reliably, is very dodgy and you're much more likely to fall pregnant with this method by just missing one pill! If you can't rely on yourself to take this on time I'd highly recommend using another method (or cerazette if you need a progesterone only pill)

Thanks everyone for your answers. Have just checked and it is Cerazette which I am taking so it looks like I should be ok with being late by a few hours!

Happy days

Hi there - yes cerazette is the only one where it doesn't really matter if you take it a few hours either side of the normal time. Well that's what my doctors told me anyway!

Yup. I did.