Express lane to pregnancy, no waiting

It has been a common recommendation for women who miscarry to wait before trying to conceive again. The World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines state as much by recommending that women who experience a miscarriage should wait at least six months before trying to get pregnant again.

But a new study out of Scotland may change that. This study found that women who conceive within six months of an initial miscarriage have the best chance of a healthy pregnancy with the lowest complication rates. The British Medical Journal published the findings.

Ultimately, the authors assert, there is no justification for asking women and their families to wait. In western cultures where many women suspend pregnancy until they are older, the failure of that conception combined with a six month wait time takes up a lot of time on a ticking clock. “Women over 35 are more likely to experience difficulties in conceiving and
women aged 40 years have a 30% chance of miscarriage which rises to 50% in those aged 45 years or more. . . any delay in attempting conception could further decrease their chance of a healthy baby,” the report points out.

The data is culled from over 30,000 women who gave birth between 1981 and 2000 who all experienced miscarriage prior to giving birth. The results showed that women who conceived again within six months were less likely to
have another miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy when compared to women who wait six months or longer. They were also less likely to experience c-section, delivery prematurely or have low birth weight babies.

For individual women, there may exist reasons to delay: infection from the miscarriage is one of those reasons. But this study makes it clear that a hard line on waiting to conceive is unclear. Talk to your doctor.

Source: BMJ, ScienceDaily