Stopping contraception

Most women stop contraception because they want to get pregnant. Others stop because they are not satisfied with their current contraception or have bad side effects. We don’t recommend that those women then just stop contraception if you don’t want to get pregnant. Talk to someone you trust, your family doctor or come to us. We want to prevent unintended pregnancies, so we are happy to help you with alternative forms of contraception or educate you about the consequences of not using contraception. Do not rely on your temperature or an ovulation test, these methods are not reliable enough to not risk getting pregnant.

Do you want to get pregnant?

The first step if you want to get pregnant is usually to stop your birth control. If you have a desire to have children and so you decide to stop your contraception, there are a number of things to consider. How long it takes before you can get pregnant again depends on the type of birth control you use:

• If you stop using condoms or have your IUD removed, you can get pregnant right away.
• When stopping the pill, birth control patch and vaginal ring, this can be done again after about 7 days.
• With the hormone rod, you have to wait until your first period is over.
• Are you on the birth control pill? If so, fertility returns 13 or 14 weeks after the last use.

Give your body some time

Your menstrual cycle will not immediately be regular again once you stop using birth control. Your body needs time to restore the natural cycle. You may experience physical ailments such as headaches, abdominal pain, sore breasts and mood swings. But don’t worry, these discomforts usually disappear on their own once your body gets used to your hormonal cycle again.

From when am I fertile?

Basically, you can get pregnant from the moment you have another ovulation. This is usually two weeks before your next period. To determine this, you assume your cycle length. Your menstrual cycle begins on the first day of your period and lasts until the day before your next period. For most women, a cycle is around 28 days. You are then fertile around day 14 of your cycle.

Getting pregnant in a healthy way

It is important to prepare well for a possible pregnancy. If you live a healthy life in the period before you want to get pregnant, you are most likely to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy child. But how do you best prepare for pregnancy? During the childbirth consultation we give you extensive personal advice on healthy living and getting and being pregnant. If you stop taking birth control, start taking folic acid immediately. Want to know more? Sign up for our childbirth consultation.