Content table
Can you get pregnant when you’re not ovulating? The female body is a wonder, so naturally, the answer is not so straightforward.
When you can and cannot get pregnant is conditional to changes in your monthly menstrual cycle. We will break it down for you, step-by-step.
The process of ovulation plays a significant role in pregnancy. Hence, knowing if you can get pregnant while ovulating or not is vital information.
The starting point of pregnancy is ovulation. This is when your ovary releases an egg that travels through the fallopian tube.
When you have sex, this egg gets fertilized by a sperm and gets implanted into your uterine wall for the fetus to begin forming.
This is what happens when you ovulate. What happens when you don’t? Find out in this article if you can get pregnant when you’re not ovulating.
Takeaways
- Pregnancy is the result of the fertilization of an egg by a sperm. The most ideal time for it to happen is during the fertile window which is 4 days before ovulation, day of ovulation, and 1 day after ovulation.
- The chances of getting pregnant during your period are minimal but it is still possible, especially for people with shorter cycles.
- In situations where a woman has anovulatory cycles, the chances of conception are low because you can’t get pregnant if you’re not ovulating.
Can You Get Pregnant Outside Your Ovulation?
The short answer is no. You cannot get pregnant outside ovulation or if you do not ovulate.
Remember that pregnancy happens when the egg and sperm unite during your fertile window, which begins with ovulation.
Ovulation occurs between 12-14 days before your next period. When you ovulate, an egg is released from your ovary that moves down the fallopian tube towards the womb.
After ovulation, the released egg gives an open window of 24 hours for a sperm to fertilize it. Sperm can remain in a woman’s body for up to 5 days. This makes up for your fertile window of 6 days, marked as 4 days before ovulation, the day of ovulation, and one day after ovulation.
So, timing intercourse during this fertile window increases the likelihood of conceiving. When fertilization occurs during this 6-day window the sperm unites with the egg to form a zygote, implantation follows, and you get pregnant.
Anything outside this is not feasible, and chances of pregnancy any other way are rare.
Getting Pregnant On Your Period
There is a lot of noise around whether or not you can get pregnant on your period. Is it possible? The chances are minimal but, yes, it is still possible to get pregnant on your period.
Before Your Period
Conceiving a few days before your period is not possible. This is because you have already ovulated about 12-14 days ago and the egg has not been fertilized within the 24-hour-window.
Now the uterus has not prepared for pregnancy and will start shedding its lining. You will get your period within a day or two.
On Your Period Or After Your Period
Getting pregnant on or after your period more commonly happens with people who have shorter cycles that have a span of about 21 to 24 days. The typical bleeding time is upto 3-7 days.
In a 22-day cycle, you ovulate on day 8 of your cycle (12-14 days before your next period). Your fertile window is between day 6 and day 11 of your cycle (4 days before ovulation, the day of ovulation, and 1 day after ovulation).
If you have unprotected sex during your fertile window, it is highly likely that you will get pregnant.
Confused? Well, don’t be! All you need to do is track your fertile days and confirm your ovulation day to get pregnant.
What Happens When You Aren’t Ovulating?
Have you ever had months where you skipped your periods for no reason?
Well, it turns out that this happens due to not ovulating. You may have anovulatory cycles occasionally (more on this later). Don’t worry, this is normal.
Let’s break it down further for you.
Your menstrual cycle consists of two phases:
The preovulatory phase is the first half of your cycle when estrogen is dominant.
Once it starts rising, the anterior pituitary releases Luteinizing Hormone (LH) to trigger ovulation. The surge in LH causes the mature follicle to release the egg. The egg gets released into the fallopian tube and down the uterus into the cervical canal.
The ruptured follicle forms a structure called the corpus luteum that produces progesterone.
In the postovulatory phase, the second half of your cycle, progesterone is the dominant hormone. It prepares the body for the possibility of pregnancy.
Progesterone maintains the uterine lining to create a nourishing environment for a fertilized egg. This hormone remains high during your entire pregnancy to prevent you from having your period.
In case your egg does not get fertilized by the sperm, the corpus luteum shrivels down and stops producing progesterone, and you get your period.
What Happens in Anovulatory Cycles?
Anovulatory cycles are fairly common in women, affecting 1 in 10 women. In this condition, you do not ovulate.
When ovulation does not occur, the follicles keep growing in size. But they do not mature enough to rupture and release an egg. Thus, the corpus luteum never gets formed to release progesterone.
Despite no ovulation, you can get your period. This is known as breakthrough bleeding.
This is because your body has already prepared the uterine line for pregnancy by increasing estrogen production. Estrogen went on increasing to build the uterine lining.
Hence, no follicle rupture = no ovulation = no corpus luteum formation = no progesterone.
Progesterone is missing and is not available to maintain the uterine lining.
Some women shed this lining on their own, while many others require help from their doctor to shed the lining and get their periods.
Anovulation is one of the few reasons some women can’t become pregnant and accounts for 30% of infertility cases. Contact your doctor if you have experienced anovulation for a while and think it is responsible for your infertility issues. Anovulation varies in individuals, but it occurs more often as you reach menopause due to hormonal imbalance.
Getting Pregnant When You’re Not Ovulating During A Cycle: Is It Possible?
It is not possible to conceive without ovulation occurring during a cycle.
This is because no egg is available for the sperm to fertilize, which is the first requirement for a pregnancy to begin.
If you want to get pregnant when you’re not ovulating, you can opt for medical treatments. Consult your doctor and get the prescribed medicines to make your body release a mature egg for fertilization.
And if you want to know when you’re ovulating and time your intercourse for higher chances of pregnancy, watch out for ovulation symptoms like changes in the consistency of your cervical mucus and a slight increase in your body temperature post-ovulation.
However, these indications aren’t always reliable. Plus, if you consider your body temperature, which increases after ovulation, you miss out on your fertile window. So, the foolproof way to know you’re ovulating (or not) is to try Inito.
The Inito Fertility Monitor is a handy tool that identifies your fertile days. Research has shown it can increase the chances of conception by 89%. Its clear and accurate results can help you plan your conception better.
Was this article helpful?
- Wilcox AJ, Dunson D, Baird DD. The timing of the “fertile window” in the menstrual cycle: day-specific estimates from a prospective study. BMJ. 2000;321(7271):1259-1262.
- Clubb E. Natural methods of family planning. J R Soc Health. 1986;106(4):121-126.
- Ovulation happens 10 16 days before period ncbi – google search.
- H.L. Hambridge, S.L. Mumford, D.R. Mattison, A. Ye, A.Z. Pollack, M.S. Bloom, P. Mendola, K.L. Lynch, J. Wactawski-Wende, E.F. Schisterman, The influence of sporadic anovulation on hormone levels in ovulatory cycles, Human Reproduction, Volume 28, Issue 6, June 2013, Pages 1687–1694,
