Here’s everything you need to know about how often and when to have sex in order to optimize your chances of getting pregnant.
Trying to conceive can be exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. There’s so much to think about, and sometimes conceiving can feel like a lottery—totally random and impossible to control.
Sure, there are no guarantees of getting pregnant in any given cycle, and it’s normal for things to take some time.
There are, however, ways to optimize your chances of conceiving, and that has to do with frequency and timing of sex.
So, how often do you need to have sex to get pregnant?
Here’s a look at how often to have sex when trying to conceive, and, just as important, when to have sex when trying to conceive.
How often do you need to have sex to get pregnant? It’s common to think that you need to have sex all the time when you’re trying to conceive. However, this is not actually the case.
Trying to conceive is more a question of timing than quantity.
Each menstrual cycle, there’s only a short window of time during which it’s possible to get pregnant—often referred to as the fertile window . This window corresponds to the time around the ovulatory phase of your cycle, and this is when you should have sex.
What is the ovulatory phase (and ovulation)? The ovulatory phase is about midway through your cycle, sandwiched between the follicular phase and the luteal phase . It corresponds to ovulation and overlaps with your fertile window.
Ovulation is when the ovaries release a mature egg.
This egg hangs around in the fallopian tube for 12 to 24 hours , during which time it can be fertilized. Sperm, the other side of the pregnancy equation, can survive in the body for up to five days after ejaculation.
When these two timelines align, chances are the recently-released egg may meet up with sperm. If that happens, the egg may be fertilized, then travel down to the uterus to implant in the uterine lining and become an embryo (which happens around 14 days past ovulation, or DPO .)
What is the fertile window? Ovulation only takes a day, but that doesn’t mean you can only get pregnant one day out of every cycle.
The window of time during which you can conceive is a bit longer than that. This timeframe is called your fertile window, since it’s the part of your cycle when you’re most fertile.
The fertile window is generally defined as lasting six days: the five days before ovulation, plus the day after ovulation.
If you have sex at any point during this six-day fertile window, it’s possible for you to get pregnant.
When should you have sex to get pregnant? The key to conceiving is to time sex with ovulation. Rather than asking “how often do you need to have sex to get pregnant,” you should first ask, “when should you have sex to get pregnant?”
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Knowing when you ovulate and finding your fertile window will give you your timeframe.
So when should you have sex when trying to conceive? During your fertile window.
How often to have sex in the fertile window From there, the next question is frequency.
How often do you need to have sex to get pregnant? Every day, or every other day during your fertile window.
That being said, if you and your partner want to have sex more often—every day, even—then go right ahead! More frequent sex certainly won’t hurt your chances of conceiving.
However, if that doesn’t sound right for you, that’s okay, too! In order to conceive, you only need to have regular sex during your fertile window, which is only about one week out of any given cycle. Anything beyond that is up to your personal preferences.
How do I track my fertility and find my fertile window? To optimize your chances of conceiving, it’s important to track your fertility. This will help you pinpoint when you ovulate and when you’re most fertile, so that you know when to have sex.
Generally speaking, ovulation occurs around midway through your cycle (whatever your cycle length is), and the fertile window happens a bit before that.
However, everyone is unique, so cycles and exact timelines vary from person to person. This means that tracking ovulation and finding your fertile window may not be quite as simple as using a calendar to count up to the midpoint of your cycle.
Note physical signs of ovulation Certain physical signs of ovulation may be able to help you identify that you’re approaching your fertile window, including:
Changes in cervical mucus Changes in basal body temperature (BBT) Pelvic or abdominal pain (also called “mittelschmerz”) Cervical position Breast pain Bloating Mood changes While these signs are helpful, they aren’t always easy to decipher. Plus, they may not give you the most accurate picture of exactly when you’re ovulating—or confirmation that you definitely have ovulated at all.
Track your hormones The most accurate way to track your fertility is by using hormone-based cycle tracking .
Hormone-based cycle tracking measures key reproductive hormones like luteinizing hormone, estrogen, and progesterone to determine where you are in your cycle. Tracking estrogen, for example, can help you understand when you’re approaching ovulation. Tracking LH can pinpoint when this hormone surges, indicating that you’re about to ovulate.
At-home fertility testing kits like Oova provide accurate, detailed, and personalized hormone measurements that enable you to track the different phases of your cycle, including the ovulatory phase. (Here’s more about how Oova measures hormones. )
With Oova, the technology adapts to your body as you go, meaning Oova’s ovulation prediction capabilities get even more accurate with time. If you’re interested in hormone tracking, consider starting Oova at least a few cycles before beginning your pregnancy journey in order to arm yourself with as much information as you can in advance.
With more accurate predictions, you’ll have a clearer picture of when you ovulate and when your fertile window occurs. That means you’ll have a better understanding of both how often you should have sex when trying to conceive, and when you should have sex.
How do I find my fertile window if my cycle is irregular? One of the best courses of action when trying to conceive is to track ovulation and find your fertile window, but this is easier said than done for some people.
If you have irregular cycles , for example, understanding the different phases may be a bit more difficult – but hormone tracking can help.
By moving away from the myth of the “standard” 28-day cycle (which only 13% of women have!), test kits like Oova that track your unique hormone levels can demystify any cycle.
But, if you aren’t yet tracking your hormones and you’re not sure when exactly you ovulate from cycle to cycle, not to worry! In this case, you can time sex around your period.
Try to have sex regularly starting shortly after your period ends, for around two weeks. Having sex every two to three days during this timeframe may well correspond with the ovulatory phase of your cycle.
The bottom line If you’re trying to conceive and find yourself wondering “how often do you need to have sex to get pregnant?” the answer is actually more closely related to timing.
You may want to consider another factor first: “when should you have sex to get pregnant?”
When trying to conceive, you should have sex during your fertile window, the six-day timeline during your cycle when you’re most fertile and pregnancy is possible.
Ideally, you should have sex every day or every other day during your fertile window.
Tracking your fertility by measuring your unique hormone levels can help you optimize the timing and frequency of sex to boost your chances of conceiving during a given cycle.
Plus, arming yourself with knowledge about your hormones and your cycle can give you a better understanding of your health and what’s happening in your body.
