What Is A Safe Period To Have Sex
A thumb rule If you are having sex, you can get pregnant! Despite all calculations and theories, there is no definite way to determine when a woman will ovulate, so many factors come into play. Most women ovulate 12 to 14 days before they begin their period, but some women ovulate at a different time. So, figuring out when it is safe to have sex yet avoid pregnancy is quite a guessing game.
How To Use Menstrual Period Calculator
It is quite simple 3 step process to calculate your next period and your menstrual cycle using MomJunction period calculator. Also, download customised menstrual calender for year.
- Enter the first day of your last menstrual period.
- Enter the average length of the menstrual cycle.
- Average duration of the last period.
Once you share all the above information,period calculator will share your following menstrual date for a year, fertility calendar, ovulation phase, fertile phase and estimated due date.
Is It Safe To Have Sex After Periods
Whether you are trying to avoid getting pregnant or trying to conceive, you should be tracking your menstrual cycle. This means you should be monitoring the period between the first time you get your period to the next. The average woman begins to ovulate about 14 days after her menstrual cycle has ended. However, the most fertile period of the female is about 3-4 days before and after her ovulation period. Hence, it is not safe to have sex during these 3-4 days if you do not want to get pregnant and advisable to have sex during this period if you wish to do so.
Also read: Foods that abort a month-long pregnancy
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When To Seek Help Getting Pregnant
If youre trying to get pregnant and your periods are irregular, talk to your doctor about it right away, says Taylor. To help things along, bring in three months of your tracked basal body temperature. This can help your physician diagnose whether youre not ovulating or see if you need help regulating your ovulation schedule. There are some medications available to induce ovulation, including letrozole or clomiphene. Your doctor may also look for signs of other conditions, like PCOS, that could be leading the the irregular periods. Either way, Carson says, There are effective treatments available.
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Calculate When You Are Less Likely To Get Pregnant
Keeping track of your periods for at least six months will help you map your fertile days.
Step 1:
Use this formula: Subtract 18 days from the total days of your shortest cycle. Using the resulting number, count from the first day of your next period and mark that date on your calendar.
Step 2:
Subtract 11 days from your longest cycle. Using that number, count forward from the first day of your next period. Mark that date on the calendar.
Step 3:
Your most fertile period is between those marked dates. It should be safe to have unprotected sex any time other than on those dates. However, bear in mind that sperm live up to 4 days, so count four days on either side as risky too. Note that this only works if your periods are regular.
Read Also: Why Am I 14 Days Late On My Period
How Soon Before Or After A Period Can A Person Become Pregnant
Fertility increases sharply around 1214 days before menstruation, so unprotected sex is more likely to result in pregnancy during that time.
It is unlikely but possible that conception will occur in the 1 or 2 days following a period since sperm can survive for up to 7 days after sex.
For example, a couple may have sex the day after a period ends. If ovulation occurs on that day or within the next 6 days, pregnancy is possible.
People with shorter menstrual cycles are more likely to become pregnant in the days after a period ends because they ovulate earlier.
How To Calculate The Safe And Unsafe Days
- Note down the shortest menstrual cycle from the last six months, and subtract 18 days from the total number of days of shortest cycle.
- The number of days that you get after subtracting 18 days, count that number of days from the first day of your last period and mark it as X. X is the first day of the fertile period which is unsafe period.
- Next, note down the longest menstrual cycle from the last six months, and subtract 10 days from the total number of days of longest cycle.
- The number of days you get after subtracting 10 days, count that number of days from the first day of your last period and mark it as Y. The days after Y is the safe period.
- So, the days between X and Y are unsafe days to have sex, as there are chances of getting pregnant. All other days apart from these are considered as safe days.
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Do Irregular Periods Affect Ovulation
No matter the length of her period, every woman ovulates about 14 days before her next period. So, if you have a 28-day cycle, youll ovulate on day 14, and if you have a 32-day cycle, youll ovulate on day 18. But, when you have an irregular cycle, identifying an ovulation date isnt so easy, because without knowing when youre going to get your period, you dont know when to count back 14 days from.
Women with irregular periods are also more likely to be anovulatory, which means they simply dont ovulate. They may bleed on occasion, but the menstruation isnt following the release of an egg. Carson says women experiencing anovulation likely wont feel typical period pains, such as cramping, and their periods can be light or heavy in flow.
Some women ovulate occasionally but its irregular and unpredictable, which can also make it a challenge to conceive. A woman ovulating with a 28-day cycle ovulates 13 times a year. So there are 13 times in which she can get pregnant and she can figure out when they are, says Carson. But if she ovulates six times a year, right away its half as likely that shell get pregnant. And being irregular will make it a challenge to even track down those six times when youre actually fertile.
Examining Their Cervical Mucus
Cervical mucus, or vaginal discharge, changes in color, texture, and volume throughout the menstrual cycle.
On a persons most fertile days, the mucus will feel slippery, similar to raw egg white. On their less fertile days, it will be sticky and cloudy. On their least fertile days, there may be little or no mucus at all.
Just as with body temperature, an individual can use a chart or phone app to track their cervical mucus.
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Know How Many Days After Period Is Safe To Avoid Your Pregnancy
To calculate the safe days, you need to track your menstrual cycle first. If you have a longer cycle of 28 days or 30 days, then having sex right after your period wont affect much. But if you have a short cycle of 21 days or 25 days then, yes, there are chances of getting pregnant.
Ovulation occurs before 2 weeks of the period. So the women with short cycle generally ovulate within 5-6 days after period. Now if you have intercourse during your period, the sperm can stay alive in your vaginal canal for 5-6 days. Hence, there are probabilities of conceiving just after .5-6 days of your period. Its better to have safe sex at the time of period or after the period.
The women with long menstrual cycle generally ovulate after 12-15 days of the period. If you also have a long cycle, then you can go for sex during your periods or just after you stop bleeding. The risk of getting pregnant is almost nonexistent at this time.
However, we can say that there are low chances of conceiving while on period, but the likelihood is not null at all!
How Close To My Period Is It Safe To Have Sex
September 27, 2017 by ModernMom Staff
Sex without condoms feels better for both men and women, but you risk pregnancyand sexually transmitted diseaseswhen you dont use them. If you are not using hormonal birth control and want to limit your chances of getting pregnant without using condoms, you need to time your intercourse correctly. Using fertility awareness, you can use condoms only when you have a higher chance of conceiving.
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When Does Ovulation Happen
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when ovulation happens, unless you’re practising fertility awareness . However, ovulation usually happens 10-16 days before the start of a woman’s next period.
The menstrual cycle is counted from the first day of a womans period. This is day one. Some time after her period she will ovulate, then 10-16 days after this she will have her next period. The average cycle takes 28 days, but shorter or longer cycles are normal.
Its not accurate to say that women are fertile on day 14 of the menstrual cycle, says Toni Belfield, a specialist in sexual health information and a trained fertility awareness teacher. Being fertile on day 14 might be true for women who have a regular 28-day cycle, but it wont apply to all women.
If your cycle is 35 days long, you’re not going to be fertile on day 14 of your cycle. Youre more likely to be fertile around days 19 to 25. If you have a shorter cycle for example, 23 days you might ovulate around days 7 to 13.”
Sperm can survive in a woman’s body for several days after sex. If you want to get pregnant, having sex every couple of days will mean there are always sperm waiting in the fallopian tubes to meet the egg when it’s released.
If you think you might be pregnant, read about the signs and symptoms of pregnancy.
Examples Of Calculating Safe Periods:
Let us take two examples. With the help of these two examples, you can calculate safe periods.
- Assume that any woman has 24 days between 2 menstruating cycles. This means that her ovulation would be ten days after the first day of her last period. Based on this calculation, her safe period would be from day one to day six after her last period and from day thirteen to her next period.
- After that, take another example of a woman who has 32 days between 2 menstruation cycles. Her ovulation would be 18 days after her last period. Based on this calculation , her safe period would be from day one after the last period to day 14 and from day 21 to the next period.
- Safety: Women with regular menstruating cycles have an 85% safety ratio for not getting pregnant in 12 months. However, the success rate depends on how well you calculate the safe period and how religiously you follow it.
- Handy Technology: In todays world of technological advancement, there are numerous apps available that can help you chart your menstrual cycle, calculate your infertile days and store all this data for your quick reference!
- Besides this, there are many tools are available in the market which can give you a rough estimate regarding your ovulation period. As a result, you can calculate ovulation as well as the safe period with higher accuracy and greater ease.
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The Emergency Contraceptive Pill
Also known as the “morning after pill”, this needs to be used within a few days of unprotected sex. Some emergency pills need to be taken within three days of unprotected sex.
Another emergency pill, called ellaOne, is a relatively new method. It can be taken up to five days after sex and is only available with a prescription. For more information about ellaOne, speak to a doctor or nurse.
How Can I Learn More About Natural Family Planning Methods
There are professionals in most communities who can help you learn more about applying the rhythm method or other non-medical birth control methods to your life. Your gynecologist or primary care doctor may be able to recommend someone to you. The more you know about this approach to birth control, the better your results will be.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 08/21/2018.
References
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Examples Of Calculating Safe Periods
Calculating a safe period can be confusing. Here are two examples of calculating the same.
- Take the example of a woman who has 24 days between 2 menstruating cycles. This means that her ovulation would be ten days after the first day of her last period. Based on this calculation, her safe period would be from day one to day six after her last period and from day thirteen to her next period.
- Lets take another example of a woman who has 32 days between 2 menstruation cycles. Her ovulation would be 18 days after her last period. Based on this calculation , her safe period would be from day one after the last period to day 14 and from day 21 to the next period.
- Safety: Women with regular menstruating cycles have an 85% safety ratio for not getting pregnant in 12 months. However, the success rate depends on how well you calculate the safe period and how religiously you follow it.
- Handy Technology: In todays world of technological advancement, there are numerous apps available that can help you chart your menstrual cycle, calculate your infertile days and store all this data for your quick reference!
- There are many tools like a menstrual cycle calculator that are available. These tools will give you a rough estimate of your ovulation period. As a result, you can calculate ovulation as well as the safe period with higher accuracy and greater ease.
Safe Period Calculator Or Menstrual Cycle Calculator
Cycle calculators are accurate in most cases. However, many people find these calculators and apps very complex. Also, most of the information that they ask to calculate the infertile period, for example, months of data about body temperature, cervical mucus and dates of menstruation may not be readily available with every woman. Put simply, to use these calculators, you would need data about your periods as well as body temperature handy. Therefore, many people prefer using simpler period calculators like the ones below, which do not ask for months of data but still give accurate results.
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