Menopause and Pregnancy: Interesting Facts You Need to Know

As menopause approaches, it can be more difficult to get pregnant naturally. In some cases, this might influence a person’s decisions on birth control and when to plan for a family.

Many people now wait until later in life to have children. Changes that occur around menopause may affect the options available to them.

The age when menopause occurs can vary widely. In the United States, it usually happens between the ages of 45 and 58 years, with 52 years being the average age. However, people can enter menopause at an age outside of this range.

Menopause may begin at a younger age in people who have specific health conditions or have had certain types of medical treatment or surgery.

Some people assume that it is not possible to conceive once symptoms of perimenopause, such as hot flashes and irregular periods, appear.

However, a doctor will not rule out the possibility of pregnancy until a person’s periods have been absent for 12 months.

Understanding how menopause affects fertility can help people make plans, whether they wish to have children or want to avoid becoming pregnant.

Can you get pregnant around menopause?

Menopause happens when a female has not had a menstrual period for 12 months. The years before menopause are called perimenopause.

The transition usually starts when a person is in their 40s and lasts between 7 and 14 years, but this varies widely.

For most people, estrogen levels begin to fall gradually when they are in their 40s. A person will continue to ovulate and menstruate, but periods may become irregular or less frequent.

For some people, periods may stop for several months but then reappear. The reason for this is that ovulation can continue, even though periods do not occur.

As the transition progresses, a fall both in sex hormones and in the number and quality of eggs will reduce the chances of the person becoming pregnant. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, fertility usually ends 5–10 years before menopause.

However, this is not always the case. For some people, pregnancy is still possible until menopause happens.

Pregnancy in perimenopause

At birth, a female has about 1 million follicles in the ovaries that can become eggs. By puberty, they have close to 300,000. During their reproductive years, they will release approximately 300 of these. The other follicles become lost through degeneration.

At the age of 25 years, statistics show that 4.5% of females are unable to conceive naturally. At 38 years, the figure is 20%, rising to 50% at 41 years, nearly 90% at 45 years, and almost 100% at 50 years. Researchers based these figures on data from more than 58,000 women.

This increase in infertility occurs because the quality of eggs and the chance of a healthy pregnancy decline with age.

Nevertheless, it may still be possible to conceive, as long as ovulation continues. If the ovaries produce a viable egg and it becomes fertilized, conception can take place. However, if after menopause a couple can’t have a child, there are fertility treatment options such as IVF.

There are several reasons why a person might wish to become pregnant during perimenopause. These may include:

They have been trying for a long time to conceive.
Their relationship, career, financial situation, or other factors were not suitable before.
They did not previously feel confident or ready to take care of a child.
Once menopause occurs, ovulation will no longer take place, and it will not be possible to conceive naturally.

People who have surgery to remove the uterus or both ovaries will experience menopause directly. They will not go through perimenopause. Find out more here about surgical menopause and how it affects a person. For the full article, visit MNT.