Miscarriage? Try Again ASAP, Study Suggests

When women have a miscarriage, one of the first questions they often ask is how long they should wait before getting pregnant again. A new study suggests that the sooner they start trying, the better.

Women who conceive within six months of a miscarriage instead of waiting up to a year reduce their risk of another miscarriage by one-third, and they also increase their chances of a healthy and successful pregnancy, according to the study, which appears in the journal BMJ.

Even though as many as 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage, recommendations for getting pregnant afterward are all over the map. Many doctors tell women to wait until after a normal menstrual cycle, while others advise waiting up to 18 months. The World Health Organization recommends waiting at least six months.

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The six-month window highlighted in the study is “faster than most people would have thought,” says ob-gyn Catherine Spong, MD, the chief of the Pregnancy and Perinatology branch of the National Institutes of Health.

The findings don’t mean that women should rush to conceive after losing a pregnancy, but they do suggest that women who feel ready to try again right after a miscarriage will have good outcomes, says Dr. Spong, who was not involved in the new study.

Much of the evidence supporting a wait of six months or more comes from developing countries, where medical care is less reliable and where women tend to get pregnant at earlier ages.

In countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., by contrast, many women delay pregnancy due to career or financial concerns. And for a woman in her 30s who has experienced a miscarriage, the authors write, “Any delay in attempting conception could further decrease the chances of a healthy baby.”