Sexual intercourse is often a topic of interest to couples whether or not you are trying to conceive. All sex positions are not created equal when it comes to making babies.
The fact is there is not a whole lot of science about which position is best for conception; it is more of a logistical issue than anything else. It is quite difficult to research specific sexual positions that might enhance fertility, one factor is because there are multiple other factors that affect the odds of conception, such as maternal age and timing of the intercourse.
But despite lack of proof, some sex positions do provide some advantages for baby-making.
Probably the most talked about position for pregnancy to occur is the missionary position, that is, the man-on-top, woman-below arrangement. While there are theories that this position enables a woman’s cervix to dip more easily into the vaginal semen pool, giving sperm access to cervical mucus, there’s really no scientific data to back this up.
Not all women are built the same way. Some women that have their uterus tilted forwards can benefit from this position, but there are others that have their uterus tilted backward, so missionary wouldn’t offer any advantage for them.
The “missionary position” for instance, is not the most popular for every man. Some men actually find it “inconvenient” and “tiring”. In such cases, couples can try different positions; the whole idea is for couples to make baby-making sex adventurous and fun
Engaging in sexual intercourse leads to pregnancy, but how soon after sex could you actually get pregnant? Fertilization or conception can occur within minutes of sex, but it’s also possible to have intercourse on Thursday and not conceive until Sunday. There is no exact period rather, a range is more appropriate. Implantation occurs five to 10 days after fertilization, which means anywhere from five to 15 days after you had sex.
You might think that the time between sex and conception is just the amount of time it takes sperm to swim to the egg. But how quickly sperms swim doesn’t fully answer the question. Conception may take place minutes after sexual intercourse, or it may take a few days.
Sperm can survive inside the female reproductive system for up to five days, but may take between two and 10 minutes to travel from the cervix through to the fallopian tubes regardless of gravity. Sperms will swim “up” through the uterus no matter what position your body is in. If there is an egg waiting, conception can occur as quickly as three minutes after sexual intercourse.
You may conceive within minutes of sexual intercourse, but, more commonly, hours or days will pass between intercourse and the day of the egg is fertilized. A pregnancy test cannot detect pregnancy at the moment of conception or even on implantation day. There needs to be enough pregnancy hormone in the body for the test to come up positive.
There could be delay between intercourse and fertilization, so the day that you had sex is not necessarily the day you’ll get pregnant. If you had sex on Thursday, and you ovulate on Sunday, conception can still occur. While you’re more likely to get pregnant if you have sex two to three days before ovulation, you can get pregnant from sex that occurs up to six days before an egg is released from the ovary.
You’re not technically pregnant until implantation occurs which may be 5-15 days after intercourse. This is when the fertilized egg (now an embryo) implants itself into the uterine wall. Fertilization happens in the fallopian tubes, not in the uterus. Whether fertilization occurs within minutes of sex or days later, potential pregnancy symptoms won’t appear for up to 10 days. It takes time for the fertilized egg to travel from the fallopian tubes and find a soft landing area in the uterus.
The earliest you might expect to “feel pregnant” after sex would be around seven days. More commonly, it takes between two to four weeks after sex before pregnancy symptoms are noticeable.
Just about every woman has received advice to remain on her back after intercourse, hoping it’ll make it easier to get pregnant. How true this is remains debatable. There’s no research specifically on lying still after sex to back up the claim.
Lying down after or during intercourse may actually help you get pregnant faster, but it probably won’t make a big difference anyway because sperm cells will always swim towards your ovaries.
Any position that allows for semen to have increased access to the opening of the cervix is highly recommended. It’s more likely that the best position is already your favourite one. It doesn’t matter the position as long as the job gets done.
What’s most important is to keep up a consistent routine, and not necessarily an obsessive one. In studies about the frequency of sex, there wasn’t a statistical difference between rates of pregnancy for people who have intercourse every other day leading up to ovulation and those who do it every day. Once the ejaculate gets into the cervical mucus, the prospects of fertilization are improved.
