A Magic Formula for Getting Pregnant?

by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

So what's the perfect age to get pregnant? Leave it to scientists and economists to figure out. This is what they came up with.

A new study published in the journal PLoS One presents a "computational approach" to getting pregnant, using a woman's age and how long she's been trying to get pregnant.

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Basically, women who are 25 years old and have been trying to get pregnant for three months have an 18 percent chance of conceiving that month. If they've been trying for six months, the chance drops to 15 percent; for nine months, it drops again to 12 percent. Comparatively, a 35-year-old woman who's been trying for three months has a 12 percent chance of getting pregnant that month (and the likelihood kind of takes a dip from there). The Daily Mail actually has a pretty helpful table.

The research has been passed to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which means it may be used to create a kind of fertility calculator that can provide a personalized prediction.

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Interesting--but, of course, this is still just a model. It doesn't take into account a great deal of personal factors, so I really hope it doesn't cause panic in women who have been doing everything they can to try having a baby.

What are your thoughts on the formula? Are you trying to get pregnant--or have you ever tried?

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