Must you completely clear your system of birth control pills before getting pregnant?
Oral contraceptives prevent pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation, but are metabolised quickly once stopped. Doctors advise waiting until after the first period before trying to fall pregnant
If you’re taking birth control pills, must you wait for them to be “fully cleared” from your system before you can fall pregnant?
The simple answer: No
If you are taking birth control pills but are contemplating becoming pregnant in the near future, you may wonder how long it’ll take you to conceive after discontinuing use of the pills. After all, it’s a common perception that it takes some time for the hormones in birth control pills to be totally eliminated from your system before you have a chance of falling pregnant.
Obviously, oral contraceptives work only while you take them regularly. According to Dr Ann Tan, a gynaecologist and obstetrician from Women Fertility & Fetal Centre in Singapore, once you stop taking birth control pills, the medication is said to metabolise to half its strength in less than two days, meaning that it should clear out of your system pretty quickly; ovulation should begin again within weeks and your chances of falling pregnant should return to what it was before you started taking the pills.
