How long should you wait to conceive after a miscarriage?

What does the evidence say about how long to wait after a miscarriage to try again while trying to conceive?

1. A secondary analysis of an NICHD-funded aspirin trial found higher pregnancy and live-birth proportions among participants who began trying within three months of loss. Waiting time was not randomized, so this association is not proof that a shorter wait causes better outcomes. 1
2. A Norwegian national cohort of nearly 50,000 births found conceiving within three months of a miscarriage was linked to a lower chance of a small-for-gestational-age baby and gestational diabetes, with no added risk of preterm birth or preeclampsia. 2
3. A Nigerian cohort study found live birth rates did not differ significantly whether couples conceived before or after the six-month mark following a miscarriage, at 86.4 percent and 87.5 percent respectively, with no increase in repeat miscarriage. 3
4. An analysis of more than 10,000 pregnancies in Bangladesh found shorter intervals after a miscarriage were tied to higher live birth rates than longer ones, though the same researchers flagged a late-newborn-mortality signal at very short intervals in that lower-resource setting, a caveat not reported in research from higher-resource settings. 4
5. The NICHD analysis focused on 1,083 participants, nearly all with a prior loss before 20 weeks, and excluded ectopic and molar pregnancies. Its findings cannot establish a waiting period for every type of pregnancy loss. 1

What to know about how long to wait after a miscarriage to try again while trying to conceive

• Immediately after a loss, follow the care team’s advice about recovery, bleeding, and when intercourse can resume. A return of ovulation does not by itself establish that every person has recovered enough to try again.
• For the first three months after an uncomplicated early miscarriage, several studies found reassuring subsequent pregnancy outcomes. These comparisons were not randomized by waiting time and do not prove that trying sooner causes a better outcome.
• Waiting longer may fit emotional or medical needs. The timing evidence does not set a deadline, and it does not apply automatically to ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, later loss, infection, or other complications.