How to Stop Birth Control

Birth control has been one of the single most significant, and some would say most important, medical discoveries humankind has ever made. However, what if you and your partner change your mind? What if, after regularly using birth control, you decide that you want to have children?

In order to do this, you will have to stop your birth control. How can this be done? More importantly, can it be done safely? Quitting your birth control does not need to be scary or confusing. You will be able to stop birth control safely with our help, and by using the information contained within this guide.

Once your normal ovulation schedule resumes, you are now able to become pregnant. If the beginning of this event happens during your very first cycle off-- that is, when you have stopped taking any kind of birth control pills, you may not even have a period at all. In some cases, after you stop taking a birth control pill, you might have only a total delay of two weeks before you begin to ovulate once again. Your natural period would then follow, occurring approximately four to six weeks after you have taken your last birth control pill.

Stop Birth Control - Post Ovulation

Once ovulation resumes, you can become pregnant. If this happens during your first cycle off a birth control pill, some women have wondered if there is the remote chance that you may not even have a menstrual period at all. Although this scenario is technically possible, it is not very likely to occur. If you have had at least one normal menstrual period before conceiving, this will make it a little easier to estimate around when the time of your ovulation was. This, in turn, will make is possible to make an estimate at when your baby might be due.

In the past, doctors would express the concern that if you conceived immediately after stopping the taking of a birth control pill, you would also have a much higher risk of miscarriage. However, these concerns have turned out to be completely unfounded. Conceiving right after getting off birth control will not increase the risk of a miscarriage. If you do not have your period for several months after stopping your birth control, you may actually have what is called "post-pill amenorrhea". Essentially, taking a birth control pill will prevent your body from making the hormones that are needed for both ovulation and menstruation cycles. When you stop taking a birth control pill, or other hormonally based forms of birth control, it can take a little while for your body to be able to return to a normal production of these necessary hormones.

In most cases, your menstrual period should resume again within one to three months after you stop taking birth control. Most women will begin to ovulate promptly and have a period again sometime within the next four to six weeks. However, some women, especially those women who went on birth control in order to regulate their menstrual cycles, may not actually have a period again for several months.

Keep the above time periods and guidelines in mind and you will be able to stop birth control safely. Then you will be well on your way to conceiving a child.