This Is How Often You Should Have Sex If You're Trying to Get Pregnant

Alright, let's be honest here: if you're trying to conceive, you're probably feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. Are you doing everything you can to increase your chances? Can you get pregnant while on your period? Is there a sex position that will get you pregnant faster? How long should you try before heading to the doctor?

The experience of creating a new human that's yours and your partner's is beautiful yet extremely confusing. Why? Because the answer to a lot of the questions floating in your head is usually: "Well, it depends." The same goes for how often you should be having sex to get pregnant. There's no magic number that'll guarantee you see that positive sign or extra line on the pregnancy test, but there are a few things you can try.

The deal is, having more sex is better than having less — and before you say it, no, you shouldn't be "saving up your guy's sperm"; fewer ejaculations don't necessarily mean higher sperm count. Conception is a bit of an odds game. If you only have sex when you think you're ovulating, you risk missing your window since calculations of ovulation might not be that exact (you may have a slightly longer or shorter cycle than 28 days). But don't get ready to strip down every day of the month yet (unless you want to), because having sex daily won't necessarily increase your chances either . . . unless you are close to your ovulation day.

Here's where you say, "But you just told me it's hard to figure out what day that is." Correct. So the trick is to get as close as possible and then create buffers before and after.

If your period is pretty regular, count back 14 days from your cycle's usual first day to figure out your ovulation day, then have sex every other day or every day for five to six days before that date, on ovulation day, and during the five to six days after.

If your period is all over the place, start "having sex frequently — two to three times a week, but every other day if you can — shortly after you stop menstruating to cover your window of pre-ovulation as well," Kelly Pagidas, MD, a fertility specialist with Women & Infants Center for Reproduction and Infertility in Providence, RI, told Parents. Keep that up for a few days after you see vaginal discharge, which signals ovulation.