Contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs) have a CDC effectiveness statistic of 0.05% to 0.8%[1]. However, hundreds of women have conceived while on these methods, many of which suffered the loss of the baby through miscarriage[2].
News reporters have even investigated the failure rates of IUDs and other devices like Essure, Paragard, Mirena, and Skyla with the manufacturer-approved conclusion that “no method is 100% effective.”
This fact is even more true for the more popular birth control pill, with women reporting multiple pregnancies even while on the Pill.
As mentioned in a Washington Post article, conception experts can’t even offer women an evidence-based mechanism for how these pregnancies occur. “I can’t even give you a scientific answer, even if you missed a pill,” says Colleen Krajewski, an OB/GYN who is affiliated with Johns Hopkins for contraception-related research projects.[3]
One thing is for certain – Women who conceive while on hormonal birth control need extra support for their baby’s sake and their own sake.
Supporting a pregnancy that occurred while on birth control
It happens. We’ve established that babies happen even on the most effective forms of contraception. Women who conceive while on the Pill need to be aware that they are “playing catch-up” when it comes to helping their body support optimal health for their baby.
Hormonal birth control methods like the pill deplete many of the nutrients needed to support an easier pregnancy and the best possible fetal development, including folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12. (To see the literature on this, check out pharmacist Ross Pelton’s book The Pill Problem.)
Vitamin B6, a component of the anti-nausea drug Diclactin, is important for management of morning sickness[4]. Folic acid is well known as preventative medicine for neural tube defects and neurodevelopment in general[5]. Inadequate levels of B12 are associated with anemia and changes to DNA synthesis that could affect everything from bone development to mental health[6].
Focusing on high intake of food sources of depleted nutrients—leafy greens and beans for folic acid, avocados and bananas for B6, grass-fed meat and organic dairy for B12—as well as taking a high quality methylated prenatal supplement can help the expectant mother replenish her stores of these key building blocks.
Understanding how you can get pregnant on birth control
The emotional side of becoming pregnant while on contraception is not to be ignored in the support plan a woman needs. One can appreciate the many questions such an expectant mother might have. She might be especially keen on understanding her fertility in an attempt to accept and explain how the current pregnancy occurred—and determine a better way to avoid pregnancy in the future.
As one mother of two children conceived on the Pill said, it is unsettling to take the most common form of birth control only to find out that you have little “control.”
Can Fertility Awareness Based Methods help with this seemingly lack of control? They provide key information about the fertility window, and couples who are very motivated to avoid pregnancy can do so more effectively than with other methods. In fact, a study conducted in China with the Billing Method showed that this natural method was even more effective than IUDs. This is what happens when couples are well trained and motivated, which is the case in China where population control is strictly enforced. You have options.
References
[1] http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/pdf/contraceptive_methods_508.pdf
[2] http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/investigations/investigation-birth-control-failures-thousands-of-women-report-pregnancies-with-popular-devices
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/you-wont-get-pregnant-if-you-use-the-pill-right-wrong/2013/07/15/4ceab94a-dcf9-11e2-85de-c03ca84cb4ef_story.html
[4] http://www.webmd.com/baby/tc/vitamins-b6-and-b12-for-morning-sickness-topic-overview
[5] http://www.webmd.com/baby/folic-acid-and-pregnancy
[6] http://www.womensinternational.com/connections/vitaminb12.html
I would love more evidence that the “China Study” was actually a peer-reviewed study and not just a paper presented at a commemorative Billings conference.