Does the pill make you super fertile for the first month?
Someone asked us:
Hi. So I just started taking the pill and my friend told me that for the first month I shouldn’t have sex at all since the first month will make me super fertile, but that doesn’t really make any sense. Can you clear this up for me?
The short answer to this question is no. It sounds like your friend is a little confused on the facts — so let’s set them straight. All birth control pills start protecting you from pregnancy within seven days of taking it, if not immediately (depending on when you start).
Combination birth control pills (meaning they have both the hormones estrogen and progestin) will protect you from pregnancy immediately if you start taking them within five days of the start of your period (so if your period starts on a Wednesday morning, you can start the pill up to Monday morning and be protected right away). But don’t worry if you’re not menstruating and you want to start the pill — you can start anytime. If you’re not starting within the first five days of your period, you’ll be protected after seven days of taking it, so make sure you use a back-up method, like a condom, for those first seven days.
The progestin-only pill is a little different. You can still start at any time but with this pill, protection starts after two days, or 48 hours. So you’ll need a back-up method if you have sex during these first two days.
A lot of people think you can only start birth control pills at a specific time during your cycle, or that they take 30 days to become effective. This isn’t true. You can start at any time, and as long as you’re taking the pills correctly, it takes only seven days at the most for you to be protected against pregnancy.
The pill works by preventing your ovaries from releasing eggs. If there’s no egg for sperm to fertilize, then you can’t become pregnant. The pill works the same way every month you take it, so the first pack doesn’t work any differently than the fourteenth or fortieth pack. Learn more about birth control pills.
-Nina at Planned Parenthood