Does late ovulation affect your chances of getting pregnant?

What is late ovulation?

Late ovulation means that you ovulate later in your menstrual cycle, closer to your period than normal. If you're trying to get pregnant, it helps to know when you ovulate because the days leading up to and including ovulation are your most fertile period.

Ovulation – when your body releases an egg from your ovaries – typically happens around day 14 of a typical 28-day menstrual cycle. But not all women have a typical 28-day cycle.

"Each woman's cycle length may be different, and the time between ovulation and when the next period starts can be anywhere from one week (7 days) to more than 2 weeks (19 days)," according to U.S. Department of Health Human Services Office on Women's Health.Opens a new window

The majority of women don't actually ovulate on cycle day 14, and this is very normal, says Sasha Hakman, M.D., a double board-certified ob-gyn and reproductive endocrinologist with HRC FertilityOpens a new window in Los Angeles.

"If you ovulate earlier or later, this shouldn't be cause for concern as long as your menstrual cycles fall between 25 and 35 days," says Dr. Hakman, who specializes in treating infertility and is a member of the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board.

The phase leading up to ovulation is called the follicular phase, and the phase between ovulation and your period is called the luteal phase. When you have late ovulation, it's usually the follicular phase that's longer than normal.

How do you know if ovulation is late?

If you're very tuned in to your body, you may notice signs of ovulation, including:

• Changes in your cervical mucus (it will become clear, thin, and slippery, making it easier for sperm to swim to your egg)
• Mild cramping on one side of your abdomen as the egg is released
• Slightly swollen, sensitive vulva
• A cervix that's softer, higher, wetter, and more open than usual
• Light spotting as a result of the follicle surrounding your egg breaking open
• Breast tenderness due to the surge of progesterone when you ovulate
• Heightened sense of smell and taste
• Increased sex drive
• Decreased appetite before, and increased appetite after ovulation
• Fluid retention due to the surge of luteinizing hormone and estrogen

If you notice these signs after the mid-point of your cycle, you may be ovulating late.

To pinpoint ovulation (and whether or not it's occurring late), you can track your basal body temperature (BBT) and cervical mucus and/or use an ovulation predictor kit. You may also want to try a fertility monitor, which gathers more data to identify your most and least fertile days.

What are the causes of late ovulation?

There are many reasons you might ovulate late. Some are due to current, temporary circumstances, and others are related to chronic conditions.

• Normal variation in cycle length. If you have a longer menstrual cycle, you may regularly ovulate later than day 14. So, for example, if your cycle is typically 30 days and you ovulate 14 days before your period, you would ovulate on day 16.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition, which is an endocrine disorder, is the most common cause of late ovulation. When you have PCOS, your ovaries make large amounts of hormones called androgens, which can prevent or delay ovulation.
• Stress. Extreme stress (such as that caused by the death of a loved one or a natural disaster) can delay ovulation or cause it to stop temporarily. Your body produces cortisol when it's stressed, which can affect your hypothalamus, the gland that stimulates your pituitary gland to produce estrogen and your ovaries to release eggs.
• Severe or acute illness. Serious, traumatic illness ­­– such as cancer – can disrupt ovulation.  
• Some drugs. Some researchers think that certain prescribed and over-the-counter medications as well as some illicit drugs may affect ovulation. These include some antidepressants, some antipsychotics, and marijuana.
• Hypothyroidism. If you have hypothyroidism, it means your body isn't producing enough thyroid hormone, which can affect your menstrual cycle and ovulation.
• Breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding (nursing at least every 4 hours during the day and every 6 hours at night, around the clock) can cause ovulation to stop temporarily.
• Prolactinoma. In this condition, a (usually) noncancerous tumor causes the pituitary gland to produce excess amounts of the hormone prolactin. Too much prolactin can disrupt the signal from the brain to the ovary to stimulate ovulation.
• Transition to menopause. During perimenopause, you may not ovulate regularly.
• Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). POI, also known as premature menopause, is when a woman's ovaries are prematurely depleted of eggs (prior to age 40). This can result in a lack of ovulation and periods, though occasional random ovulation is possible.
• Being overweight or underweight. Your ovaries make estrogen, and so do fat cells. If your fat cells cause too much estrogen to be released, it may affect ovulation and menstruation. Being very underweight, on the other hand, can cause your body to pause ovulation and menstruation and consequently stop making estrogen.

Does late ovulation affect your fertility?

Late ovulation can make conception a little tricker. If you're timing sex to get pregnant, assuming that you're ovulating at the typical time – mid cycle – can cause you to miss the mark.

You can get around this by tuning into your individual ovulation times (see above). Again, tracking your basal body temperature and cervical mucus, being sensitive to changes in your body, and using ovulation predictor kits are some good ways to do this. You can also increase your chances by having frequent sex throughout your cycle. Once at least every two or three days soon after the end of your period is a good guideline.

Read more about how often you should have sex to get pregnant.

Addressing the underlying cause of late ovulation can be important. For example, in a studyOpens a new window of almost 400 women who were infertile and had hypothyroidism, treatment for the hypothyroidism resulted in pregnancy for more than 76% of the women within a year.

Will late ovulation make your period late?

Maybe. It depends on the length of your luteal and follicular phases. Remember, in most cases, if your menstrual cycle varies in length, it's the follicular phase that changes.

So, if you have a late ovulation with a longer follicular phase and a normal luteal phase, your period may be late. But if you have a short luteal phase with late ovulation, your period may arrive on time.

You may have a period that's longer and heavier than normal, though. That's because your body releases estrogen up until ovulation (called the follicular phase of your cycle), and estrogen helps the uterine lining to build up.

When you ovulate late, estrogen has had more time to build up the uterine lining, making for a longer and heavier period as your body sheds the lining. (Once you ovulate, your body produces progesterone, to help support a pregnancy.)

Does late ovulation impact pregnancy?

No. Once you're pregnant, whether you had a late ovulation shouldn't impact your pregnancy at all.

"A late ovulation won't matter at all once you're pregnant," says Dr. Hakman. "I've had patients ovulate on day 35 of their menstrual cycle who became pregnant and had healthy pregnancies."

When to talk to a doctor about late ovulation

Mention any irregularities or sudden changes in your menstrual cycle to your doctor. Tell them if your cycles are long or short, or if you have heavy or painful bleeding, for example.

Be sure to talk with your doctor if you're trying to get pregnant and you think you ovulate late in your cycle. The sooner you address any underlying causes, the better. There are also fertility medications that are sometimes used to trigger ovulation in women trying to conceive.

Even if you don't ovulate late, talk with your doctor if you've been trying to get pregnant for a year – 6 months or sooner, if you're over 35 – with no success.

Learn more:

• How to get pregnant fast: Tips to help you conceive
• Can you ovulate twice a month?
• Early signs of pregnancy