Men and women in a committed relationship, such as a marriage, often want to conceive their own child, and it is major life milestone to have one’s first child. But for some couples, having a child seems difficult, and there may be some biological factors in play that are causing fertility issues in the man, woman, or even both in some cases. Couples who are having trouble conceiving may want to visit fertility doctors for testing and medication, or even surgery, so that a couple can boost their odds of having a child together. A fertility or reproduction clinic is often the best route to fixing a problem with conceiving a child, and fertility doctors are always ready and willing to help. What do fertility experts say about current American adults’ efforts to conceive? What might go wrong?

Fertility and Problems

There are a number of health problems that fertility doctors may diagnose and treat in a patient, whether man or woman, and there are also some general trend about when men and women are most easily able to have a child. In women, fertility is at its peak between ages 20 and 24, and it begins its natural decline at age 30 and will start dropping more steeply age age 35. By age 40, only two in five women who want to get pregnant may be able to conceive, and menopause (often starting in the mid-50s) is when a woman’s fertility comes to its natural end. Men are, strictly speaking, fertile their entire lives, but like women, their fertility is at its highest in their 20s and early 30s, and begins to decline. Older man are still able to produce sperm and fertilize a woman’s egg, but sperm quality and quantity both decline with age, and older men can conceive, but they may have difficulty.

Meanwhile, health issues of various kinds might affect a man’s or woman’s ability to conceive a child, and a health clinic’s fertility doctors can help a couple determine what the problem is. General trends show that one in three cases is because of a health issue with the woman, another third is due to the man’s health issues, and the remaining cases are either both partners’ fault or the cause is undetermined. What can go wrong? Among women, the ovaries might fail to release an oocyte (egg cell) properly, or if an egg cell does become fertilized with a sperm cell, it may not attach correctly to the uterine lining to form the placenta, which seriously disrupts fertility efforts. Health habits among women such as smoking tobacco, abusing dangerous drugs, or sheer stress can impair fertility deeply. Among men, the problem may be faulty sperm cells, or a too-low quantity of sperm cells in the seminal fluid for good chances of pregnancy. And with women, a man’s bad health habits may harm his fertility chances, such as tobacco or hard drug use, or even exposure of radiation that can damage his testicles. Radiation-based sterility may be surprisingly common.

Fertility Doctors and Help

What can be done if the man or woman in a couple is unable to help with conceiving a child? A lot of options are open, based on the diagnosis. Many women, and some men, go to fertility clinics to get their health checked, and the success rate is often high. Almost 12% of women have visited a fertility clinic inn their lives, and 44% of women have sought medical assistance when facing infertility. Among them, 65% ended up giving birth to a child, as they intended. Common treatments may include medication to help a woman’s ovaries release egg cells correctly or help fertilized eggs form a placenta properly, or surgery may be needed to address problems with the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, or the uterus. Men and women may take prescription drugs or get injections to boost their reproductive health, and men may get testosterone shots or other medication to boost the production of sperm and thus boost fertility rates. Sometimes, a method known as In Vitro Fertilization, or IVF, may be needed to help conceive a child, or a surrogate mother may be used to help carry a baby to term if the biological mother cannot do so.