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Getting pregnant after miscarriage

After losing a baby many couples worry about the prospects for another pregnancy. Dr Howard Lee suggests strategies for coping with miscarriage and trying again

A miscarriage can be devastating. There's a feeling that somehow what happened was your fault, that something you did may have triggered the loss - exercise, a minor fall, sexual intercourse.

This is rarely the case. Some women also worry that a previous abortion has affected them and may have caused their miscarriage, but there's no evidence to back this up either.

Research suggests that one in four pregnancies will end in miscarriage, and that 80 per cent of those miscarriages will occur during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The aftermath

Sometimes a D&C (dilatation and curettage) has to be carried out after a miscarriage to make sure that the womb is completely clear. This procedure, also known as a 'scrape', involves a general anaesthetic and a short stay in hospital.

It won't weaken your cervix or make you more likely to miscarry in subsequent pregnancies. Your doctor and midwife should be sympathetic and understanding, but there aren't any tests that can help to determine what caused the miscarriage.

Focus on the fact that serious medical problems are rarely to blame and it's very likely that your next pregnancy will be successful.

Should you have a second miscarriage - and many women do miscarry more than once in their lives - you may be referred to a specialist. However, even sophisticated tests may not produce any reasons for successive miscarriages.

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