Miscarriage? Try Again ASAP, Study Suggests

Women who conceive within six months of a miscarriage instead of waiting up to a year reduce their risk of another miscarriage by one-third, and they also increase their chances of a healthy and successful pregnancy, according to the study, which appears in the journal BMJ.

Even though as many as 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage, recommendations for getting pregnant afterward are all over the map. Many doctors tell women to wait until after a normal menstrual cycle, while others advise waiting up to 18 months. The World Health Organization recommends waiting at least six months.

The six-month window highlighted in the study is "faster than most people would have thought," says ob-gyn Catherine Spong, M.D., the chief of the pregnancy and Perinatology branch of the National Institutes of Health.