Recurrent early miscarriages (within the first trimester) are most commonly due to genetic or chromosomal problems of the embryo, with 50-80% of spontaneous losses having abnormal chromosomal number. Structural problems of the uterus can also play a role in early miscarriage.
What causes recurrent pregnancy loss? Most pregnancy losses result from chromosomal, or genetic, abnormalities, and are random events. The abnormality may come from the egg, the sperm, or the early embryo. Approximately 12–15% of all clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage.
What causes miscarriage? Chromosomal abnormalities cause about 50% of all miscarriages in the first trimester (up to 13 weeks) of pregnancy. Chromosomes are tiny structures inside the cells of your body that carry your genes.
If you experience two or more consecutive miscarriages, your health care provider might recommend testing to identify any underlying causes before you attempt to get pregnant again. For example: Blood tests. A sample of your blood is evaluated to help detect problems with hormones or your immune system.
The risk of miscarriage drops significantly as pregnancy progresses. In one study, researchers found a miscarriage rate of 9.4 percent at 6 weeks of pregnancy, 4.2 percent at 7 weeks, 1.5 percent at 8 weeks, 0.5 percent at 9 weeks and 0.7 percent at 10 weeks.
Yes, you have a good chance of having a successful pregnancy in the future. Most women who have had two miscarriages go on to have a healthy pregnancy. Sadly, miscarriage is very common, affecting as many as one in six confirmed pregnancies. If you've had a miscarriage before, the risk rises slightly to one in five.
Even after two miscarriages, there's a 65% chance your third pregnancy will end in live birth. However, if a cause is discovered, it may be easy to fix, and finding the cause at this point may prevent further losses and emotional stress.
If you have had three or more miscarriages, your current pregnancy will be considered high risk and your doctor will watch you more closely. You're also at risk if you experienced preterm labor during an earlier pregnancy. Premature babies are more susceptible to short- and long-term complications.
About half of early miscarriages happen when the embryo does not develop properly. This often is due to an abnormal number of chromosomes. Chromosomes are in each cell of the body and carry the blueprints (genes) for how people develop and function.
Multiple miscarriages may be linked to the poor quality of a man's sperm, suggests new research. The early-stage study, from scientists at Imperial College London, investigated the sperm quality of 50 men whose partners had suffered three or more consecutive miscarriages.
Try to remember that most people will only have one miscarriage. About 1 in 100 women experience recurrent miscarriages (3 or more in a row). But even if you have had several miscarriages, it's important to know that many people still go on to have a successful pregnancy.
Recurrent Miscarriage
Having two or even three miscarriages in a row can just be particularly bad luck and the most likely outcome for these women is that they will go on to have a normal pregnancy next time. However, once a woman has had more than one miscarriage, we may go looking for an underlying cause.
Anyone who has experienced two or more miscarriages should see a reproductive specialist.
In the United States, the most common recommendation was to wait three months for the uterus to heal and cycles to get back to normal. The World Health Organization has recommended six months, again to let the body heal.
There is no treatment that will prevent embryos from having chromosome abnormalities. The older a woman gets, the higher the chances that an embryo will have an abnormal number of chromosomes. This is why women have a higher miscarriage rate as they get older.
No sex, tampons, or douching for 2 weeks.
We recommend waiting until after 2 normal periods to attempt pregnancy again.
While excessive stress isn't good for your overall health, there's no evidence that stress results in miscarriage.
Bed rest is probably the most commonly prescribed intervention for preventing miscarriage (Cunningham 1993; Schwarcz 1995), being mainly indicated in cases of threatened miscarriage (vaginal bleeding before 23 weeks of gestational age) but also in cases of a previous history of miscarriage (Goldenberg 1994).
Folic acid: Low folate is associated with a 47% increased risk of miscarriage; having both low folate and low vitamin B6 increase miscarriage risk by 310%. Folic acid may also reduce the risk for Down Syndrome.