Most couples “still wildly overestimate” their chances of having a baby, a leading fertility expert has said. 

According to the HSE, one in five women will have a miscarriage and one in six heterosexual couples will have fertility issues.

Older people in particular are more likely to have trouble conceiving and fertility expert Dr John Kennedy said he wished people were more informed about how hard it can be to have a baby.

“There’s still a huge educational component in getting people, couples and women to be aware of fertility issues,” he told Lunchtime Live.

“When then these may come to the fore and what you can do to proactively prevent that from happening.”

A mother breast-feeding a baby.

Even among those couples who are attending a fertility clinic, he still encounters people who are unrealistically optimistic about their chances of becoming parents.

“I think people don’t realise that we’re relatively infertile as a species,” he said.

“We’re not mice, we’re not rats, we don’t have litters of children three or four times a year.”

Despite this, he believes people are becoming more aware of fertility issues but often at a period in their life when it is too late to do much about it.

“I still think [these conversations] are happening in a cohort of people who are older, I’d love to get that awareness dragged back to people who are a younger age,” he said.

How long to conceive?

A woman is at her most fertile from her late teens until her late 20s.

Once she reaches the age of 30, her fertility begins to decline.

“Six months over 35 [trying to conceive], one year under 35 is the core definition of subfertility,” Dr Kennedy said.

“I personally think that men should be having semen analysis, women should be having ovarian reserves checked before they try and conceive - but I’m biassed.”

Last year, the State announced it would fund IVF treatment for infertile couples in certain circumstances.

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Main image: A pregnant woman sitting on a bed.