What should I do if my wife and I are experiencing difficulty having a child?

If you have been trying to conceive but have been unsuccessful for more than 1 year despite regular intercourse, then this means that you and your wife are experiencing infertility issues already.

You should seek a detailed consultation with a gynaecologist to help find a cause, if there is any, and to then start the appropriate fertility treatments which range from oral ovulation medication to SOIUI (superovulation intrauterine insemination) to IVF (in-vitro fertilisation).

If your wife is 40 and above and both of you have been unsuccessful conceiving for at least 6 months, then you should seek help now rather than after 1 year as time is not in your favour. This is because background fertility rate decreases by 1% for every year that a woman is not pregnant after the age of 35 years old.

While your wife should see a gynaecologist, you should make a trip down to see the urologist.

I always tell my patients, for a man to be able to father a child naturally, there are 3 conditions that should be present:

1. have a penile erection hard enough for penetrative intercourse
2. be able to ejaculate inside the vagina
3. have sperm in the ejaculated semen

If there are concerns regarding any of the above, you should see a urologist.