Conceiving naturally with a low sperm count: is it possible?

Men with a low sperm count have less than 20 million sperm per millimeter of semen. If that number sounds like a lot to you, a normal sperm count is actually between 40 and 300 million. A low sperm count can certainly make it hard for a man to get his partner pregnant naturally, but it is not always impossible.

What can you do about a low sperm count?

Low sperm counts can be the result of many things. Sometimes, something as simple as not eating well enough and having vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause a low sperm count, which is also called oligospermia. Overheating of the scrotum can also cause a low sperm count. Before you start looking into fertility treatments like IVF, you should certainly discuss the causes of your low sperm count, and possible solutions. You never know a simple vitamin and mineral supplement could make all your problems go away!

Conceiving naturally with oligospermia

The lower the sperm count, the less likely it will be that a man can get his partner pregnant naturally. The morphology and motility (the shape and speed) of the sperm that the man does produce also matter. While fertility treatment and invitro fertilization with ICSI, intracytoplasmic sperm injfection in particular often offer the best chance for conception, exceptions definitely do exist!

If you're interested, a quick google search will show you lots of forums where women talk about how they got pregnant anyway, despite their partner's oligospermia. Sometimes, this happens even while they are already preparing to have IVF! Our conclusion?

If you have already found out that you have or your partner has a low sperm count, through sperm analysis, you should certainly follow your doctor's advice to try and increase it. If that doesn't work, fertility treatments are a good option for you. But, natural pregnancy is not impossible, so you don't have to stop trying to conceive naturally either.