Do You Need To Take Steps To Prevent Sperm Leakage After Sex?

If you're trying to get pregnant via the method of penis-in-vagina sex, you might start viewing the act a little differently. For instance, you may begin to time sex to increase your chances of conceiving and trying positions that are prime for baby-making—and keeping semen inside the vagina.

This process lead to many questions: Should you worry if you notice a small amount of semen (and, by extension, sperm) leaking out of your vagina after your partner ejaculates? Is it OK to pee right after sex, or will this decrease the chances of sperm fertilizing an egg?

Good news: Some sperm leakage after baby-making sex is expected and doesn't affect your chances of getting pregnant. Read on to learn why you can still get pregnant even if sperm comes out after sex.

Why It's OK If Some Semen Leaks Out

To understand why it's OK if some semen comes out of the vagina after baby-making sex, it helps to get a basic run-down of how conception works. "Semen (the stuff that comes out of the penis with ejaculation) is made up of a lot of different things," explains Michele Hakakha, MD, FACOG. "One of its components is sperm."

Healthy ejaculate contains anywhere from 20 to 150 million sperm per milliliter, and 60% of those have normal shape and motility (forward movement). And just one sperm is needed to fertilize your egg for conception to occur.

So, in reality, while you may notice what appears to be quite a lot of semen leaking out of the vagina after penis-in-vagina sex, sperm is just one component of that fluid—and there's likely still plenty of it to reach an egg if that is your goal.

Ejaculate often leaks out of the vagina after baby-making sex, and while there are not many steps you can take to prevent sperm leakage, that's OK. In fact, some amount of leakage could be a good sign since it could indicate a healthy amount of semen.

Should You Pee After Sex If You're Trying to Conceive?

According to Monica Grover, DO, OB-GYN and Chief Medical Officer at VSPOT medical spa, the idea that peeing after sex could affect your ability to get pregnant is basically a myth. Peeing after sex doesn’t decrease your chances of conceiving, Dr. Grover emphasizes.

“When sperm is ejaculated, it is at a very fast and strong force, and also very highly concentrated in the average male,” Dr. Grover explains. “Therefore, despite the gravitational pull upon urination, and loss of some seminal fluid, there is still a very negligible effect on the concentration of the sperm within the vaginal canal that could impair any chances of conception.”

Another reason this line of thinking doesn’t add up is because of basic anatomy, says Karla Robinson, MD, a family medicine physician and medical editor at GoodRx. Essentially, your pee comes from a different place than where sperm is deposited.

“Your urine does not leave the body through the vagina,” Dr. Robinson says. “There is another opening for that.” Your pee leaves your body from the urethra, which is a small opening right above your vaginal opening, she explains. “Any sperm deposited after sex is in the vaginal canal; it doesn’t ever mix with urine.”

Does Peeing After Sex Prevent Pregnancy?

In the same way that peeing after sex won’t harm your chances of conception, peeing after sex cannot be used as a contraceptive method. As soon as sperm is deposited in your vaginal canal, you can get pregnant—and peeing after sex won’t expel that sperm.

“There are myths out there that peeing after sex can either kill sperm or wash it away before you can conceive, or that it can be used as birth control,” Dr. Robinson says. “These are all false.”

It’s important not to use peeing after sex as a way to prevent conception, and instead turn to a medically-approved method of birth control, such as condoms, birth control pills, or IUDs. Please connect with your healthcare provider to discuss options that are best for you.

The Journey Sperm Take After Sex

If you're still uneasy about the amount of semen you find leaking out after sex, it can be helpful to think about the journey sperm takes after ejaculation. How can you confirm how many sperm went inside? Well, it may help to know that few sperm actually ends up where it needs to go to conceive successfully (assuming the timing is right, of course).

Here are some places sperm may end up after entering the vagina:

• Some semen will inevitably leak out of the vagina upon standing or changing positions.
• Foundational research has shown that some of the sperm will remain in the back of the vagina (the posterior fornix).
• An even smaller amount will make its way through the cervix, into the uterus, and down the fallopian tubes.

Sperm travels quickly, so it begins trekking to the fallopian tubes within minutes. "It's here, in the fallopian tubes, that the sperm and egg meet," says Dr. Hakakha.

Do You Need to Lie Down After Sex When Trying to Get Pregnant?

Another myth you might have heard is that if you stand up, semen will leak from your body, and there will be fewer sperm available to fertilize the egg, which has led many people to lie down right after sex. But there isn’t proof to back up this claim either, as Dr. Robinson explains.

“There is no evidence that positioning has any influence on your chances of conception,” she says. “This includes your positioning during sex or laying in a certain position after sex.”

This is in line with a statement from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's (ASRM) committee opinion on optimizing natural fertility, which asserts that there is “no scientific foundation” for the claim that lying down after sex increases your chance of conception. ASRM explains that sperm reaches the fallopian tubes within minutes after conception—sometimes as quickly as two minutes.

Some of the advice about lying down after sex likely comes from a 2009 study that found that people who lay down for about 15 minutes after intrauterine insemination were more likely to conceive. However, a larger, randomized 2016 study out of Finland found that lying down for 15 minutes after intrauterine insemination made no difference when it came to successful conception.

You Don't Need To Take Steps To Prevent Sperm Leakage

The bottom line is that it's perfectly normal if some amount of semen (and sperm) leaks from the vagina after baby-making sex. And you don't need to worry about trying to prevent sperm leakage to keep it inside, either.

"You don't need to lie in bed with your legs up after intercourse to get pregnant," says Dr. Hakakha. "The fact that semen is leaking out afterward doesn't decrease your chances of conceiving."

A pregnancy can still result if the right circumstances are in place. For instance, timing sex with ovulation makes it more likely that an egg will be ready to be fertilized.

But keep in mind that conception often takes time. Research shows the average time to conception is about four months. That same research found that those with average cycle lengths tend to conceive faster than those with shorter or longer cycles.

When To See a Health Care Provider

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), if you're under 35 and you've been trying to conceive for one year with no results, you may want to consider a fertility evaluation. If you're over 35 years old, the time frame decreases to six months, and those over 40 should get one right away.

The first step is to talk to an OB-GYN who may refer you to a reproductive endocrinologist (an obstetrician-gynecologist specializing in infertility issues). There are many potential factors involved in infertility; talking to a specialist can help you and your partner chart a path toward a treatment plan that may help you successfully conceive.