Usually not. Finishing early doesn’t change your sperm, and as long as ejaculation happens inside the vagina, conception works as usual. It only gets in the way when ejaculation happens before penetration.
When you’re trying for a baby and you finish fast, it’s easy to start worrying that the two are connected. Mostly, they aren’t.
Your sperm isn’t the problem
Premature ejaculation is about when you come, not about what’s in the semen. In a study of 244 men seen for fertility problems, researchers found premature ejaculation in about 15.6% of them, and no link between their ejaculation scores and their semen quality.
So if ejaculation happens inside the vagina, even quickly, the sperm gets where it needs to go as usual. Pregnancy doesn’t depend on how long sex lasts.
The one case where it matters
The real issue is when ejaculation happens before penetration, or right at the entrance. Then little or no semen reaches the vagina, and conception gets harder. Some men with severe premature ejaculation are in that situation. If that’s you, tell a doctor: it’s a known situation, and there are ways around it, from medical help with timing to options a fertility clinic can offer.
When to see a doctor
The NHS advises seeing a doctor if you haven’t conceived after a year of trying, or sooner if the woman is 36 or over or if there’s any reason to be concerned. Both partners should go, since fertility problems can come from either side. Mention premature ejaculation, and any erection trouble: they’re part of the picture doctors look at.
And if it appeared recently, after years without trouble, a check-up is worth it anyway, because acquired premature ejaculation sometimes has a physical cause (see lifelong vs acquired).
Take the pressure off
Trying for a baby can turn sex into a schedule, and pressure is exactly what makes things go faster. Knowing that a fast finish inside still “counts” can take a lot of weight off both of you.
Sources
- Premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction in a cohort of infertility men: clinical and ultrasonographic correlations, Lotti et al., Endocrine Abstracts (ICE/ECE 2012)
- Infertility: diagnosis, NHS
- The pathophysiology of acquired premature ejaculation, McMahon et al., Translational Andrology and Urology, 2016