1. Nutrition
It is so important to have a balanced, nutritious diet throughout the prenatal and postnatal period. Make sure you are making healthy choices and maintaining a healthy body weight, depending on your height, body mass index and metabolism. This promotes your overall reproductive health. Vitamins are absorbed most efficiently in food form by consuming lots of whole grains, vegetables and fruits. Additionally, it is very beneficial to take prenatal vitamins, such as Pregnancy Plus Prenatal and Pregnancy Plus Omega-3 to make up for what your diet may be lacking.
2. Exercise
Being active is central to living a healthy life, but it is even more important when you are trying to conceive. It is so important that you provide your baby with an environment to grow in that is healthy and fully functional. Excessive exercise can sometimes prevent ovulation, but maintaining an active lifestyle in moderation facilitates optimal health and wellness. When pursued in moderation, exercise can help to increase fertility. Furthermore, being overweight or obese is often associated with fertility problems. In this case, low-impact exercise such as walking, cycling, yoga and/or swimming can improve your chances of conceiving.
3. Don’t Drink Alcohol or Ingest Caffeine
Logically speaking, it is never a good idea to be drinking while pregnant or while trying to get pregnant. The effects of alcohol to an embryo begin at the moment of implantation. Those trying to conceive should avoid it altogether because regardless of the development stage of the embryo, alcohol consumption can affect it negatively. A baby develops very quickly during the first few weeks following conception. In many cases women are not aware they are pregnant for weeks after implantation, so it is therefore very important to abstain altogether. This ensures the optimal health, development and wellness of your baby as it grows. Women who drink while pregnant and while they are breastfeeding risk affecting the health of their babies. Studies have shown that the consumption of alcohol during any stage of pregnancy can result in many health problems for your baby. These can include behavioral problems, the development of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), reduced sperm count in males and an increased risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia by 56%. Caffeine effects fertility. Studies have shown that women who ingested 300 mg of caffeine a day had a 27% less chance of conceiving. While pregnant, caffeine actually passes through the placenta and affects the fetus. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases your heart rate, causes headaches, nervousness and insomnia. High caffeine consumption can lead to premature births, low birth weights, faster heart rates and breathing rates in babies.
4. Don’t Smoke
In this day and age, it is common knowledge that smoking can cause major health problems including heart disease and cancer. It additionally comes as no surprise that smoking while being pregnant creates a host of major health problems for both the mother and the unborn fetus. These can include Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), premature birth, neurological problems, low birth weight and a variety of birth defects. Even being around second-hand smoke puts the unborn baby’s health at risk. Studies have shown that it is more difficult for women who smoke to conceive, and they are more likely to miscarry. Complications can continue after the baby is born, as the infant may have to endure nicotine withdrawal and may have to undergo chemical detoxification. Some studies have shown that nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine.
5. Don’t Douche
Douching while trying to get pregnant alters the pH balance of vaginal fluid and can often make it more difficult for sperm to survive. It is important that you effectively produce enough healthy, fertile cervical mucus to aid in the transport of sperm. This is because fertile cervical mucus tends to have higher water content and is far less acidic than infertile cervical mucus.
6. Know when you ovulate
This is perhaps the most important tip, as determining your ovulation day is one of the most helpful steps in achieving conception. Your ‘ovulation day’ refers to a 12-24 hour period wherein you are most fertile, so it is most beneficial to have intercourse during this time period. Great tools to use in order to determine when you ovulate include
basal thermometers,pregnancy and ovulation wheels and
ovulation tests, all of which are available on this site. However, knowing when you ovulate starts with establishing a regular menstrual cycle.
7. Try to establish a regular cycle
It is important to keep track of your menstrual cycle. Periods that vary more than a few days in length from month to month are considered irregular and may hinder your chances of conceiving. This is because irregular cycles make it much more difficult to pinpoint ovulation and your production of fertile cervical fluid. Irregular cycles can be addressed by using FertilAid for Women, an all-natural supplement that is designed to restore hormonal balance and promote fertility.
8. Time intercourse with Ovulation
Experts say to achieve the greatest odds of falling pregnant, intercourse should occur during the few days leading up to and the day of your predicted ovulation. Missionary-style intercourse is most recommended, as well as laying still for a number of minutes following intercourse.
9. Address possible male factors
You could go to great lengths to try to conceive and follow all of these tips and still be unsuccessful. In these cases, other factors may need to be addressed, such as male infertility. Generally speaking, male infertility can be addressed by using FertilAid for Men, but there are sometimes other factors involved that may need to be considered. These can include childhood illnesses, surgical history, medications, chemical exposure, drug use, nutrition and sleeping patterns.
10. See fertility expert after one year
It is certainly worthwhile to explore all-natural alternatives to fertility treatments and fertility prescription medication, as there can be harmful side effects involved with the use of prescription fertility drugs and treatments such as in-vitro fertilization. However, some men and women may need to seek medical treatment and/or advice in order to successfully conceive. All natural supplements and healthy lifestyle choices may not always be enough, as in some cases more specific issues may be the cause of fertility issues. There are sometimes problems with hormone production, ovarian functionality and ovulation and/or sperm quality. Fertility doctors and clinics have a number of tests available to help determine the causes of conception problems.