If You’ve Been Trying Several Months To Conceive And Have Not Been Successful Check Out These Tips To Boost Your Fertility
You see a baby in a stroller at the mall and your heart aches. You hold your bestie’s newborn and you cry. A baby is born on your fave television show and you’re balling your eyes out. You have baby brain! But you’ve been trying to conceive one of your own for several months and haven’t seen that “yes” on the pregnancy stick.
Cut caffeine. High caffeine intake interferes with conception. Consider eliminating or avoiding caffeinated coffee, tea and soft drinks . Does the thought of losing that morning pick-me-up make you break into a cold sweat? You can stick to one to two 8-ounce cups a day. Meet with your ob-gyn.Your health care provider can speak with you about the overall status of your health and suggest any lifestyle changes you need to make that can help you get pregnant. Since some fertility issues may be hereditary, it’s also a good idea to meet with a doctor if you have a family history of infertility.
See the dentist. Gum disease is linked to underweight and premature babies. And the health of your mouth and teeth can change once you’re pregnant. To ensure that your mouth is in tip-top shape, visit your dentist.Manage stress. Trying to get pregnant can be stressful. Do your best to manage and reduce tension and anxiety. Try relaxation techniques like meditation, acupuncture or yoga.
Ovulation Test Strips: Can They Help You Get Pregnant
Does just seeing a baby make you light up? Is it hard to walk past a stroller without peeking inside to see the little one? If youre ready to expand your family and want to be pregnant, it may feel like theres not a month to miss!
Even if you just decided to start trying, every month that passes without a positive pregnancy test may seem like forever as you wonder if and when your family might expand.
If youd like to maximize the likelihood of becoming pregnant, you may be willing to try just about anything! Well, starting with ovulation test strips may help you take control of your fertility.
How Else Can You Increase The Chances Of Getting Pregnant
Often, when couples are trying to conceive, they focus so intensely on their reproductive health, they neglect their overall health. Life becomes all about cervical mucus, sperm count, and doing the deed. But it’s important to pay attention to your health in general because issues like weight, smoking, stress, and medications can affect fertility too, Dr. Chen says. Before trying to conceive, it’s a good idea for both you and your guy to have a medical checkup to discuss any issues that may affect fertility or pregnancy.
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Chances Of Having Identical Twins
In the general population, identical twin pregnancies occur 0.45% of the time, or 1 in 250 births. While most multiple pregnancies conceived with fertility treatments are fraternal twins, the use of fertility treatment also increases your risk of having identical twins.
According to one study, identical twins made up 0.95% of the pregnancies conceived with treatment. That’s double the general population’s risk. It’s unclear why fertility treatment leads to more identical twins.
One theory is that the culture embryos are placed in during IVF increases the risk of identical twinning. Another theory is that treatments using gonadotropins lead to the increased risk of identical twins.
When Planning To Get Pregnant
1. Know your menstrual cycle
After stopping contraception, your menstrual cycle may take time to regulate. Learn about your cycle, so you can track it and identify your most fertile time. Women who are overweight, underweight, who exercise excessively or are experiencing high levels of stress are less likely to ovulate regularly and this can make conception more difficult.
2. Work out when you are most fertile
The best time to have sex is the day before or the day of ovulation – this is when you’re most fertile. Most women ovulate about 2 weeks before their period. If your cycle tends to be longer, you will ovulate later than day 14. Read more on how to find out when you are the most fertile.
3. Recognise the signs of ovulation.
Signs of ovulation include changes to the vaginal discharge, which becomes more like a sticky mucus. Around the time of ovulation most women will have a slightly higher body temperature, so taking your temperature first thing in the morning can help you to track your ovulation. Other ways to track ovulation include over-the-counter kits to test âluteinising hormoneâ and Apps with fertility calendars.
4. Find your healthy weight.
5. Maintain a balanced diet.
A balanced diet is really important for nutrition. If this is a struggle, supplement your diet with a pregnancy multivitamin. Some people may also benefit from specialist advice from a dietitian. There are also some dietary changes you can make to help optimise your fertility.
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How Safe Is Acupuncture
Acupuncture has fewer side effects than most medications you might take for fibromyalgia, including steroids and pain relievers.
The side effects that do happen are minor. Needles can hurt when they go in your skin, but if this does happen, it won’t last long. You may also bleed a little bit. Rarely, people have nausea and vomiting as well as headaches, but the problems usually don’t last more than a day.
Acupuncture is safe. The FDA regulates the equipment and requires that practitioners use each needle only once. You should be able to see your acupuncturist take each individual needle out of a sterile packet. Clean needles make sure that more serious side effects like infection with HIV or hepatitis B won’t happen.
What Are Ovulation Test Strips
Ovulation test strips are similar in design to the pregnancy tests found in many convenience and grocery stores. But instead of indicating when youre pregnant, ovulation test strips indicate your fertile window so youll know when intercourse is most likely to result in a pregnancy.
Much like the store bought pregnancy tests that detect human chorionic gonadotropin levels in your urine, ovulation test strips detect luteinizing hormone in your urine to tell you when youre most likely to conceive. How is this possible? Its all thanks to an LH surge
Luteinizing hormone is secreted at low levels throughout your menstrual cycle. However, once a developing egg follicle reaches a certain size, levels increase and an LH surge causes ovulation to occur 24 to 36 hours later.
So, what does all this mean? If youre trying to get pregnant, ovulation is important, as it signifies the culmination of the fertile window. Once an egg has been released from the ovary, its only viable for 24 hours.
Your best chance of becoming pregnant involves having unprotected intercourse from 5 days before to 1 day after ovulation. This means by the time you see the LH surge, youre already in the middle of your fertile window.
Its important to note that using ovulation test strips doesnt guarantee youll become pregnant. For one, they dont work for everyone. There are cases in which the body has an elevated LH level due to other reasons, and an LH surge wont indicate ovulation.
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Make Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Leading a healthy lifestyle may improve the chances of having a baby. Some healthy habits to adopt as a couple to improve your overall health when trying to conceive include:
- Cutting down on alcohol and caffeine
- Stopping smoking
- Eating a healthy diet
- Staying fit and active
One study by the University of Queensland found that making lifestyle changes including being more active, quitting smoking, and eating well in the months before getting pregnant can also lead to fewer complications at birth.
Strive For A Healthy Body Weight
A woman’s weight can also impact the chances of conceiving: Being overweight or underweight may reduce those odds. Research has shown that a woman who is overweight can take twice as long to become pregnant as a woman whose body-mass index is considered normal weight, Pavone said. A woman who is underweight might take four times as long to conceive, she said.
Having too much body fat produces excessestrogen, which can interfere with ovulation,according to the Cleveland Clinic. A 2017 study suggested that couples in the study in which both partners were very obese, with BMIs of at least 35, took from 55% to 59% longer to become pregnant, compared with couples who were not obese, the researchers reported in the journalHuman Reproduction.
In a study published in 2020 in the journal PLOS One, researchers looked at data from more than 50,000 couples in China trying to conceive over the course of a year they found that women’s ability to conceive within a given timeframe decreased as their BMI increased.
Male obesity, which can disrupt the male endocrine system as well as sperm viability and concentration, can also affect a couple’s ability to become pregnant, scientists reported in 2020 in the journalAndrologia.
Women who are underweight, with a BMI less than 18, might not be getting regular periods or could stop ovulating, which also hinders their ability to become pregnant, according to theUniversity of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.
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Keep Things Interesting In Bed
Theres no evidence that some sex positions are better than others for conceiving, but if youre trying for a baby dont let sex become a chore. Bring back the fun by trying one of our sex positions for conception which encourage deep penetration so your mans sperm is better able to reach your egg.
To keep you both excited and engaged try new positions and even places, and have regular sex .
Get An Assist When Needed
If conception isnt happening for you after around six months of trying, particularly if youre a little older when you first start trying to get pregnant it might be time to seek professional help. Monitoring and other options can be explored prior to making a decision surrounding IVF, but professional help can increase the odds greatly of conceiving, even though it can be time consuming.
Lindsey says of her experience, When my husband and I were trying to conceive, we had to go through fertility treatments. That meant that every three days I had to drive across town for a 7AM blood test and ultrasound. This particular weekend, my husbands relatives, whom I had only met a handful of times were staying in our condo with us.”
“To make things even more uncomfortable, we received a call from my clinic while I was out with his aunt. The nurse told my husband that I was ovulating and he had to be itimate with me at least once a day over the next three days. Being as open as I was about our fertility struggles, I told his family that we would need some private time over the weekend.”
“They laughed and understood. That weekend we did conceive our daughter, Ayla.
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Trying To Get Pregnant
Pregnancy happens when sperm enters a vagina, travels through the cervix and womb to the fallopian tube and fertilises an egg.
Youre more likely to get pregnant around the time you are ovulating. This is when an egg becomes ready and you are at your most fertile.
If you are under 40 and have regular sex without using contraception, there is an 8 in 10 chance you will get pregnant within 1 year.
Be Kind To Each Other
Its easy to forget each other during the process of getting pregnant. Making a family takes time, energy, a sense of humour and love. If you find yourself just going through the motions and forcing yourselves to schedule sex you may start to miss out on what should be an intimate time. Ironically, this can result in you wanting to less sex.
Every now and again take a break and inject some joy and romance into your relationship. Go on a country walk, treat yourselves to a dinner date, or give each other a seductive massage. Make sure you keep it fun and flirty with lots of talking. Focus on reliving your honeymoon period not making a baby.
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Top 21 Tips To Improve Your Chances Of Pregnancy
Here are a few tips to better your chances of getting pregnant.
Avoid excess consumption of junk foods and include fruits, veggies, meat, fish, and dairy products in your diet. Also, exercise regularly to maintain your body weight. This will further enhance your fertility by promoting sperm quality and healthy ovum.
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When To Get Help
The process of TTC can feel exhausting and frustrating at times, no matter how old you are. However, most women do not need to worry if it takes them a while to get pregnant. Women who are under the age of 35 and have been trying for at least one year, or women older than 35 who have been trying for at least six months, should consult a fertility specialist for help getting pregnant. You should also talk to your doctor if you want to conceive but have a health condition that may impact your fertility, such as endometriosis or PCOS.
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Treat Yourself To A Break
Lots of women get pregnant during a getaway so pack your bags, grab your partner and head off somewhere away from daily stresses such as work and commuting. If we rest and relax we are also more likely to want sex.
It can become quite overwhelming when youre trying to conceive so its important to reset the balance, says Kate. Taking the opportunity to care for your emotional health as well as your physical health is vital.
Holidays also help us easily dissociate from our workload and practice the relaxation we so desperately need more of in our weekly schedule, says Natasha.
Ovulation Predictor Kit & Ovulation Detection
Fertility2Family ovulation predictor kits provide a new avenue for women to have a more precise idea of their fertility window and assist with getting pregnant. Various available OPKs can easily be purchased online and from chemists ranging from dip and read strips to digital ovulation tests, just to name a few. However, the most common but still highly reliable and dependable OPKs are ovulation strip tests which can also be known as dip and read ovulation tests which can be easily performed at the comfort of your home.
The scientific mechanism behind OPKs lies in their ability to detect a rise in luteinizing hormone which happens approximately 24-36 hours before an egg is released in the ovary. Again, by stressing the basics of ovulation, we can deduce that a spike in LH coincides with the impending release of a mature egg from the ovary. This spike of LH is utilized in OPKs to signal when ovulation is about to take place.
Fertility2Family ovulation tests offer high precision with more than 99% accuracy at detecting an LH surge that directly corresponds with ovulation.
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People Who Have Sex More Often Tend To Ovulate More Often Said Lorenz
Lorenzs research suggests womens sexual behaviors influence their hormone production. This goes against the common belief that a womans hormones influence her bodys behavior at any given time, Lorenz told Lehmiller.
She said her studys results were similar to that of a previous large government-funded study. Both found women who are more sexually active are more likely to ovulate more often.
Lorenz said that hormones, which act as messengers to help the brain and other organs work together, are subtle. For some people, their hormones could slightly change how they act, or increase the likelihood of some behaviors and body functions, said Lorenz. But there isnt conclusive research across the board, including when it comes to ovulation.
Basically, being sexually active seems to trigger a higher rate of ovulation, Lorenz said, which increases the chances of becoming pregnant.
Take Care Of Yourself
The various systems of the body do not work independently of each other. The health and well-being of any of these systems can have a direct impact on reproductive health.
Besides getting regular physical exams, living a healthy lifestyle is vital to fertility. Drinking lots of caffeine could be an issue. Even dental hygiene can play a part: Gum disease is associated with decreased male fertility.
If you engage in any of these unhealthy habits, breaking them can make a difference in how quickly and easily you and your partner conceive:
- Over-exercising
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