Maintain A Healthy Body Weight
If you need to lose a few pounds, now is the best time to do it. Being overweight can have a negative impact on your chances of getting pregnant, and being underweight, especially if you have irregular periods, can also cause problems, says Librach. Thats because fat cells are related to estrogen production, and if you have too many or too few, it can throw off the hormones involved in ovulation. Being overweight can also increase your risk of insulin resistance, which can disrupt ovulation. In men, obesity is linked to lower testosterone levels and impaired sperm quality. Talk to your doctor if you or your partner believe that your weight might be an issue. Theyll be able to discuss strategies for getting to a healthier weight range for baby making. The good news is, if youre obese, losing even 10 to 20 pounds can boost your overall health and improve your chances of conception. 6 changes men can make to improve sperm health and have a healthier baby
How To Get Pregnant Faster: Tips And Facts To Increase Fertility
ByCari Nierenberg, Sarah Wild23 March 2021
We’ve spoken to the experts to come up with 10 tips for how to get pregnant quickly and safely.
You may have many questions about how to get pregnant, particularly if you have an underlying condition. Taking care of your body is a good first step to optimize your fertility. But what else can you do to improve their odds of having a baby?
The most important advice for a woman who wants to get pregnant is to get to know her body, specifically her menstrual cycle, said Dr. Mary Ellen Pavone, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, and medical director of the in-vitro fertilization program at Northwestern Medicine’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility division in Chicago.
“It’s important to know how far apart her cycles are so she can more accurately time intercourse to try to get pregnant,” Pavone said.
We’ve highlighted the top 10 tips that may help increase your chances of becoming pregnant. As always with this type of information make sure to speak to a medical professional as this advice is broad and you may require specialist attention. You should still find this article and accompanying video on how to get pregnant useful.
When To Seek Professional Help
A small percentage of couples may have difficulty falling pregnant naturally despite maintaining a healthy lifestyle and being aware of their fertile period. If your menstrual cycles are irregular, or you suffer significant painful periods or pain during sex, you should seek professional advice. If you have been trying unsuccessfully to fall pregnant for 12 months and you are under the age of 35, or for six months if you are over 35, then you should also seek medical advice as there may be other causes that can be rectified to help you to achieve pregnancy naturally.
Good luck in achieving a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.
References:
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How Long Should You Keep Sperm Inside To Get Pregnant
“When a man ejaculates, sperm swims out, goes directly into the cervical mucus and into the fallopian tubes,” says Serena Chen, M.D., director of the division of reproductive endocrine and infertility at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Pennsylvania. “This happens in a matter of seconds, regardless of the position during intercourse.”
Some women think that lying on your back with your hips elevated for 20 minutes after sex will help ensure that every last sperm gets a fighting chance at the prize, but the belief has no scientific foundation. Definitely take the excuse to relax after TTC sex, but if you’re short on time, you don’t need to “wait” for sperm to make its way inside.
Should The Woman Lie Down Afterwards
Theres no need if you dont want to! Sperm are ejaculated close to the cervix and travel into the uterus in a very short amount of time. They do this no matter which position a woman is in: lying down, standing up, or even upside down.
However, one 2009 study found that lying down after intrauterine insemination might be helpful.
The bottom line is that lying down for 10-15 minutes after having sex certainly wont hurt you chances for conception, but isnt essential.
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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.
Prescriptions To Induce Ovulation
If your test results show that you arent ovulating, your doctor may prescribe a medication to give your ovaries a boost. Clomid and Letrozole work by making the body think your estrogen is low. This makes the ovaries ramp up production of follicles that lead to ovulation.
Clomid has been used for many years without known adverse long-term effects. Common short-term side effects are hot flashes, nausea, bloating, mood swings, and headaches.
Letrozole is a newer medication used to induce ovulation. It is not FDA approved for this, but has been documented as safe and effective. We often recommend this instead of Clomid. Your OBGYN will work with you to prescribe the best medication for your situation.
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Record Menstrual Cycle Frequency
A woman who wants to have a baby should monitor whether the first days of her periods tend to occur the same number of days apart every month, which is considered regular. Conversely, her periods may be irregular, meaning her cycle lengths vary from month to month. By tracking this information on a calendar, a woman can better predict when she might be ovulating, which is the time every month when her ovaries will release an egg. There are also some apps that can help with the tracking, such as GlowOvulation period tracker .
A woman’s egg is fertile for only 12 to 24 hours after its release, according to the American Pregnancy Association. However, a man’s sperm can survive in a woman’s body for up to five days.
Start Tracking Your Menstrual Cycle
Each new menstrual cycle is marked by the first day of your period. And tracking your cycle along with any daily symptoms youre experiencing can be incredibly helpful. Why?
Tracking your cycle helps you get to know your body better, including how long your cycle is. The length of your cycle is what determines your fertile window, which well get to in the next section.
Tracking the symptoms you experience such as changes in sex drive, mood or cervical mucus can help you identify patterns throughout your cycle, including what you typically experience leading up to your most fertile days.
How do you get started? When your next period arrives, start tracking since that is Day 1 of your cycle. You can keep a journal and write things down, or you can use mobile apps such as Fertility Friend and Clue.
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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 excess estrogen, 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 journal Human 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 journal Andrologia.
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 the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.
When Am I Most Fertile
Each month, women have around 6 days that are the best time for them to conceive. These are the five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation itself. What can be tricky is to figure out exactly when those 6 days will be ahead of time, especially if you arent familiar with tracking your cycle.
Keeping track of your periods and any related symptoms can help you figure out useful patterns that will make conception easier. For example, if your cycles are around 28 days long, ovulation will most likely take place around day 14 of your cycle . You can then clear your schedule in the days leading up to your anticipated ovulation date.
There are many different ways that you can figure out when you are in your fertile window:
- Ovulation tests: These are similar to home pregnancy sticks, but instead of the pregnancy hormone, they detect another hormone known as luteinizing hormone, or LH. LH is produced right before ovulation occurs. When you get a positive result, youll know its time to try!
- Insider tip: while tracking your cervical mucus might not seem very precise or scientific, research demonstrates that this is an accurate method for identifying the fertile window.
- Ava bracelet: This wearable device tracks 5 physiological signals of fertility. Worn only at night while youre sleeping, it is able to automatically identify your fertile window.
- Insider tip: read about Avas peer reviewed clinical study here.
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What About Other Nutrients
There are other nutrients that may improve the health of your pregnancy. Your doctor can help you decide if you need to take supplements that include:Omega-3 fatty acids: These fats, which include DHA and EPA , come only from food sources such as fatty fish and nuts. Studies show omega-3s can lower your risk of preterm birth and of having a baby with low birth weight. If you dont eat much food thats rich in omega-3s, ask your health care provider if a supplement is right for you.
Choline: Although your body can make some choline on its own, you get most of it from food. Rich sources include beef, pork, chicken, fish, and eggs. Many pregnant women dont get enough choline, which the baby needs for healthy brain growth.
Don’t Worry About The Best Positions For Getting Pregnant
Myths abound about the best positions for getting pregnant, but they are just that — myths. There is really no scientific evidence saying that the missionary position is better than the woman being on top when it comes to maximizing your chances of making a baby.
“Very rarely, a woman’s cervix is in an unusual position where certain positions can make a difference,” Goldfarb tells WebMD.
Certain gravity-defying positions, such as sitting or standing during intercourse, however, may discourage sperm from traveling upstream. “It’s a matter of gravity you don’t want all the semen to run out — and semen are quick little critters,” Hillard says.
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Using Ovulation Predictor Kits
Ovulation predictor kits are available from chemists and are fairly simple to use. They work by detecting a hormone in your urine that increases when ovulation is about to take place.
The simplest urine kit tests for luteinising hormone , which increases 24-36 hours before ovulation. This will help to identify the best two days for conception, although a woman can be fertile for a day or so before and after this time.
It is best to become familiar with your usual menstrual cycle to help figure out when you should start testing. If you have an irregular cycle then an ovulation predictor kit can help you identify the time of ovulation but expect to use more of the test strips.
Prenatal Vitamin Side Effects
Some prenatal vitamins can cause nausea in an already nauseated pregnant woman. If that happens to you, talk to your health care provider. They may be able to prescribe a different kind of prenatal vitamin that you dont have to swallow whole. Options include:
- Chewables
- Liquids
The iron in prenatal vitamins may also make you constipated. If youre constipated it can help to:
- Eat a high-fiber diet
- Exercise if your doctor says its safe for you
- Take a stool softener with your doctors OK
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Getting The Timing Right
The best way to increase your odds of getting pregnant quickly is to make sure that youre having sex at the right time in your cycle.
If you have regular cycles, you will ovulate around two weeks before your period. This means your fertile window will be the seven days before your expected ovulation.
If you have irregular cycles, it can be a little more difficult to predict when you will ovulate and when your fertile window will be.
There are a number of techniques that you can use to more precisely pinpoint your ovulation and fertile window.
Talk To Your Gynecologist
Before you start trying to get pregnant, visit your gynecologist. Its ideal to schedule a preconception visit three to six months before your planned pregnancy. This gives you enough time to make any health improvements and lifestyle adjustments and complete any testing that may be recommended.
Here is a list of preconception tests a health care provider may suggest:
Your health care provider will also ask about your general lifestyle. They may suggest making a few changes to ensure a healthy pregnancy. This is the perfect time to ask any questions you might have about fertility and getting pregnant.
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Find Your Fertile Days
Knowing your cycle helps plan for ovulation, but there are some clearer signs that your body is ready to release eggs for fertilization.
Vaginal discharge is a good indicator of ovulation. If your discharge resembles raw egg whites slippery and stretchy your body is ready to get pregnant. Dry or sticky discharge is a sign you arent ovulating, creamy discharge suggests ovulation may be coming, then wet and watery discharge is a sign that ovulation is very close.
Your basal body temperature taken while at complete rest at about the same time every day can signal ovulation. Progesterone, a hormone tied to ovulation, will cause your temperature to rise.
Ovulation test strips or ovulation predictor kits can detect ovulation my measuring luteinizing hormone in your urine. An increase in the hormone signals that ovulation could occur in the next 12 to 36 hours.
You use an ovulation predictor kit at home by holding the strip under your urine stream or dipping it in a urine sample. Results are visible on the strip within minutes.
None of these methods will be able to pinpoint ovulation with certainty.
Kick The Smoking And Drinking Habits
Smoking can lead to fertility problems in both women and men. Chemicals found in cigarette smoke, such as nicotine and carbon monoxide, speed up the loss rate of a woman’s eggs, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Smoking ages a woman’s ovaries and depletes her supply of eggs prematurely, according to the Mayo Clinic. In a study published in 2020 in the journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, researchers looked at scientific findings around smoking, alcohol, addiction and fertility they found that smoking is linked to decreased fertility.
It’s also a good idea for women to stay away from secondhand smoke, which may affect their chances of becoming pregnant. should also be avoided while trying to conceive.
It’s safest for a woman to avoid alcohol when she is hoping to become pregnant. A woman should also stop consuming alcohol if she stops using birth control because she wants to get pregnant. That said, a 2019 Danish study of 1,708 women over a five-year period did not find a link between regular alcohol consumption and binge drinking, and fertility, according to the study published in the journal Human Reproduction.
However, a 2017 study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology found that about half of pregnant women in the United States drink alcohol around the time they become pregnant or in early pregnancy, usually before they know they are expecting.
Once a woman becomes pregnant, there’s no safe amount of alcohol, Pavone said.
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When Does Ovulation Happen
Ovulation usually happens about 10 to 16 days before the start of your next period, so it helps to know your cycle length before you start trying to get pregnant.
You may have not known when you ovulate within your cycle, and if you have been using a hormone contraceptive such as the Pill, you wont have had a natural menstrual cycle for a while, because the Pill prevents ovulation from happening.
As a first step, mark on your diary the dates that you bleed during a period. You can then count how many days from the first day of your period to your next period to work out the length of your cycle.
The following signs can also help you know when you ovulate:
