Stop Worrying About Being Stressed
“The theory that you should just relax and go on vacation to magically get pregnant is an old wives’ tale,” Dr. Copperman says. Worse yet, it makes women feel guilty if they can’t Zen themselves to motherhood. Anxiety over fertility is totally normal and it’s not likely to be harmful in the long run. Says Dr. Copperman, “The stress that comes along with fertility challenges has not been shown to affect whether a woman makes a good egg or not.”
Eases Stress Depression And Anxiety
2016 study puts that percentage even higher, among both women and men.) Simply being told to relax can have a negative effect and lead to a vicious cycle of self-blame.
Incorporating yoga and mindfulness exercises into your routine may help lower your bodys serum markers of stress and, in turn, improve immune system function.
In one small 2015 study, 55 people undergoing infertility treatments performed yoga and attended a discussion group weekly for 6 weeks. Their self-described anxiety decreased by 20 percent.
Start Taking Folate Supplements
Also known as vitamin B9, folic acid is incredibly important if you are trying to conceive. Folic acid supports the neural tube formation of your baby, ensuring proper brain development.
Doctors recommend taking at least 400 micrograms of folic acid a day leading up to conception and for the following 12 weeks after conception.
Why should you start taking folic acid before youre pregnant? The neural tube begins to develop quite soon after conception and is usually complete just four weeks into your pregnancy. Therefore, it might start to develop before you know youre pregnant.
Start taking a prenatal vitamin with folate as soon as you start trying for a baby. You can also get folate from eating beans, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains like brown rice.
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Foods To Limit Or Avoid In A Fertility Diet
Caffeine: Drink coffee and tea in moderation. According to the Harvard study, several cups of coffee or tea a day had little effect on ovulation problemsbut it could lead to dehydration. “Our morning cup of coffee is the worst thing we can do from the dehydration standpoint,” says Angela Chaudhari, M.D., a gynecologic surgeon and assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. In fact, caffeine is a diuretic that can prevent your mucus membranes from staying moist, affecting the consistency of your cervical fluid. Limit caffeine intake from coffee, energy drinks, and teas to under 200 milligrams a day. You may want to up your intake of decaf teas. Some studies have shown that herbal tea may be a good fertility food for getting pregnant.
Alcohol: Regular alcohol consumption can also lead to dehydration, which is why some experts often recommend limiting it in your fertility diet. Restrict alcohol to two to three glasses spaced out over a week.
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Final Thoughts On Beverages For Your Fertility
Sometimes its nice to have something other than just plain old water.
We totally get it. Besides, theres a lot more to what we drink besides the taste.
Regardless of your favorite beverage, remember some of the facts you just learned. They could optimize your chances of getting pregnant and giving birth to a healthy baby!
There you have it our final post in the Decoding the Fertility Diet mini-series. If you missed any of the other 4 posts, you can find them here.
Whenever youre ready join other women trying to conceive and reboot your diet for optimal fertility today!
If you enjoyed this post, get more like it
Always evidence-based. Always actionable.
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Amp Up On Energy Drinks Or Espresso Shots
Rest and relax. Remember, you’ll be awake many long nights once the baby arrives. When it comes to caffeine, the message is moderation. A couple of cups of coffee a day shouldn’t affect your chances of getting pregnant. But if you have a double shot of espresso, 3 diet sodas, and a chocolate bar during the day, it’s time to cut back.
What You Can Do
The good news is that women who stop drinking alcohol while trying to conceive and during pregnancy improve their chances of having a healthy baby.
It doesnt have to be forever!
Men can contribute to a healthy pregnancy by keeping their alcohol consumption within safe limits.
It is easier to stop drinking alcohol when the people around you don’t drink. Going alcohol-free with your partner or a friend will increase your chances of pregnancy. It’s also good for your babys health and your own health.
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Tips For What To Eat To Help You Get Pregnant
Medically reviewed by Abbey Sharp, Registered Dietitian , BASc.
I share the top 15 tips for what to eat to help you get pregnant faster, and dive into the evidence on the best fertility foods.
If you missed it last week, I was discussing some of the myths and facts around fertility foods and answering the question can foods help you get pregnant. I also shared my personal struggle with infertility and my IVF journey to getting the baby I am a mere few months from meeting.
Today I wanted to dive more into some of the long-term evidence-based strategies when it comes to what to eat to help you get pregnant. To do that, I chatted with my colleagues Elizabeth Shaw and Sara Haas who have an amazing new cookbook called the Fertility Foods Cookbook that goes into incredible detail about everything you want to eat to meet baby. Between their fave fertility foods and my own research, Ive compiled a list of the best foods to eat to get pregnant.
Aim For A Healthy Weight
Weight is one of the most influential factors when it comes to fertility for men and women. In fact, being either underweight or overweight is associated with increased infertility.
This is because the amount of fat stored in your body influences menstrual function. Having obesity especially is associated with lack of ovulation and menstrual irregularity but also with impaired egg development.
To improve your chances of getting pregnant, work with your healthcare provider to try to lose weight if youre overweight and gain weight if youre underweight. They can help you do it in a healthy and sustainable way.
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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.
Things To Avoid When Trying To Conceive
Trying to conceive is one big waiting gameyou never can predict whether this is the month that pregnancy test will turn positive. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to boost your odds of getting pregnant each month. For instance, you can track your cycle, take prenatal vitamins, eat healthy and even, just for good measure, take a cue or two from a few old wives tales. But sometimes what you dont do is just as important. Heres what to avoid when youre trying to get pregnant.
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Eat A Bigger Breakfast
Eating a substantial breakfast may help women with fertility problems.
One study found that eating a larger breakfast may improve the hormonal effects of polycystic ovary syndrome , a major cause of infertility.
For moderate weight women with PCOS, eating most of their calories at breakfast reduced insulin levels by 8 percent and testosterone levels by 50 percent. High levels of either can contribute to infertility.
In addition, by the end of the 12-week study, these women had ovulated more than women who ate a smaller breakfast and larger dinner, suggesting improved fertility.
However, its important to note that increasing the size of your breakfast without reducing the size of your evening meal is likely to lead to weight gain.
Check out these ideas for healthy, delish breakfast options if you need some inspiration.
Figure Out The Best Time To Conceive
Are you wondering, “When is the best time to get pregnant?” No matter how often you have sex, if you skip the most fertile days of the month, you won’t conceive. “The biggest mistake my patients make is not knowing exactly when they ovulate,” says Dr. Williams.
Most doctors recommend using ovulation predictor kits to measure ovulation. These work by detecting a surge in luteinizing hormone in your urine, which occurs about 36 to 48 hours before you ovulate. OPKs let you plan baby-making sex when you’re the most fertile.
Other ways to track ovulation include charting your basal body temperature, monitoring your cervical mucus, and tracking your menstrual cycle. Learn more about ovulation tracking methods here they can help you get pregnant fast and easy.
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Make Sure His Bad Habits Are Under Control
“A lot of men continue to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, and that can seriously affect motility of sperm,” Dr. Ryley notes. This means he should stop smoking as well as drinking in excess. It may also be time for him to hit the gym. Says Dr. Ryley: “The more overweight a man is, the lower testosterone and sperm function.” Obesity can also do a number on sperm production and ejaculatory function.
Benefits Of Using Herbal Fertility Teas
Here are some benefits of choosing safe herbal teas to get pregnant:
- These teas reduce the costs associated with infertility treatments.
- Herbal teas contain essential nutrients that could reduce the risk of reproductive diseases.
- Some herbs are known to have antioxidative properties that improve fertility.
- Herbal teas are also helpful in boosting your immune system against infections.
- When taken alongside ART, herbal fertility teas can enhance the efficacy of advanced fertility methods.
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Know The Best Position To Get Pregnant
When it comes to the best position to get pregnant, it can be hard to separate real advice from old wives’ tales. Dr. Williams gives some tips to get pregnant fast.
Lie on your back after sex. “Because the vagina naturally slopes downward, resting on your back after sex allows sperm to pool there, which gives them an edge in swimming toward your egg,” says Dr. Williams. Should you keep your legs elevated, too? It can’t hurt, he says, but it probably doesn’t help any more than lying down does.
Have sex before bed. Though some sources report that sperm count is highest in the morning, the truth is that there’s no optimal time of day to have sex. However, doing so before you hit the hay is an easy way to ensure you stay on your back afterward.
Keep it vanilla. While there’s no single sex position that’s best for baby-making , stick to one where you’ll be on your back when it’s over.
Fertility Diet: What To Eat When Trying To Get Pregnant
If youre trying to conceive, make these changes to your diet to improve fertility and ovulation function.
If you’re trying to get pregnant, is your diet packed with foods that increase fertility? Unlike other factors that you can’t controlsuch as age and geneticseating certain foods and avoiding others can help improve your ovulatory function, according to a study from Harvard Medical School. “Eating as if you’re already pregnant can actually help prime your body for conception,” says Sarah Krieger, R.D., a nutritionist based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Here’s how to deliciously dine your way to a happy, healthy pregnancy by following a fertility diet.
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Stop Taking Birth Control
If you’re popping birth control pills, pass on your prescription a few months before you start trying to conceive, suggests Christopher Williams, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist in private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia, and author of The Fastest Way to Get Pregnant Naturally. The same advice goes for other forms of hormonal birth control too.
“After you’ve been using birth control for a while, it may take your body a few cycles to start ovulating regularly and be primed for pregnancy,” Dr. Williams says. This gives you time to track your cycle and figure out when you ovulate, which is key for timing your baby-making.
But remember: Once you stop using birth control, it’s possible to get pregnant at any time!
How Much To Drink During Pregnancy
During pregnancy you will probably feel very thirsty. Everything that has to do with food and drink during pregnancy can be tricky due to constantly fluctuation hormones and a constantly shrinking stomach due to it becoming compressed.
Though it may seem difficult with nausea and a stomach that begins feeling small, you actually need to drink additional water while pregnant. Every day your body is gaining fluids, creating blood, and building a multitude of tiny components of a brand new body inside it, most of which is composed of water.
There is a good chance that you will feel extremely thirsty throughout pregnancy. Even if that is not the case, you need to remember to stay hydrated regardless.
The amount of water that you need to drink per day during pregnancy is a bit higher than the regular recommendation. You need to be drinking at least ten glasses of water a day during your gestation.
Ten glasses of water day after day can get monotonous. Its just plain boring to drink that much water day in and day out for nine months. But water is great for you and a lot of what you should be drinking should consist of good old water.
But there are lots of ways to enhance your water to make it even more beneficial to you and to your baby! There are also a few other drinks that can really help during your pregnancy, especially when you find yourself nauseous or throwing up.
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Starbucks Drinks While Pregnant: 15 Drinks You Can Safely Enjoy
Pregnant people do so much to make sure that the baby they are carrying remains healthy and safe. Along with all the restrictions of what you can and cant do and what you can and cant eat is caffeine found in most coffee drinks, teas, and sodas. Heavy caffeine intake of more than 300 milligrams a day has been associated with low birth weight and an increased risk of miscarriage.
Not to worry, there is no need to sacrifice your daily coffee fix while pregnant. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends limiting caffeine consumption to less than 200mg a day or about 2 6-ounce cups of coffee a day. Many of Starbucks offerings are safe for your consumption while pregnant, as long as the portion size contains less than 200 mg of caffeine.
Note that certain medications and supplements may also contain caffeine. While these amounts are most likely minuscule, take note of them when you calculate your daily intake of caffeinated beverages. Talk to your healthcare provider if you have any concerns over your caffeine intake while you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Wait Until You Miss Your Period To Stop Drinking
If the thought of getting pregnant has passed through your mind, even for just a second, experts say you should give up happy hour now.
Consider this: Half of all pregnancies are unplanned. So you could be enjoying a night out on the town with a few cocktails and not know you’re already pregnant.
If you’re drinking, your baby is, too. The alcohol that’s making you feel relaxed could interfere with your baby’s brain and nervous system growth. Alcohol affects your baby at every stage of pregnancy, especially in the early weeks.
Need more reasons why you and your partner should back away from the bar?
- There’s no safe level of prepregnancy alcohol drinking. Also, there’s no safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy.
- If you’re getting fertility treatments, like IVF, having four or more drinks a week lowers your chances of having a baby.
- Your guy should put down the glass, too. Alcohol can lower levels of the sex hormone testosterone and cause erectile dysfunction. You probably won’t get pregnant if that happens.
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What Are The Best Sex Positions To Get Pregnant
These seven sex position might increase your odds of baby-making success. But keep in mind that what’s most important is keeping up a consistent routineand not necessarily an obsessive one. “In studies about frequency of sex, there wasn’t a statistical difference between rates of pregnancy for people who have intercourse every other day leading up to ovulation and those who do it every day,” says Jani Jensen, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist and assistant professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Besides, trying to have it daily can be a huge chore.”
How What You Drink During Pregnancy Can Benefit Mom
As we mentioned, lots of our daily drinks are loaded with sugar and calories. Drinks like that dilute the essential nutrients in your meals and overall lead to decreased health and increased weight gain.
During pregnancy your nutritional needs increase exponentially by more than tripling on some nutrients, but your caloric needs only increase by about 10%. Basically that means theres no room in a prenatal diet for loads of empty calories.
That is in no means to say a treat here and there is bad or should be off limits. But you should be aware of them and most often replace your unhealthy cravings with delectable and healthy substitutes instead.
We often dont think of our drinks when paying attention to our diet but it is really important when trying to gain the right amount of pregnancy weight. By knowing exactly what to drink and eat during pregnancy you will get that bump-only healthy pregnancy that you are hoping for.
Another direct benefit for mom from pregnancy drinks is that a lot of them calm morning sickness. Morning sickness is such a misnomer. It doesnt have to come on in the morning nor does it have to be confined to the first trimester, even though that is the most typical.
Morning sickness and nausea during pregnancy can rear its ugly head at any time. Knowing these healthy pregnancy drinks that combat nausea can be a huge help for you!
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