If you are looking for Ways To Get Pregnant , then you have come to the right place. A recent survey published in September 2007, suggests that fertility problems are more than twice as common than previously thought with a third of couples struggling to conceive.
A healthy couple at prime reproductive age (below 35) has about 25% chance of conceiving each month and only about half of all couples get pregnant within 6 months of trying, about 80% within a year and approximately 90% at the end of two years.
This site is for any woman who wants to have a baby, from those who are thinking about it for the first time, to those who have been trying for months or even years without success.
As women we spend most of our reproductive years trying not to get pregnant and then finding out that getting pregnant isn’t as easy as we initially thought can feel absolutely awful.
I will be sharing pratical tips, ideas and strategies that you can put to use right away that will greatly enhance your chances of conceiving that dream baby.
1. If You Are Looking To get Pregnant, Your Weight Matters:
Did you know that weight plays a significant role in fertility? In fact more than 12% of all infertility patients suffers from weight related infertility.
Research shows that the risk of infertility increases with the degree of obesity. In other words, the heavier you are, the bigger the problem, but on a positive note scientists have found that losing a small amount of weight, say 10% is enough to trigger ovulation and increase fertility.
One study concluded that when overweight infertile women, successfully followed a weight loss and exercise programme for 6 months, their preiods returned to normal and most went on to have healthy babies.
If you are overweight or underweight, your body may be having trouble regulating its natural cycle. There are many reasons for this.
For one, women who are overweight tend to have a higher percentage of fat and fat cells produce oestrogen. Excessively high levels of oestrogen have a negative influence on menstruation and ovulation, making it difficult to become pregnant.
So it is important that you are within a healthy weight range for your body to produce the appropriate amount of hormones to regulate ovulation and menstruation.
In his book, Recipes for Self Healing, Daverick Leggett (author of several dietary books based on the principles of chinese medicine) advice that ;“Overweight people need to nourish themselves rather than starve or punish themselves in order to regulate obesity.
This means eating warm cooked foods, plenty of vegetable soups and stews, a little lean and low fat protein, whole grains and legumes, flavoured with gentle warm energy pungent herbs and spices.
Also make sure you get regular exercise, preferably daily.
Also try for a gradual weight loss of about 1-2lbs a week instead of a drastic weight loss.
It is also important that you work on your emotional relationship with food, because it is just as important, if not more more so than diet and exercise. As Daverick Legget said, “Deeper at work in the psyche there are often powerful messages about the body that no amount of dieting will shift”
If you are underweight:
In normal adult women, fat comprises of about 28% of their body weight and if this drops below 22% ovulation could stop.
Even if a woman whose body fat % is less than 22% is able to conceive, the theory is that she has a greater chance of suffering a miscarriage because she does not have enough fat stores to sustain the pregnancy.
Research shows that when healthy women were put on a diet of 1,000 calories a day, their periods became irregular, because progesterone and oestrogen levels dropped significantly.
Another, study showed that only 27% of women on a low-fat diet were actually ovulating. Fortunately, gaining weight can restore fertility back to normal.
The solution is to aim for a BMI (body mass Index) of between 20 and 25 (the optimum being 24). When you get your weight back to normal, (through a healthy diet that includes whole grains, vegetables, fruit, oily fish nuts and seeds), try and maintain it for 3 to 4 months before trying for a baby. This is because chances are you may have nutritional deficiencies as a result of your previous restricted food intake.
2. It is Crucial You Know Your “Fertile Window”
Did you know that as a woman you only have 2-3 days in any month when you can actually get pregnant?
If you are looking for Ways To Get Pregnant you should get to a point where you can tell with great accuracy when you are about to ovulate and when you are ovulating in any given month.
Ovulation is simply when one, sometimes more than one egg is released from one of your ovaries.
Each month up to 20 eggs mature inside your ovaries, but only the ripest one is released and swept into your fallopian tubes.
To become pregnant one of your egg or sometimes eggs have to meet your partners sperm.
Your egg though can only survive for 24 hours after it has been released from your ovaries. So in an ideal situation your partners sperm should be waiting for your egg in your fallopian tube, your uterus or your vagina.
This means you should be having intercourse before you think you will ovulate and up until the day of you ovulate.
So how can you tell when you are ovulating? There are many methods for predicting ouvation including useing your cervical mucus, measuring your basal body temperature and using ovulation kits.
To read more on ways to get pregnant, understand and be able to predict your fertile window with great accuracy click ovulation.
You can also read more about your menstrual cycle. To do so, click menstrual cycle
3. A good multivitamin and mineral supplement is very important:
because no matter how well you eat, foods don’t always contain the amount of nutrients you expect them to contain for several reasons.
Firstly, the nutritional content of many natural foods have been stripped by modern agricultural farming and production processes.
For example did you know that 80% of zinc is removed from wheat during the milling process just to ensure that bread has a longer shelf life?
Secondly, the soil food is grown on today lack a lot of nutrients due to overuse and commercial farming methods. So even foods we regard as healthy like vegetables may not necessarily contain the nutrients you expect them to.
Thirdly, consider the effects of additives, preservatives and toxins in your food and you can see how easy it is for your fertility to be affected.
Also according to research from the University of Leeds, women who take daily multivitamin tablets can double their chances of getting pregnant, because it can help to produce better quality eggs.
So it is crucial that you include high quality supplements in your diet if you are looking for ways to get pregnant
Loading ...4. Avoid Stress Because It Affects Your Ability To Get Pregnant:
The second but important way to get pregnant is to avoid stress. This is because stress can suppress ovulation and your menstrual cycle because without a shadow of doubt, the state of your mind affects your body and in turn your ability to conceive.
Research has shown that stress can trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which can interfere with your hormonal balance.
Too much cortisol in your blood stream can also affect your sex hormones, the functioning of the hypothalamus and your pituitary glands.
Avoid Stress If You Are Looking To Get Pregnant
Stress can affect your partners’s hormonal balance too and some researchers suggest that stress causes infertility because it triggers the production of malformed eggs and sperms.
Pregnancies created by damaged sperm or eggs tend to result in miscarriages so early that you may not even realise you were ever pregnant.
Stress in men can also affect the hormones controlling sperm production.
One study of 157 men conducted by the University of California in 1997 showed that a very depressing experience, such as the loss of a loved one, can temporarily reduce a man’s sperm count.
So your emotional health is just as important as your physical health if you are looking get pregnant.
What are some of the things you can do to reduce stress? Take a good multivitamin supplement because they will help keep the adrenal glands functioning well .
Tip On How To Reduce Your Stress Levels
Siberian Ginseng is an excellent herb to use if you are under a lot stress. It has a long history in helping with adrenal function and calming the body. It is also classed as an adaptogen i.e. it provides energy when required and helps to combat stress and fatigue if someone is under pressure. It helps to encourage the normal functioning of the adrenals and acts as a tonic to these glands.
You can also meditate, take up yoga, exercise, and try to stay positive.
5. Cleanse Your Life Of Pesticides:
Go Organic Where Possible. When you pile your plate with vegetables, on the positive side you get a load of nutrients, but on the negative side you also get the pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals used to protect crops from bugs, rodents and bacteria.
It has been estimated that some fruits and vegetables are sprayed up to 10 times with pesticides before they reach the shops.
If you use pesticides in your garden, or protect your pets from fleas, or may be even rid your house of insects or rodents then you are exposed to even more.
Pesticides are potent, extremely toxic chemicals that interfere with the hormonal health in both men and women.One study looking at male fertility suggests that a common pesticide sprayed on food and also used in insect killers can suppress levels of testosterone levels by as much as 10% and reduce fertility
Pesticides In Fruits And Vegetables Can Affect Fertility
One simple step you can take to reduce the amount of pesticides you consume with your fruits and vegetables is to wash and/or peel before consuming. For example remove the outer leaves of cabbage and other greens before eating them.
You can also use vegetable washes available at heath food stores or simply use a few teaspoons of vinegar in a bowl of water and use to wash your fruits and vegetables.
Remember though that washing won’t alter the pesticide content already in the fruits and vegetables, but by peeling you remove the skin, which is where most of the residue lie. Just by removing the skins alone, you could lower the pesticide levels by as much as three quarters.
Buy organic food whenever possible and make sure you are getting enough fibre in your foods because it helps to prevent the absorption of toxins into the blood stream.
6. Try Fertility Boosting Herbs Such As Agnus Castus.
In addition to vitamin and mineral supplements, you may find it helpful to try some herbal remedies.
Herbs are the oldest form of medicine and are the foundation for many pharmaceutical drugs.
For example, aspirin was originally extracted from willow bark but remember that herbs should only be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner.
Agnus castus also known as vitex or chasteberry,
It is useful as a herbal treatment for infertility, particulary in cases with established luteal phasse defect ( shortened second half of the menstrual cycle) and high levels of the hormone prolactin.
In one trial, 48 women (aged between 23 and 39) diagnosed with infertility took agnus castus once daily for 3 months. 7 become pregnant during the trial and 25 experienced normalised progesterone levels – which may increase the chances of getting pregnant.
Why not get more tips about ways to get pregnant by getting Lisa Olson’s Pregnancy Miracle HERE
7. Control Your Blood Sugar Levels:
The amount of sugar that is circulating in your bloodstream can have a huge impact on your fertility and indeed your ability to sustain a pregnancy.
Your blood sugar levels start to climb every time you eat and your body then produces insulin in response to move the sugar into your cells to be used for energy.
If you eat whole grain, vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, oily fish and legumes, you are on the right track because these are digested and absorbed slowly and your blood sugar and insulin levels will rise and fall gradually within the normal range.
If you eat to many sugary and processed foods e.g. white bread, cakes, pastry etc, your blood sugar and insulin levels can shoot up faster and faster, way above the normal range. This is unsettle your reproductive hormones and hinder ovulation.
Overproduction of insulin – and a resulting condition called insulin resistance – lies at the root of many problems which hinder fertility, including obesity, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and diabetes.
Even if you don’t have insuling resistance, a diet based on whole foods that are low in glycaemic index (GI) is a good idea for booth your health and your fertility.
Also remember that sugar causes swings in blood sugar which ultimately spark off sugar cravings and bingeing habits that will make you eat the wrong foods and put on weight.
8. These Over The Counter Drug Affects Fertility, Are You Taking Any?
You should try to avoid taking any drugs while pregnant, but most especially if you are taking sleeping pills, tranquillisers or painkillers you need to talk to your doctor about finding other ways to deal with the problems so that you can come off these drugs.
Also steroids such as cortisone and prednisone, which are used to treat conditions such as asthma and lupus, can prevent your pituitary gland from producing enough follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising (LH) for normal ovulation to occur.
Also medication such as paracetamol and ibuprofen can inhibit the production of prostaglandins which are essential for the healthy development of the foetus.
Bottom line?If you are taking regular medication, check with your doctor that it is not affecting your ability to get pregnant in any way.
9. Using Complementary Therapies To Get Pregnant:
In a great majority of cases, diet, lifestyle and supplementation are the most important factors in boosting fertility. If, however, you feel you want to give yourself some extra help, you may want to try a complementary therapy that appeals to you.
Bear in mind that there is enough anecdoctal evidence ( and in some cases good scientific research) to suggest that complementary medicine such as Herbal medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Reflexology, Hypnotherapy, Aromatherapy, Osteopathy, and even Yoga can maximise your chances of conceiving.
Like orthodox medicine, alternative therapy does not always have the answers but they do have a lot to offer because they look at you holistically.
You can read more by visiting Ways To Get Pregnant Using Complementary Therapies.
10. Is Your Mind On Board? The Power of Affirmations and Visualisations:
Do not undersetimate the power of our mind. If you can harness this power and make it work for you, almost anything is possible.
One of the biggest challenge you may face is when your mind- consciously or unconsciously decides to work against you.
Outwardly people may appear happy, balanced, and self-confident while inwardly they are gripped by a tempest from the second they wake up.
Did you know that in chinese medicine, the heart is directly linked to the womb and each can impact on the other.
Many of the negative thought that revolve around our brains on a loop have been there for a long time – since childhood even. The whole point of affirmations is to reset the loop with positive thoughts.
Affirmations are simple statements of intentions that you wish to be true, to become facts in your life.
You have to repeat then in order to reinforce the desire. The first time you attempt affirmations, ou may feel self conscious and a little silly but that is okay. With enough daily repetitions all that feeling of silliness and disbelief will dissolve.
David Hamilton, author of “How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body” writes: Repeating a statement about something being true will create neural connections (in the brain) as though we were experiencing the thing being true (in reality)
Here are some of the examples of affirmations you can use:
1. My ovaries are healthy and work perfectly, releasing an egg every month.
2. I will become pregnant when my body is ready and I am healthy and well.
3. My relationship is good and I feel supported.
4. I love myself, respect myself and I let go of the things holding me back in my path towards a healthy conception
If you really struggle believing these, then try writing and rewriting them daily. Eventually these statements will become true for you
You can also start a GRATITUDE DIARY, concentrating on the good things in your life.
11. Investigate Reproductive Issues That May be Affecting Your Ability To Get Pregnant
My husband and I have tried for оvеr a year withоut success. We trіеd аll the variоus methods and еvеn considered IVF but our doctor insisted we continue to adopt thе ‘right’ approach, through dieting and religiously follоwіng the ovulation calender. It wasn’t untіl I read thе story asѕocіаted tо this book thаt we begun to better understand why I wаsn’t gеtting pregnant. You oftеn hеre thаt when уоu relax, forget about thе problem (its nоt that easy iѕ it?!) thаt things start to happen. In оur case this was true аnd I put it all down tо thе knowledge I gained thrоugh reading this. It may nоt work for everуоnе but after a year оf trуing I waѕ ready to give anуthіng a shot аnd we аrе glad I did.