Preconception Planning
NUTRITION
Prenatal:
You want to take a high quality whole food based prenatal. This will ensure that your body is prepared for pregnancy and that your growing baby has all the nutrients necessary to thrive. Here are my favorite recommendations:
Food:
There’s no specific diet that needs to be followed when trying to conceive. We recommend a whole food diet focusing on complex carbohydrates such as quinoa, farrow, and whole grains, with plenty of fruits and vegetables and lean meats and healthy fat sources such as fish oil, nut butter and avocados. Reducing sugar intake has been linked to increased fertility as well as eating a mediterranean style diet.
Mediterranean Diet and Fertility
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL WELLNESS:
General Movement for Fertility:
Research suggests that 30-60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week had a decreased rate of ovulatory dysfunction (think not ovulating, or ovulating irregularly) while too much exercise (greater than 5 hours a week) may be linked to annovulation and shortened luteal phases. The best rule of thumb is to move your body in a way that you enjoy so that you want to continue doing it and that it doesn’t feel like a burden. Good blood flow to your uterus and ovaries will increase your overall fertility and help improve egg quality and implantation rates.
Yoga for Fertility:
Yoga has been proven to increase mood, libido, blood flow to the ovaries and uterus, flexibility and overall emotional wellness.
Here are some great fertility yoga practices:
Fertility Yoga for Egg Quality and Uterine Lining
Beginner friendly Yoga for Ovulation
Mental wellness:
Fertility Meditations are a great way to sync your mind and body during your conception journey. Here are some great ones:
10 minute fertility meditation
15 minute fertility meditation
LEARN YOUR BODY:
Read "Taking Charge of Your Fertility” by Toni Weshler.
In order to conceive you need to know how your body works, what your signs of fertility are, and what the potential roadblocks could be. Taking Charge of your Fertility is a great resource to feel empowered on your conception journey (and hopefully shorten the time it takes to get pregnant).
Start cycle charting.
Cycle charting is the perfect way to learn your body’s natural patterns, increase your fertility and identify any potential issues prior to starting to conceive. It’s easy, cost-effective and will continue to be a great tool in your family planning journey. To learn more about how to track and to download a great free app visit Fertility Friend
Get a physical.
Make sure your body is in overall good health and ready to conceive. Fertility is closely linked to proper vitamins, minerals and hormone balances in the body and this will ensure that you are in a balanced place to start your journey.
Learn your family history.
Did anyone in your family have trouble conceiving? Do you have any genetic conditions that might affect your ability to conceive? This is great information to let your care provider know to guide your conception journey.
GET FINANCIALLY READY:
Making a baby budget (or a fertility treatment budget) is often a great way to assess if you’re in a good place to build your family or what adjustments you might need to make to help your goal of building a family become a reality.
Building a Fertility Treatment Budget
MID-30’s AND ONWARD:
Get a quick fertility workup done.
This consists of a hormone panel blood draw and a transvaginal ultrasound, usually on day 3 of your cycle. The ultrasound will rule out structural abnormalities, polyps, fibroids and uterine cysts and the blood panel will check your ovarian reserve and other important hormone levels. For the hormone panel you can check with your OB/GYN or we love Modern Fertility.
Think seriously about family planning.
As we age our egg reserve begins to decline. Armed with this information it is beneficial to think about how many children we’d like to have and how far apart. This will inform our conception journey and ensure that we are able to build our family in a way that feels best for us and less restricted and allows us to seek the support of a fertility specialist if necessary.