Planning on TTC in 2021? Follow These 5 Tips
With a new year comes new hopes, dreams, goals -- and sometimes new challenges. If 2021 is the year you decide to start on the path to parenthood or begin fertility treatment, there are a few things you can do to improve your chance of success in the new year.
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Being over or underweight is one of the most common causes of infertility in women. For underweight women, menstruation can become irregular or cease altogether. Those who are overweight may experience irregular menstrual cycles and have been shown to have lower fertility rates than those who are a healthy weight.
For men, being overweight has been linked to lower sperm counts, making it more difficult for them to impregnate their partner.
1. Kick Your Vices to the Curb
Whether it’s cigarettes or alcohol, if you’re trying to conceive, it would be best to quit now. Heavy alcohol consumption has been tied to reduced fertility in women and men. Smoking has been shown to decrease a woman’s egg count and quality, and negatively impacting sperm quality in men.
For women, in particular, giving up smoking and alcohol is important if they are planning to conceive – not only because it decreases a woman’s chances of conceiving, but can impact the health of her baby when she does get pregnant.
3. Get the Right Vitamins
Most women already know the vital role vitamins can play in their daily health and when they try to get pregnant. According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, women should begin taking folic acid once they start trying to conceive and throughout their pregnancy to help prevent birth defects. Vitamins such as Vitamin C, D, and B-12 can also help improve outcomes for mom and baby.
4. Reevaluate Your Diet
While maintaining a healthy diet won’t guarantee success when trying to conceive, small tweaks to your diet can help your chances. For example, women who consume full-fat dairy have been shown to have a lower incidence of ovulatory infertility than those who consume low-fat dairy.
5. Speak to a Specialist
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine suggests that couples, where the woman is under 35, should seek fertility help after a year of trying to conceive without success. While women over 35 should seek fertility help after six months. Women who are 40 or older should speak to a fertility specialist as soon as they decide they’d like to conceive.
If you’ve been trying to conceive without success, contact the fertility specialists at IVF FLORIDA today to schedule a consultation or contact us at 954-247-6200.