A GUIDE TO INCREASING YOUR CHANCES

 

If you’re hoping to become pregnant, we’ve got loads of ideas to help boost your chances.

Eating a healthy diet is a great place to start because it provides you with all the nutrients you need for optimum fertility. It also helps you to maintain a healthy weight – another important fertility factor.
 
There are also one or two lifestyle changes you’ll need to make. If you smoke, quitting is one of the best things you can do to boost your chances.  Worried you won’t succeed? Our tips won’t guarantee success, but they’ll certainly help.

You and your partner will also need to go easy on the alcohol. Too much could harm your fertility, and it certainly won’t do you unborn baby any good. Check out our guidelines to make sure you’re both drinking within safe limits.
 
The Best Diet For Getting Pregnant
 
  
Whilst we should all be eating a healthy, balanced diet, it’s especially important when you’re trying for a baby to get all the nutrients you need.
This will also help your baby, as you’ll be giving your unborn child everything they need to develop properly in the womb. Eating healthily while pregnant has also been shown to give kids a great start to their future health prospects.
 

Eat lots

 

What: bread, cereals, potatoes, fruit, vegetables.
Why: they provide energy, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
 

Eat moderately

 

What: milk, dairy products, meat, pulses and fish (limit oily fish to two portions per week).
Why: they provide protein for growth, vitamins and minerals but too much can be fattening and cause other health issues.
Eat little
What: fat (butter, margarine, oils, cream), fried foods (crisps, chips etc), sugary foods (cakes, biscuits, sweets, soft drinks, ice cream etc).
Why: they provide energy but can make you put on weight; sugary foods lead to tooth decay.
 

 

 
Avoid

 

Medical advice is to avoid certain foods such as unpasteurised cheese, liver and undercooked eggs, so it makes sense to steer clear of these while you are trying for a baby – in case you are pregnant and don’t know it yet!  You’ll probably hear friends say that they ate these foods with no problems or that others eat them and think we’re silly – but wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?  The reasoning behind it is that they could cause harm to a developing baby, especially in the early weeks, for example if they give you an infection such as listeria.
Best Positions to get pregnant
 
There are loads of old wives’ tales about how to get pregnant, from positions to times of day to have sex to what to eat. But is there any truth in the position theory? Luckily, you won’t need to be a contortionist to make use of the best benefits to conception that Mother Nature has to offer.
 

What's the best position?

 

Realistically, no one position is way ahead of the rest when it comes to getting pregnant. Having said that, some experts believe that the deeper penetration you get with the missionary position (with the man on top of the woman, face to face) can be best, giving the sperm a shorter swim to the cervix.
Is there a good position for after sex?
Some women prefer to lie down after sex or even place a pillow under the hips to try to keep as much semen in the body as possible. This may have benefits if the sperm is of poor quality but again, this has not been positively proven. With each ejaculation, around 50 – 500 million sperm are released and it only needs around 400 to reach the egg to allow for a good chance of pregnancy.
Any positions to avoid?
Sperm are designed to swim into the woman’s womb and fallopian tubes to reach the egg and that’s just what they do. Though some say you should avoid positions where the woman is upright to increase chances of the sperm being retained in the body.
Can we choose to have a girl…
Again, nothing proven but some say that having sex in a shallower position (side-by–side or spoons) places the sperm lower in the vagina, which may give the X sperm a better chance of reaching their target.
… Or a boy?
As above, no proof here either but some say deep penetration such as doggy style deposits the sperm further into the vagina, nearer the cervix, so the Y sperm have an advantage.
 

Does an orgasm help conception?

 

The very purpose of an orgasm is said to be to draw the semen into the uterus but as those plucky little sperm will keep on swimming anyway, they will get to their target if they are allowed.
 

And so in conclusion…

 

Whilst the idea that certain positions, times of day, phases of the moon and post-sex practices increase your chances of getting pregnant may be a nice idea, in truth there is no actual scientific proof behind any of these. But there’s no harm in trying…
 
Improve your Fitness
 
 
Most of us aren’t as fit as we should be and pulling your exercise levels up will definitely help your overall wellbeing. When it comes to conception, it’s only a big issue if you’re seriously overweight.
Do my fitness levels really affect my fertility?
You can’t exercise your ovaries into success: but yes, fitness does matter overall when you’re trying for a baby. The most important thing is to keep your weight within the recommended Body Mass Index levels (that would be around 25 maximum) to maximise your chances of conception – the research does show that women who are significantly overweight can have fertility problems, because their weight has disrupted their hormones. You probably won’t lose huge amounts of weight through exercise alone but it’s a key player in any weight loss program especially if you want to keep the weight off long-term.
For another thing, it’s worth getting into a decent condition before starting nine months that take their toll on your body. Exercise is also very good for your mental well-being – all the mental health organisations recommend it – and again, although you can’t relax your way to a successful conception, it makes sense to reduce your overall stress levels as early as possible.
How much exercise ought I to be getting?
Probably more than you are. Given the chance, most of us seriously overestimate the amount of exercise we’re doing. The general recommendations from government experts are around 30 minutes’ moderate to intense activity – like fast walking or cycling – five times a week. You don’t have to do the full 30 minutes in one go (two 15-minute power walks to and from work will count) but you do have to do it to a level that gets you slightly out of breath.
What about the opposite – can I be too keen on exercise?
There’s been some research that suggests that women who do a lot of high-impact, high-intensity exercise to the point where they’re exhausted, several times a week, have fertility problems – but we don’t know if it’s actually the exercise to blame, or other things like their diet. Certainly if you’re dieting and exercising to the point where your periods stop, you’ve got obvious problems. But if you’re already used to doing a reasonable amount of exercise, don’t worry yourself unduly. You’re almost certainly doing the best thing for your body.
And how will this pan out for my pregnancy?
Sadly, there’s no guarantee that exercise will help you in labour – but it certainly ought to help you get through the months leading up to it, as well as helping to keep your weight from ballooning out too far. And it should also help you fit your post-baby body back into your jeans, when the time comes.
 
Cut Out The Alcohol
 
 
We all know that pregnant women need to lay off the sauce: but it’s also a very good move to cut down on your drinking at least three months before you try to become pregnant in the first place.
What is recommended?
You might be confused as to exactly what the guidelines are about drinking in pregnancy and with good reason; you may see newspaper articles suggesting that a few units a week is fine; friends may tell you they drank with no problems, some say you should drink no alcohol at all. The best advice is to avoid alcohol altogether, before conception and during pregnancy. That way, you are giving your baby the best start in life and you won’t be confused about what a ‘unit’ actually is.
Does alcohol really affect my likelihood of conceiving?
A number of studies suggest it does. The researchers haven’t yet established exactly how the drug – because alcohol is a drug – affects your body, but some feel that even ‘light drinking’ of up to five drinks a week can lower your chances.  Obviously, that doesn’t apply to everyone (plenty of babies are conceived after a drunken night out, after all) but it is worth bearing in mind if you want to maximise your fertility potential, particularly if you seem to be having problems conceiving, or have had problems before. There’s also been research showing that drinking over six units a week cuts down the success rate of IVF.
Should I warn my partner too?
Yes. Alcohol lowers testosterone levels and sperm quality and quantity – quite apart from its effects on men’s sexual performance! He probably doesn’t need to cut it out completely but certainly ought to keep well within the recommended limits.
How much should I cut down?
In terms of conceiving, studies show different amounts affecting your fertility. But if you’re planning on getting pregnant, it’s sensible to cut it out completely, for the first months of pregnancy; if you wait till you’ve got a positive test, you’ll already be a couple of weeks into your pregnancy while you’re still drinking. And an egg takes at least three months to mature in your uterus, so cutting out booze at least three months before you stop using contraception will give your baby the best chance possible.
Won’t the odd drink relax me and make me more likely to conceive?
It’s not quite the case that ‘if you just relax you’ll get pregnant’. At least one major study has disputed any links between stress and conception. But whilst the ‘odd drink’ really isn’t the end of the world don’t rely on it either.
And suppose I find I’m pregnant before I’ve done anything to cut down?
If it’s too late – don’t worry. Cut down to the recommended zero levels now, and you should be absolutely fine.
Quit Smoking
 
 
Everyone knows the dangers of smoking in pregnancy. But we’re not so clued up on the fact that cigarettes can cut your chances of getting pregnant in the first place.
 
Is smoking really lowering my fertility?
Smoking inflicts huge damage on your body – from your arteries to your eyes. So it’s no surprise that it’s linked to fertility problems too. We don’t know exactly how this happens but it may be because it affects your sex hormones. Overall, though, smoking reduces your risk of conceiving by up to 40 per cent. It’s also likely to reduce your chances of successful fertility treatment, too.  And though the risk goes up the more you smoke, even a ‘low’ level – under 10 a day – can cause problems.
What about my partner?
It’s not doing him any good either. For one thing, smoking’s linked to impotence – so if he’s having sexual problems, it makes even more sense to quit. And for another, the cigarettes are damaging both the quality and the quantity of his sperm.
Surely the stress of giving up is just as damaging?
In terms of your fertility – quite apart from your pregnancy when you do conceive – it doesn’t work that way. In any case, the links between stress and conception are quite complicated and there’s some evidence that stress does not play all that much of a role. So that excuse won’t quite work.
Does that really rule out all cigarettes – even the odd one at a party?
Yes. Quite apart from anything else, cigarettes are extraordinarily addictive. ‘Just the one’ is very unlikely to stop at just one, as every smoker knows.
So how long will it take for my fertility to increase after stopping?
Like other smoking-related damage, you can reverse the dent in your fertility pretty quickly. Most studies show that once you’ve given up completely, your fertility goes back to the level it would be at if you’d never smoked. If you’re a former smoker and you’re having problems conceiving, it’s unlikely to be the cigarettes to blame. However, as an egg takes at least three months to mature in your body, it is a good idea to put off trying for a baby till several months after your last cigarette, in order to give everyone the best chance possible.