Whether you've been career focused, met your partner later in life or just wanted to enjoy time without kids for a while, so many women are choosing to have kids later.
It can mean that it's more difficult to fall pregnant easily, but there's ways to increase your chances and get pregnant quicker.
Boost your chances of conceiving with these 5 tips:
Download an app and start tracking your cycle ( I like the Period Tracker app by Bellabeat). Tracking your cycle is a great thing to do even when you're not trying. Information like cycle length, symptoms you experience regularly (insomnia, emotions, headaches) help explain a full picture of your health. It's a gold mine for your doctor, gynaecologist, acupuncturists or naturopath to understand how to support you fully. In terms of trying to conceive it's going to help you understand whether your hormones might needs some support in getting balanced, and it's going to help give you an indication as to when you're ovulating, so you know which days of the month to try. As a bonus support, you can purchase ovulation tests which will help you know the best two days of the month to try.
Spring clean your beauty cabinet - Maybe it's Maybelline, or Estee Lauder, or that 'clean' brand affecting your fertility...Did you know that food, cleaning products and your beauty cabinet contain chemicals that contain endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, allergens or irritants that can impact your health and fertility. I started using the Yuka app and was SHOCKED to find that even products that market themselves as 'clean' contained harmful chemicals. The amazing thing about the app is you can scan your existing products at home, or take it on a trip to the supermarket or Sephora. It will break down the rating (yep it gives a score out of 100) and provides you recommendations for better products.
Reduce your stress (realistically) - yep this is the most annoying tip you've probably heard already. Your days are filled with trying to hold down a job, a social life, eat well, take your vitamins and exercise, whilst trying not to worry about why you didn't get pregnant this month. This sounds like a recipe for stress if I ever heard one. The good news is, I've been supporting busy, driven people to reduce their stress for years. The key is to build small habits that pay dividends and mean you stick to the habits, instead of trying to stick to a 30 minute meditation and only do it once a week. The method of habit stacking (where you take an existing habit and add a new healthy one on top) is a great way to introduce new stress relief habits. Here's some examples:
Open your eyes in the morning (existing habit), and take 5 deep breaths (new habit)
Finish cleaning up after dinner (existing habit), and dim the lights in the house as this will improve your sleep quality (new habit)
Turn on the TV (existing habit) and put on your blue screen filter glasses as this will improve your sleep quality (new habit)
Walk to the bathroom at work (existing habit) and introduce the mindfulness technique of noticing your feet connecting with each step (new habit).
4. Revisit your diet and exercise plan - There's some key shifts here that can boost your chances of falling pregnant more easily (for you and your partner).
Cutting out smoking and drinking will have a massive impact and boost your fertility.
Eating organic is a great way to reduce pesticides in your diet, but it isn't always affordable. So check out the 'dirty dozen' list which recommends the top 12 foods to purchase organic as they are known to have higher levels of pesticides. In Australia some recommendations are: Apples, cabbage, strawberries, capsicum, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, mushrooms, nectarines, grapes, cucumber, blueberries and oranges. You can also make a cheap fruit and vegetable spray using vinegar and water. I keep ours under the sink and spray everything before cooking.
Introducing exercise if you've been lacking is important, and finding something you love is even better. Shreen from Be You Be Free gives great body positive tips and ways to exercise for fun. It's important to remember that being underweight doesn't support optimum fertility. Numerous studies have also shown that frequent high-intensity exercise (running, boot-camps, HIIT) can impact your hormones and therefore fertility. So moderation is key.
Other diet considerations are reducing caffeine and sugar, and having meals that ideally contain protein, 'good' fats and fresh fruit and vegetables. But I think the key is to not get so restrictive that it makes you feel stressed. They key is to strike the balance between improving your health but not going so far as to feel like you can't enjoy outings, feel restricted and feel stressed about it all.
5. Energy Healing - Whether you're just starting out on your fertility journey, or you're across all the lingo of LH surges, hCG and IVF - an energy healing is the support tool you'll wish you started sooner.
An energy healing on fertility is always aimed primarily on helping boost your chances of getting pregnant if that is your current goal. It will do this by:
Energetically clearing out the reproductive system to support fertility
Identifying and clearing fears, limiting beliefs and past difficult experiences
Grief and loss support to help you heal from the unfortunate but common experience of miscarriage
An intuitive health scan to see if there are any physical health considerations for you AND your partner (Fun fact: I can check your partner without them being in the session)
Processing the stress and difficult emotions that come with trying to conceive and pregnancy, as well as giving you quick and practical stress relief tips to fit into your day.
You can read more about energy healing and fertility here, or listen to this episode of The Louise Fitzgerald Podcast where I go into even more detail.
This period of trying to conceive is a big opportunity to let go of your old life before you step into a new life, and create a new life.
Feel lighter and brighter as you try to conceive, and prepare your body, mind and spirit for pregnancy, birth and parenthood.