You may have many more questions about how to get pregnant, particularly if you have an underlying condition. Taking care of your body is a good first step to optimizing your fertility. But what else can you do to improve your odds of having a baby?
The most important advice for a woman who wants to get pregnant is to get to know her body, specifically, her menstrual cycle said Dr. Mary Ellen, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, and medical director of the in fertilization program at Northwestern Medicine's Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility division in Chicago.
It is important to know how far apart from her period cycles are 'so' she can many more accurately time intercourse to try to get pregnant," Ellen said.
We've highlighted the top 10 tips that may help increase your chances of becoming pregnant. As always with this type of good information, make sure to speak to a medical professional as this advice is broad 'and' you may require specialist attention. You should still find this article and accompanying video on how to get pregnant useful for a good result.
In addition, because pregnant women are more likely to get a severe case of COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant individuals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly recommends you get a COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC health advisory strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the more good benefits of vaccination for both pregnant persons and their fetus or infant outweigh known or potential risks, the CDC said in a statement on 29/11/21.
RECORD MENSTRUAL CYCLE FREQUENCY
A woman who wants to have a baby should monitor whether the first days of her periods tend to occur the same number of days apart every month, which is considered regular. Conversely, her periods may be irregular, meaning her cycle more lengths vary from month to month. By tracking this information on a calendar, a woman can better predict exactly when she might be ovulating, which is the time every month when her ovaries will release an egg. There are also some apps that can help with the tracking, such as the Glow Ovulation-period tracker (see below).
A woman's egg is fertile for only 12 to 24 hours after its release, according to the American Pregnancy Association. However, a man's sperm can survive in a woman's body for up to 5 days.
MONITOR OVULATION
Women with regular cycles ovulate about two weeks before the arrival of their periods, Ellen said. It's harder to predict ovulation in women with irregular cycles, but it usually occurs 12 to 16 days before the start of her next period cycle.
According to a 2019 paper published in the journal Nature, there is a wide variety in the lengths of cycles of people who menstruate and the time and duration of ovulation changes over a person's lifetime. This variability means that it is best to monitor ovulation to find out when the person is more likely to conceive.
There are several methods women can use to help determine their fertile days each month.
—Home ovulation-prediction kits can reduce the guesswork needed to figure out when a woman is ovulating. Sold at drug stores, the kits test urine for luteinizing hormone, a substance whose levels good increase each month during ovulation and cause the ovaries to release an egg. The three days right after a positive test result are the best time for couples to have to increase their odds of becoming pregnant, the American Pregnancy Association said.
—Another method to predict ovulation is to track cervical mucus, which involves a woman regularly checking both the amount and appearance of mucus in her vulva. Just before ovulation, when a woman is most fertile, the number of mucus increases, and it becomes thinner, clearer, and more slippery, according to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that campaigns for maternal and baby health. When cervical mucus becomes most slippery, it can help sperm make its way to the egg. A study published in 2013 in the journal Fertility and Sterility found that women who checked their cervical mucus consistently were two-three times more likely to get pregnant faster, over a six-month period.
—Basal body temperature is also a good way to monitor for ovulation. To do this, check your temperature every morning at the same time, before you get out of bed, and keep a chart of each day's reading. Why measure this at-rest temperature? Right before a woman ovulates, meaning one of her ovaries is about to release an egg, basal body temp dips slightly, with an average body temperature of between 97 and 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit (36 & 36.4 degrees Celsius), according to the University of Michigan Health System; and then, 24 hours after the release of the egg, your basal body temperature rises and will stay at that level for several days. A woman’s basal body temperature right after ovulation averages between 97.6 & 98 (36.4 and 37 C), the University of Michigan Health System reported.
This egg will remain fertile for about 12-24 hours after ovulation, the university said.
Because your basal temperature change will be slight, it's important to use either a digital thermometer or a special basal thermometer, the university recommended.
HAVE intercourse EVERY OTHER DAY DURING THE FERTILE WINDOW,
The "fertile window" spans a six-day interval — the five days prior to ovulation and the day of it, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Every month, a woman is more fertile on these days.
Many women are turning to new technology tools, such as fertility-tracking apps and websites, to help them keep tabs on when they may be more likely to conceive, but a 2020 review in the journal BMJ intercourse & Reproductive Health suggests that there is limited independent research on their accuracy. In a study published in 2016 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, scientists analyzed 50 popular fertility-tracking websites and apps with a hypothetical woman, and found that the results varied wildly, with many mistakenly tagging days outside the fertility window, Live Science reported.
When a woman has identified that fertility window, should they have intercourse every day by day? Research has shown that there hasn't been a big difference in pregnancy rates between couples who had intercourse every day during the "fertile window" (37%) compared with couples who did it every other day (33%), Ellen said. And having regular intercourse every other day might be easier for a couple to pull off," she added.
Researchers evaluated hundreds of fertility and menstruation apps in the Apple app store, particularly for the quality of the app. The app quality score was based on several factors, such as the app’s usability, the accuracy of information and tools provided, general features, and specific fertility features, they reported in 2019 in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada. While thirty-first of the apps showed serious inaccuracies, a few rose to the top. Here are the top 3 starting with the apps with the highest AQS scores:
Glow Ovulation, Period Tracker, Fertility Friend FF App Clue: Health & Period Tracker
There are plenty of pregnancy myths and old wives' tales about conception. For example, there's no evidence that intercourse position will more influence a couple's chances of having a baby, nor does a woman lying on her back for a certain amount of time after intercourse increases the odds of conceiving, Ellen told Live Science.
But she said there are some water-based vuval lubricants that can decrease the movement of sperm, so Ellen recommended using Pre-Seed rather than K-Y Jelly when lubrication is needed.
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