5 Things to Do Before Trying to Conceive

Trying to conceive is an exciting but nerve wracking time. Whether it’s your first baby or you’re adding to your family, there’s no real way to know when or even if it will happen, so you have to just have faith and go into the situation with an open mind. This loss of control can be a little scary, but actually there are a number of things that you can do. These will put you in the best position to conceive and go on to have a happy and healthy pregnancy. Here are some ideas!

Start tracking your basal body temperature

Basal body tracking (known as BBT tracking) involves taking your temperature with a thermometer each morning and charting down the number. There are lots of apps that make this easy, and over the course of the month you can get some insight into what’s going on in your cycle. After you ovulate, your body temperature rises very slightly which can be seen if you chart your temperature each day at the same time before getting out of bed. A chart showing normal ovulation should be ‘bi-phasic’, where half of the month your temperatures are lower, and the other half of the month they’re higher. Even if you’re not planning on having a baby for a good while, it’s so worth charting like this, as it will show you if you’re ovulating or not. If you’re having regular cycles and ovulating each month, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get pregnant naturally when the time comes since many fertility issues are caused by lack of ovulation. If you do notice that there are issues and your temperature isn’t rising and falling the way it should, you can take your charts to the doctors who will be able to pinpoint your issue much more quickly. Often, simple medications are all women with ovulatory issues need, only a small number of couples end up needing more extreme methods like IVF. 

Start taking folic acid

Every woman of childbearing age should be taking folic acid, this is because if you accidentally fall pregnant, a lack of folic acid can lead to issues with a developing babys spine and neural tubes. Since getting enough folic acid through diet alone can be difficult, a supplement is recommended. It’s worth getting yourself a high quality pre-conception vitamin which will contain folic acid and everything else your body needs to prepare for pregnancy. You can even get packs which contain a tablet for your partner too, this is because folic acid has also been shown to be useful for the male partner to take before conception. 

Improve your diet

A supplement is important but it shouldn’t replace a healthy diet. While you’re trying to conceive, work on getting your body into the best condition possible. Eat plenty of fresh produce and whole grains, make sure you’re getting enough protein and other nutrients your body needs. If you track your food on an app like MyFitnessPal it’s easy to see if you’re lacking in anything. 

Give up your dangerous habits and vices

Speaking of getting your body into the best condition, giving up your dangerous habits now is so important. If you take any recreational drugs, stop. Consider going tee total with alcohol, and give up smoking. If you’re finding giving up smoking hard, switching to vaping first can be useful to some people- you can find e liquid clearance online so it doesnt need to cost the earth. By the time you start trying to conceive, ideally you’ll be smoke free and your cravings will have completely gone. 

Relax!

Finally, it’s so easy to get babies on the brain and become a little obsessed with the idea. It can take healthy couples up to a year to conceive, so your best bet is to just relax and keep an open mind. Focus on being happy and healthy and let nature take its course, becoming obsessed and overthinking can zap the joy out of things and create worry where there needn’t be any. 

How was your TTC journey?

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.  

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