The unfulfilled desire for children – how you can contribute to achieve pregnancy

If your desire for children hasn’t yet come true, we ask you to carefully read the following subjects. You’ll find information that may help you to conceive a baby without medical help.

 

 

1. Recommendations for His and Her
2. Nutrition guidelines
3. Intercourse
4. Nicotine
5. Environmental toxins
6. How to prevent congenital disorders

If you want to conceive the natural way, you may find the following tips helpful:

• Spend time together as a couple and try to have intercourse at the right time (time of ovulation). There are different aids how to predict the fertile days, e.g. measuring the basal temperature, cervical mucus, ovulation tests available in pharmacies, ect.

• Pay attention to your body and eat a healthy and well balanced diet.

• Women should start taking Fertilovit F® (contains folic acid and other useful vitamins being essential for egg maturation and pregnancy) 3 months prior to conception.

• The woman should be immune to rubella. If you’re not sure whether you’re immune, please consult your doctor so that proper measures (vaccination) could be taken.

• Regular physical activity will improve your circulation, but don’t overdo it, because stress could affect your fertility.

• Make an appointment with your dentist so that any oral health problems can be treated in advance of your pregnancy.

• If you or your partner is a smoker, you should give up smoking immediately.

• Get yourself tested for sexually transmitted diseases (such as chlamydia). An infection requires immediate treatment.
  
  

Metabolism (overweight, underweight) has a great impact on a sound hormonal balance.

It is recommended to reduce your intake of carbohydrates and fats and instead eat a well-balanced diet rich in vitamins and proteins.

• Rich sources of animal protein are dairy products (especially low fat curd), meat, fish and egg.

• Germs or seeds, beans, soya, wholemeal, legumes such as peas and lentils and vegetables (particularly algae and Shiitake mushrooms) are valuable vegetable sources of protein.

• Fruit and vegetables are rich in vitamins.

Carbohydrates (e.g. bread, pastries, sugar, flour, potatoes and so on) as well as fats (oil and butter for instance) should be consumed in moderate quantities only. This is especially important if you have a high BMI.

Alcohol, no matter whether it is beer, wine, must, cognac and so on should be consumed in small quantities only. If you become pregnant you should completely avoid drinking alcohol!

If you suffer or have suffered from a liver condition you should completely abstain from alcohol. Among the possible consequences of alcohol, tobacco and other toxins are decreased fetal growth, spontaneous abortion, genetic disorders and even increased cancer risks for the baby (Fetal alcohol syndrome).

“Twice a week adds up to 104, this harm neither me nor her” quote by Martin Luther.

This has been common knowledge for centuries. Recently, however, there has been a definite paradigm shift: if you desire conceiving a baby, particularly when undergoing fertility treatment with the help of reproductive medicine (commonly known as “artificial insemination”), it is recommended to have intercourse as often as possible, if possible every day! (even until shortly before semen collection for IVF/ICSI – quality becomes more important than quantity).





For men the peak of sexual performance is known to be between 21 and 24 years of age with a slight decline until 30 years and an individually different yet stronger decline thereafter. Semen quality in older men can still be quite good, but of course it rather declines with age.

Female fertility decreases already from 35 years of age. Between 38 and 40 years of age conceiving naturally becomes more and more difficult. Beyond the age of 40 up to 45 years a woman’s chances of conceiving tend to zero.
 
Usually the actual position during intercourse is irrelevant, as long as the penis enters the vagina completely. If your gynaecologist has diagnosed any alteration in the location of the womb (uterus) - for instance ifthe uterus is bent backwards - it might be questionable whether the uterine orifice actually immerges into the semen after ejaculation. In this case we recommend to have intercourse with the woman being in a knee-elbow position or whilst lying on the side.

It is well known that nicotine can have a negative impact on fertility for both women and men.

Smoking negatively affects sperm quality and reduces sperm count. On the other hand, smoking influences a woman’s menstrual cycle



Throughout the last years several studies have shown, that the negative impact is not only due to the nicotine, but also to those noxious chemicals, emitted by burning tobacco. More than 4.000 different chemical compounds have been identified in tobacco smoke, such as tar, arsenic, benzene, cadmium, hydrogen cyanide, lead and carbon monoxide. Many of these compounds are toxic and at least 43 of them can trigger cancer (referred to as carcinogens).

The occurrence of miscarriages, placental abruptions and congenital disorders is more common in smokers. Moreover, children of smoking mothers are often found to be smaller upon delivery and are more prone to illness.

You can make a major contribution to give birth to a healthy child by giving up smoking three months prior to fertility treatment. It has been scientifically shown that even if only one of the partners smokes the chances of conception and a sound pregnancy are reduced by one half.

Contrary to widespread opinion, passive smoking can negatively affect the health. Tobacco smoke in indoor air contains the same toxic and carcinogen agents as the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker.

Literature:
Eggs in the Balance.
Nature Genetics 28, 300-301 (2001)

 

The possible consequences of environmental toxins (e.g. fumes or radiation at the workplace, plastic materials and many more) can be an underweight baby upon delivery, spontaneous miscarriages, genetic disorders and even a higher risk of cancer in children.

Studies have shown that the lung cancer rate in men, whose fathers were exposed to toxic fumes with chromium compounds such as welders, increased. Therefore couples should stay away from chemicals and radiation (e.g. at your workplace) for at least 90 days prior to conception. This provides sufficient time for their sperm (spermiogenesis) and ova (oogenesis) to recreate. 

During pregnancy you should do your best to avoid environmental toxics as well (such as plastic bottles etc.). 

The spina bifida (incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube) is considered to be the most common congenital disorder. In the total population 4-5 children per 1000 live births are affected.

For this reason, it is advisable to administer a dietary supplementation with 400 micrograms of folic acid daily (Fertilovit F®) . After consulting your doctor, start taking the recommended dosage of folic acid from at least 4 weeks before conception and continue during early pregnancy. Thus the occurrence of these congenital malformations can be reduced by 50-70%.

Other congenital disorders such as cleft lip and cleft palate or pathological changes in the cardio-vascular system, the urinary system or the limbs may also be prevented by administering folic acid. This vitamin supply should be started before conception and continued during early pregnancy.