Optimizing natural fertility: review of recommendations

mcg1102

New member
We see a lot of questions about what people need to do to optimize their odds for each cycle, and, fortunately, there's actually a reasonable amount of evidence-based advice out there.

This information is primarily coming from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s committee opinion Optimizing Natural Fertility, though I am also drawing from the physician reference UpToDate’s article Optimizing Natural Fertility in Couples Planning Pregnancy. These are consensus recommendations that come from a review of the literature broadly, not from any single study.

Lifestyle factors​


Alcohol intake

Moderate alcohol consumption (less than about 10-14 drinks per week) does not affect time to pregnancy in most studies, and is generally assumed to be fine while TTC. Heavier drinking can increase time to pregnancy, the measure most often used to decide if something is harmful to your prospects while TTC.

Most medical sources will recommend against any drinking during pregnancy. This essentially leaves a gray area of about a week to 10 days during the cycle — prior to ovulation, you are most emphatically not pregnant, and after implantation/a positive test, you are most emphatically pregnant. During the early TWW, you’re not pregnant, but there is potentially an embryo finding its way to the uterus. It is unlikely that moderate drinking does damage at this point (otherwise the time-to-pregnancy statistics would presumably reflect this), but there is no way to say definitively that alcohol does or does not affect the probability of implantation.

UpToDate says:

Moderate alcohol consumption
 
@mcg1102 I love/hate this list. Love because hey, lookithat, I already do/am all of this, go me! Hate, because argh, I already do all of this, where is my baby??!!1

I thought this was possibly going to be a list about pomegranate juice, herbs, that sort of stuff that people keep advicing on pregnancy fora that I have no idea about if they are even viable..
 
@zacariah88 Yep, I was doing everything on this list for 20 long months. What finally made the difference for me was two months of weekly acupuncture, 600iu of Coqu10 daily, losing all hope and my faith in the universe, and finally seeing a therapist. I recommend 3 out of 4 of these things. Good luck!
 
@mcg1102 Somehow it seems all of my saved reddit threads are written by you dev. You are amazing! Thank you! If I had the last Mountain Dew on the planet you know I'd save it for you!
 
@okmarius It’s actually quite easy I think to even go over that per week. One pint of beer is basically a drink and a half. A 5 oz glass of wine is considered to be one drink. So say you have a glass of wine (and the pour is questionable haha) while making dinner, the next night go to happy hour and have a couple beers, drink at dinner during the weekend, etc. it becomes VERY easy to hit that 10 drink limit and still feel like you only drank “here and there” over the week.
 
@okmarius I hear you. That’s honestly very healthy! “Boring” is good haha I’m going dry for the next couple months and only in the past few weeks not drinking I’m starting to realize just how often my social events involve a drink.
 
@okmarius Same! I only drink once every 2-3 months (and even then not an entire glass of wine, just a few sips until I make my husband finish the rest). 10 a week sounds insane to me! Although my husband probably goes over that because he plays on 3 adult hockey leagues and the winning team gets a free pitcher of beer after the game!
 
@okmarius Yeah I agree... I mean it's 1-2 glasses per day, but if you drink that every day, I think it's quite a lot. It's all up to habits I guess, but we never drink during the week and rarely in the weekends.
 
@okmarius That threw me off as well! I would think average is about a bottle of wine per week, but I guess those who go out on weekdays for happy hour and such, it would be an easy target! I live in the middle of nowhere, so I skip out usually!
 
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