What to do before IVF?

I am seeing more and more patients trying to conceive and going for the IVF option. It is really important to get you and your partners health in top shape before starting your IVF treatment to ensure you get the best results. Once you’ve decided you want to have a baby it comes with a lot of emotion and stress when you are struggling to conceive, a biggest part of my treatment plans is helping you manage your stress levels to ensure you are managing your emotions.

Here are my tips to try before starting IVF

Check your weight

It is really important to note that being in a healthy weight range will increase your changes of falling pregnant. If you are overweight and trying to conceive even loosing 5% of your body weight can significantly improve regular ovulation and improve your chances of conception. Also being underweight can affect your hormones and fertility just as much.

You can click here to read my previous blog about different foods that can increase your fertility but to help you reach a heathy weight range, reducing processed foods and eating more whole foods can really help. I would suggest eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs, and even opting for lentils and some vegetarian meals. Moderate exercise can also help you to get to a healthy weight range. It is suggested that you exercise for 30minutes 5 times a week.

Stop drinking and smoking

Smoking can affect both the egg and sperms development and can cause damage to the DNA in both. Smoking not only reduces your chances of falling pregnant but also puts you and your baby at risk of issues during pregnancy and birth. Even if a woman has never smoked and her partner does it can increase your risk of miscarriage by up to 30%.

Cleanse your liver

Liver health is very important for hormone production and removing toxins from your body. I suggest a liver cleanse before starting IVF because when you start an IVF protocol all the synthetic hormones that you are given can really affect your liver. Simple things you can do at home would be having lemon in water every morning, increasing your green vegetables, turmeric, beetroot and also having a fibre supplement daily.

Remove toxins

It’s not always easy but switching to organic food or at least switching to buying organic or spray free for the dirty dozen vegetables and fruit. Shopping at local farmer’s markets can definitely help you get the freshest produce, good value for money, supporting local farmers and you know if they have been sprayed or not.

Know when your ovulating

It is really important to know when your fertility window is to increase your chances of conception. You have at the most 6 days to fall pregnant every cycle. The most likely days your will conceive are 2 days prior to ovulation and the day of ovulation. I suggest that you use an app to track your cycle, where you can also add your morning temperature and cervical mucus. If you would like more information on tracking your cycle, please send me an email.

I hope these tips have helped you on your fertility journey. If I can assist you with more 1 on 1 advice, please contact me for more information.