Want to make a baby? My top tips on how

Fertility and pre-conception care is something close to my heart.  I love babies, I love new life, and I love assisting and educating people about healthy, smart, correct choices to make the best possible baby they can.

I’ve recently spent time at a massive Fertility Intensive Conference in Sydney. As the name suggests it was intense – four full days of current research, data, up to date information on how to assist couples with pre-conception care, fertility, pregnancy and IVF.

Some people may think ‘isn’t it easy’? You do the horizontal hump and wahlaa’. For some, yes but for many it’s not that easy. Often as Naturopaths we see people after they’ve been trying for a while, some people have already started the IVF process without success, some are older and have time concerns. We would love to be people’s first port of call when planning a pregnancy – naturopaths have lots of knowledge and expertise to assist with making babies.

If the thought has crossed your mind about starting a family, then the best way is to start a four-month preconception plan. Four months I hear you groan, yes four months is the time it takes for new healthy sperm to generate and oocytes (eggs) to mature. And did you know, the time the egg and sperm first meet it makes the genetic make-up of your baby and it’s offspring for the next 3 generations! True. Then, that embryo relies on its own cellular nutrients for the first 9 weeks before the placenta starts feeding the fetus nutrients from the mum! Why not give your bub the best possible start in life?

My Top Tips on achieving Healthy Fertility

Cleanse - Completing a detox prior to starting gives you the best possible chance of conceiving. A cleanse supports both partners to ensure viable fertility; health of the egg, sperm and the uterus.

• Improve reproductive function
• Liver function
• GIT function
• Sperm; shape, motility, quality and quantity - it's the smallest cell in our bodies and therefore the most vulnerable
• Eggs; assists with healthy egg maturity
• Makes the uterus all soft and ready for implantation and 9 months of incubation

Diet – Foods should be fresh and organically grown, don’t overcook foods, stop using microwaves, eat seasonally. Basically ‘don’t eat anything your great grandma wouldn’t recognize as food'.

A diet full of:

• Protein – 4 serves a day; organic meats, seeds, nuts, ocean fish
• Healthy fats – fats balance hormones
• Dairy – good quality, full fat. Remove Soy; it’s highly synthesized, processed and is an endocrine disrupter!
• Beverages – remove alcohol & coffee, drink filtered water, stress relief teas

Lifestyle - there are many lifestyle choices that impact fertility, here are some for you to think about

• Weight –loose those extra kilos, you certainly don’t want to be shedding them whilst pregnant, those fat stores will be carrying harmful pollutants that will just hang around in your body & bloodstream!
• Avoid chemical exposure, detergents and cleaning products. We are surrounded by these nasties! Radiation - begin being mindful of carrying mobile phones on your body and stop using them as an alarm, even turn off your Wi-Fi at night! Stop smoking.
• Stress relief – continue to have fun while planning and making your baby, this is a happy time, take those weekends away and enjoy each other.