Ten tips to get pregnant faster

You have a baby project and want to put the odds on your side to conceive naturally? You have been trying to have a child for several months or even years, without success, and you wonder what can go wrong? Do not panic. If you are under 35 and your unsuccessful attempts began less than 2 years ago, there is no need to panic. It may take a few adjustments to become parents very quickly.

1°) Do not delay in making your desire for a child come true

This is not about advising all 20-year-olds to conceive their first child, but warning women that the later you do it, the less likely you are to conceive naturally. We can estimate that a woman seeking to have a child around 30 has a 75% chance of achieving it in 12 months, 66% chance if she starts at 35, and 44% if she starts at 40. The risks of not being able to have children are 8%, 15% and 36%. As for the risk of miscarriage (about 12% around 25 years old), it reaches 20% at 37 years old, 30% at 43 years old and climbs very quickly beyond.

2°) Make a check up before getting pregnant

Pregnancy takes planning! And even if it is completely natural and physiological, it is better to let your gynecologist know about your plans as soon as you feel like having a baby. In addition to giving you good hygieno-dietetic advice to promote conception during this preconceptional assessment (not compulsory but strongly recommended), your doctor may prescribe supplements (folic acid or vitamin B9, iodine, iron, etc.) and blood additional tests if necessary (various screenings, updating of vaccines, monitoring of chronic disease, etc.).

3°) Take it easy!

Instead of panicking from the 3rd month of inconclusive trial, we reassure ourselves by telling ourselves that the chances of obtaining a pregnancy for a healthy couple are about ¼ per cycle and that we have 2 years before to start worrying. But even beyond that, it often happens that the reasons for infertility are purely psychological. We then speak of psychogenic (or unexplained) sterility. The best: forget calendars and temperature curves to avoid unconscious blockages because it is very often when we do not think about it (or more) that pregnancy occurs. If you are extremely anxious or have a difficult personal history, this is the opportunity to call in a professional (psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst).

4°) Get in condition

Are you wondering about possible infertility without worrying about your 10 cups of coffee and as many cigarettes a day? STOP! For several years, medical professionals have been making women aware of the harmfulness of smoking (which reduces fertility by 10 to 20% depending on the number of cigarettes smoked per day), drugs and alcoholism, but also overconsumption of caffeine on the quality of the eggs. May the bon vivantes and the addicts rest assured: if cannabis and tobacco are to be avoided, you can however keep 2 espressos and a glass of red wine daily (we forget the latter once pregnant, of course!).

5°) "Love yourself" regularly!

To avoid keeping your eyes on your cycle schedule and obsessing over "efficiency" and "productivity", it is still ideal to have sex regularly but not calculated. As soon as the desire for a child is felt and the contraception is stopped, a sexual intercourse every 2 or 3 days outside the rules should optimize the chances of pregnancy (if the ovum does indeed last only life span of 1 to 2 days, sperm can survive 3 to 5 days in the uterus). We thus avoid focusing on an often poorly estimated ovulation period and we put all the chances on our side. Remember that spontaneity is often the mother of fertility!

6°) Eat healthy to increase your chances of having a child

Nature does not like excess and this applies to all areas, even the reproduction! Thus, women who are too thin or on the contrary overweight are generally more prone to ovulation disorders that compromise fertility. When considering pregnancy, we therefore avoid drastic diets (moreover often synonymous with deficiencies) but also snacking and meals that are too rich, too fatty, too sweet or too salty. The key ? As always, a varied and balanced diet.

7°) Move… but not too much!

Researchers from Boston University have shown the positive role on fertility of moderate physical activity (walking, swimming, gardening ...). Moving for at least 5 hours a week is said to increase the chances of pregnancy by 18%. But here again, the secret lies in the happy medium since beyond 5 hours of intense physical activity per week, the chances of procreating decrease by 32% for a person of normal build. And this does not only apply to women, since in men physical activity improves the quality of sperm!

8°) We run away from chemistry!

Pollutants, solvents, heavy metals (mercury, lead) ... Exposure to certain chemicals but also to radiation has dramatic consequences on fertility. As far as possible, we therefore limit our exposure to pesticides and insecticides (favoring organic farming) as well as endocrine disruptors (present in many plastic compounds containing bisphenol A, PCBs or phthalates and we find out about the fish we eat.

9°) We stay zen

Key figures in questions of infertility and medically assisted procreation, Professors Nelly and René Frydman and Dr Muriel Flis-Trèves ensure that "stress and anxiety, professional overwork, whether physical or intellectual , like emotions, have an influence on the quality and quantity of sperm and on a woman's menstrual cycle ". At work and at home, we therefore stop wanting to ensure on all fronts and we devote time, not only to ourselves but also to our couple.

10°) We sleep like a baby

According to a Danish study in "The American Journal of Epidemiology", men with sleep debt also have 29% lower sperm concentration than those who sleep longer and have less "morphologically normal" sperm. On the women's side, Dr Michael Breus explains that lack of sleep would also have a bad influence on the regulation of ovulation. So take your quilts, but not (only) for the reason you think!