Holistic healing

Fertility: The natural pregnancy plan

Struggling to get pregnant? Fertility expert Claudia Spahr offers her top tips on how to boost your baby-making potential

Struggling to get pregnant? Fertility expert Claudia Spahr offers her top tips on how to boost your baby-making potential

Infertility is known to affect one in six couples in the UK at some point in their lives. The latest research indicates this figure is even increasing to 25 percent.

Many people think they should get pregnant the moment they stop using contraceptives, but it actually takes the average couple about eight months to conceive naturally.

For conception to occur, everything has to slot into place. It requires a delicate hormonal balance and all sorts of things can get in the way. But it needn’t be complicated either. Decades of research into fertility means we know much more about the ideal conditions for pregnancy.

Getting jiggy with it

It would seem obvious but many couples aren’t getting pregnant because they’re simply not having enough sex. Ideally aim for two to three times a week, spread over the days. Women are generally most fertile in the middle of their menstrual cycle, when they ovulate. A good way to know when you’re about to ovulate is to keep track of your vaginal fluid. Highly fertile secretions are stretchy and transparent, a bit like raw egg white. It’s the ideal environment for sperm to survive and swim forwards in.

It is worth getting checked for any genito-urinary infections, otherwise known as STDs, and treating them. These diseases can go unrecognised for years and be a major cause of infertility. At the same time you can have a scan to check for any medical issue preventing pregnancy, such as ovarian cysts, blocked fallopian tubes, fibroids or endometriosis. Many conditions can be treated holistically withadjustments to diet and complementary therapies. More serious cases may need medical intervention such as keyhole surgery. We tend to focus on the woman but studies suggest that fertility has become more of a man’s problem. Sperm counts have decreased dramatically over the past 50 years with nearly half the male population showing reduced sperm motility. The good news is that this is something that can be corrected through diet and lifestyle changes. Sperm quality and quantity are very much affected by toxins.

Food is your medicine

The next, very important step is to look at what you’re both eating and examine whether your lifestyle is preventing conception. Are either of you drinking more than three glasses of alcohol a week? Are you dehydrated? Are you eating a diet of processed foods rather than wholefoods? Are you smoking or drinking too much coffee? It’s not easy to break habits built up over years, but the evidence is overwhelming.

Two separate long-term studies conducted on fertility by the UK charity Foresight showed that a preconception care programme involving changes to diet and lifestyle enabled 89 per cent of couples to give birth, including 81 percent of those who had suffered infertility for up to 10 years. The first study was carried out over a three-year period on 367 couples. Of these, 326 gave birth and there were no miscarriages, premature births or birth defects. The second study wascarried out over seven years on 1,568 couples, resulting in 1,342 births and only four miscarriages. Thenational miscarriage rate is normally 25 percent of all pregnancies. Both these success rates are twice to four times higher than the best IVF clinic.

It’s highly recommended to get a hair analysis done to check for toxins and deficiencies. The modern world is full of toxins; we eat and drink them, breathe them in and absorb them through our skin. Toxins build up over time, producing overacidity in the body and sending hormones out of sync. The body is constantly trying to find balance, so if it’s busy trying to get rid of toxins it won’t see reproduction as a priority. Also, heavy metals are passed directly from the mother to the foetus, so it’s a good idea to detox three months before trying to get pregnant.

Once you’ve cleaned out your system you can stock up on the nutrients needed for healthy conception. This means plenty of fruit and vegetables – preferably organic – and food rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants. Depending on your deficiencies, high-quality supplementsand superfoods are also a good idea. Avoid processed food, white flour, fizzy drinks and too much non-organic meat, sugar and dairy. Alcohol, smoking and caffeine have been clearly linked to lower conception and higher miscarriage rates.

Both men and women are advised to ‘sober up’ three months prior to trying for a baby. This includes binge drinking nights as they will affect sperm and eggs for three months. It’s also important to stay well-hydrated; so drink lots of water, breathe in plenty of fresh air to flood the cells with oxygenated blood and get some sun. New studies link a lack of vitamin D to infertility in men.

Relax and change your mindset

Stress is another major factor that gets in the way of pregnancy and most of us are more stressed than we think – especially if getting pregnant has become an obsession. A study showed that stress was the main factor in 25 percent of couples suffering from infertility. The problem with stress is the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. They upset the fine balance of the hormones needed for reproduction and can prevent a fertilised egg from implanting in the womb. There are various ways to combat stress and subconscious anxiety. Relaxation techniques, yoga, meditation and hypnotherapy have been shown to be very effective. If you’re undergoing fertility treatment this can be very taxing on you mentally, physically and emotionally as a couple. A new study just released indicated that mind-body programmes improved the outcome of IVF treatments by 30 percent.

We’re just beginning to understand the profound effects belief has on our system. Our health is, to a fair extent, determined by our thoughts and emotions. From a scientific point of view it has been shown that positive thoughts, affirmations and visualisations createneural connections that lead the body to believe something is true. So, for example, by believing you can and will get pregnant when the time is right and trusting this belief means you’re more likely to manifest a pregnancy.

If you practise these thoughts daily, it doesn’t matter if it’s during meditation or while running for the bus, it will work. Believe you are strong, healthy and vibrant. A woman can focus on growing healthy follicles and a plump womb lining. Feel that your body is fertile and ready to grow a baby. As a man, believe your sperm are potent, fast and full of life-force.

Getting help

Complementary therapies like massage and acupuncture will also help to bring fresh blood to the pelvis, sacral and reproductive region. Reflexology has been shown to be very effective in sustaining a pregnancy and the ancient Indian science of ayurveda is great at bringing the body back into its natural state of balance. It might be worth putting together a plan of action and working with a professional; be it a GP who takes an integrated approach, a fertility expert or a specialist in complementary medicine.

Even if you do decide to go down the IVF route then all these tips still apply. The quality of eggs and sperm are equally as important for fertility treatments as they will result in healthy embryos. It’s important to prepare well for IVF by supporting the liver which has a hard time detoxing all the drugs involved. Visualising and ‘communicating’ with your future baby can play a decisive role in the success of IVF. And remember, your body has the remarkable capacity to selfheal if you support it in the right ways.

The right exercise

Many of us work in offices and are very static in our lives, slumping over computers for long hours in stagnant environments lacking air. This is why getting outside and exercising is very important. It’s a good idea to take brisk walks in nature (or the park if you live in a city) to get the blood and oxygen pumping around your system. You also need to increase the circulation to your reproductive organs, women especially to the uterus and ovaries. Yoga, tai chi and qi gong are all ancient arts conceived to massage the internal organs and calm the mind – exercise from the inside out so to speak. Any high impact or adrenalineproducing sports can actually prevent implantation.

The 10-step fertility check-list

Find out when you’re most fertile.
Check for STDs.
Get your vitamin/mineral deficiencies and toxic overload analysed.
Do the relevant detox.
Make diet/lifestyle adjustments and load up on nutrients.
De-stress your life.
Calm your mind and think positively.
Exercise to increase blood flow to your womb and sexual organs.
Choose a course of complementary medicine.
Choose a good fertility clinic that offers fertility treatments using an integrated approach with complementary medicine.