Conceiving in your 40s - what did you do?

[Pocket1]

On behalf of a good friend who desperately wants a child but cannot afford ivf...

What can a women in her early 40s do to improve her chances of conception?

I've heard about temp charting and ov sticks but what can she really do (without any professional help) to improve her chances...

Thanks in advance

Hi,

Theres a book called 'taking charge of your fertility' that people rave about. Here's a link ;
www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Reproductive/dp/0091887585/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363517655&sr=1-1
Good luck !

Other than touching pregnant women's bumps and navigating her naked bod round pagan stone circles, there are lots of things she could do, ranging from the obvious (losing weight even if she's just within the accepted range for her bmi, giving up alcohol, caffeine, refined sugars, etc) to other solutions like just going to her gp for blood tests to exclude problems like hypothyroidism and generally seeking advice/meds, getting her partner's sperm looked at to see if he needs changes to his diet too, using the Pregnacare conception supplement (get this for her as a present if she's hard up), using the Clearblue fertility monitor to get her ovulation date right, taking vitamin D supplements on top of that (I've just found out I'm borderline deficient, and that's not good for conceiving), and mumsnetting to see what magic formulae people have found on the conception thread! I also recommend getting time to chill out.

Some people swear by TCM for the older lady. If she can't afford to see a TCM practitioner, she could get The Baby-Making Bible by Emma Cannon to pick up her tips on diet for her type.

Wish I knew the magic formula too!

Thank you so much for your replies. I've passed on the book recommends for starters. Will chat to her about the other suggestions.

I am sure the only reason I got pregnant naturally at 41 was because I saw a Chiropractor, the intention wasn't to get pregnant, I went because I suffered neck and shoulder pain, turned out my pelvis was out. DS was conceived using IVF when I was 38 after 6 long years of TTC including 6 x IUI, and 2 IVF. He was going to be our only child but we never used contraception and 3 years later after a few visits to the chiropractor I went to her with a different back pain and it turned out I was pregnant with DD. I had horrendous first birth, probably because my pelvis had been out for a long time, I fell into the category of unexplained infertility. I am absolutely sure that my body was out of alignment and that caused my infertility.

Good luck to your friend.

Wow Gritzio that's a fantastic story. In so pleased for you. x

Try Dr Marilyn Glenville's book, "Getting Pregnant Faster". It provides practical advice and a plan to naturally boost fertility in three months. It covers male as well as female fertility, diet, lifestyle, supplements etc.

Your friend needs to do everything she can to be as fit and healthy as possible - totallynaive's recommendations are really good. Her partner should be doing the same.

There's plenty of evidence out there that the natural approach can make an enormous difference - with a higher success rate than ivf - but of course, it takes effort and dedication to give up tea, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, processed foods, sugar, smoking etc.

Thanks Frosticle

I would also recommend the same book 'Taking charge of your Fertility' very highly, if they are both fertile they should conceive quickly. If there are fertility problems the book is not going to work though.
I have heard that Accupunture and Reflexology can help, but I am no expert.

Completely agree with Maia - 'Taking Charge of your fertility' is a great book and explains charting, timing sex to maximise chances etc but not much help if fertility is on the slide and emergency measures are required. Acupuncture is great for increasing blood flow to the womb and making implantation more likely and will also help regulate cycles.