Has anyone tried these fertility tips?

[BeyoncesBra]

Am currently TTC at 40 (1st time). We've had private tests and we are both very fit and healthy and follow the fertility diet advice fully. I just had a couple of questions about a couple of extra things we could do on top of our already healthy lifestyle to help boost our chances.

1. I've read that a tiny bit of whole fat dairy is better than skimmed. I am basically dairy free anyway (I eat lean meat and oily fish but no cheese, butter etc). I have one or two cups of tea a day with milk in though, so I could swap my usual slimed for whole milk, or I could swap for unsweetened almond milk. Does anyone have any opinions?

1. Acupuncture. I've come across a number of acquaintances doing this but they don't know about me TTC so I haven't asked for details. What type of acupuncture is good and would anyone recommend? Has anyone had success with this? I've never had acupuncture for anything.

I conceived at 42 on the third month ttc! Gave up fizzy pop and coffee. Ate greens every night. Took folic acid and used conceive plus lubricant.
Dh was taking vitamin c soluble 1000 mg twice a day.
Sperm cycle is 90 days so get him on them today!
Good luck op!

I'm dairy free and feel so much better for it. Less mucus producing in my opinion. Based on that (I'm no expert) is cut out the dairy in your milk and be fully dairy free.
Preseed lubricant has had success for me and many friends
Track ovulation
Don't have sex every day, every other day is best
Lots and lots of water and hydrating fruit and veg

Thanks both. Yes I do all of the above - we really are incredibly healthy - never eat sugar or any processed foods and taking all the correct supplements and eat organic, fresh veg and lean mets / fish / Mediterranean diet. I guess I was specifically hoping to see if anyone's made either of these two changes.

Has anyone used acupuncture for fertility?

Yes to both and actually got pregnant twice both times I did fertility acupuncture and ate more full fat milk (didn't keep me pregnant though)

I was sceptical about the acupuncture but actually really enjoy it now

Have you had standard GP tests on your fertility as I'd recommend getting AMH and Antral follicle count done at your age. There is no way of knowing about egg quality but you can expect at age 30 that less than 20% of your eggs/embryos will genetically normal so it's good to be realistic

Thanks @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted very interested in your acupuncture. How did it work and what's the science behind it? Did you seek a fertility specialist or just try general acupuncture?

Yes we have both had all the tests done privately, AMH, FSH, follicle scan, healthy checks, sperm analysis and booked for a fallopian tube flush. Not much more we can do medically or diet / health wise which is why I'm wondering about acupuncture.

It depends what the problem is. If it’s egg or sperm quality then eating more fats (omega 3, fish, avocado whole dairy, real butter) along with co-enzyme q10 (for egg issues) will help. If it’s do with implantation then acupuncture may help calm the uterus so it allows the embryo to implant. But this assumes you have never been pregnant. If you have a history of recurrent miscarriage or other health issues then it’s likely there is a specific problem but the tests haven’t found it yet

Thanks @Teddybear45
Never been pregnant, so assuming it's egg quality due to my age. DH is younger.
I currently take ubiquinol which is a more absorbent form of CoQ10 and eat loads of Omega rich foods like fish, nuts, avocados etc.
That's interesting about the possible implantation issues and the acupuncture perhaps helping with that.

I go to a specific fertility one who is apparently award winning (they get booked up months in advance which makes it difficult to get appointments at the right time of your cycle)

Mine also does a Chinese holistic bit as well so they see if your arm goes weak when going through a book of certain ailments and then depending on what you react to they make you hold these rods which warm up and emit certain frequencies to get rid of them - sounds like a complete load of bollocks I know and the first time I went I thought ttc really had sent me crazy! BUT I don't know how it works but I did react to certain conditions which actually makes sense given my medical history - the acupuncturist has also worked on muscle memory (2 ectopic surgeries) as well as emotional balance. Then she also does the needle points which supposedly increase progesterone levels, estrogen etc, to increase blood flow to uterus etc

I was very very sceptical but I went away afterwards and read up a bit about it and there is a lot of research which suggests that fertility acupuncture can be beneficial

Sounds really fascinating @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted can I ask the name of the clinic? I'm in London.