What helped you fall pregnant? Tips for TTC

[CheeseSammich]

We’re currently going into out 8th month of TTC and wondering what worked for you/what you’re currently doing to try and get pregnant or if you did anything different the month you fell. Are there any vitamins you would recommend for both me and DP? Are the clear blue digital ovulation tests better than regular ones? We’re thinking of getting preseed but not sure if it’s worth it.. any tips really. TIA x

I had TTC 4yrs and nothing. I left a stressful job, DH stopped smoking and we both lost 10kg. I got BFP the next month! We were both in the overweight category before weight loss, and I moved into the upper end of the 'healthy' range when initially pregnant. I can only assume a combination of several things helped that month.

I'd read about lycopene improving sperm quality. I only found a small amount of info, and nothing specifically on the dose, but DH now takes a multivitamin with lycopene in it. It takes several months to see a difference apparently. He had 2nd semen analysis recently and it was all normal, whereas the 1st one was slightly under the expected amount and 1 reading was only 35 instead of 40.

I never got a positive on any urine ovulation test- despite scans and blood tests showing I do indeed ovulate. I got a re-usable saliva style ovulation kit. Mine is called 'Maybe baby' but you can buy other brands online. Its like a tiny microscope. You put saliva on the end, wait for it to dry then look at the 'shapes', Blobs means you aren't ovulating whereas fern like shapes mean peak. I have now been TTC 9yrs, with 3 losses, so that has been far more economical that buying urine sticks every month!

DH and I both reduced our sugar intake for the month before we finally conceived DS. Could have been a coincidence of course, but there is scientific evidence showing a relationship between sugar and fertility problems.

I agree with the last comment r.e stress. My husband and I never actively tried because he'd had a vasectomy reversal and we couldn't handle the stress of negative after negative tests. We were told the success rate would be very low as he'd had the vasectomy for such a long time prior to the reversal. So for 6 years we were unprotected... around point of ovulation because that's when I fancied it most ;) Then suddenly I changed jobs (way less stress) and started to feel amazing within a few months. We fell pregnant.

@Elouera oh I've never heard of lycopene! I'll have to look into this. My DP is slightly underweight and struggles a lot to gain any weight so many be a contributing factor, and I'm on the lower end but in the healthy range. He's also a smoker but will be quitting next week which will hopefully help.

@BlueGreenYellowRed I never knew that about sugar intake actually. We do consume a lot of sugar though so this is good to know! Thank you

@RaN88 wow that's amazing that you fell pregnant considering! I agree though I think the stress from ttc can get too much sometimes and actually prevent it.

Loads of things I haven't heard so thank you all of you x

OP- Lycopene is naturally occurring pigment, similar to carotene. Its found in watermelons, grapefruit, papaya, tomatoes and other red coloured veg and fruit. Unlike the majority of vitamins which are destroyed by processing and heat, lycopene is actually higher in say ketchup or cooked tomatoes, compared to raw ones! Again, I couldn't find any specific info on what dose would help sperm quality so started DH on a multivitamin containing it.

You can buy lycopene as a stand alone supplement from say H&B, amazon, boots or incorporated into a multivitamin. For 3mths DH took Nutri Advance Multi vitamin for men from Amazon. They recently almost doubled the price though, so he changed this month to Opti-men multivitamin. The packet says to take 3 tabs a day, but that means it provides 300% the daily intake of many of the vitamins. I can't see the point of taking 3x the recommended amount of vitamins, when the vast majority are urinated out. He takes 1 per day, we eat a balanced diet and it also has lycopene in there.

I’d recommend Preseed. Worth a try. It helped us and it might help you.

I used both cheapie OV and the Clear Blue ones. Both have pros and cons. I liked getting the static smiling face, just irritated by the flashing ones!

Good luck.

Also, the book ‘Taking charge of your fertility’ is good

I’d been trying for 18 months and fell pregnant the month after having reflexology! Might just be a coincidence but 🤷‍♀️ might be worth a shot!

@Elouera this is really interesting thank you. I'll have a look at those vitamins. I'm currently getting DP to take multivitamins containing selenium and zinc which are supposed to help male fertility? But I'll try get him to start taking the lycopene alongside it. Never know it could help!

@Tobebythesea
I've always avoided the CB ovulation tests purely because they're more expensive and figured the cheaper ones would do the job the same but it's stressful figuring out if it's dark enough and comparing them to previous ones.. figured the static smiley would help a lot and is more simple. I've heard a lot of people say they fell pregnant after using preseed so it's worth a shot. I'll have a gander at that book also!

@OpticVA wow how interesting! I've heard that it can help mensturation/fertility. Something to keep in mind x

Beetroot. Might sound weird but tried for two and a half years and read about beetroot boosting fertility and I started having some evey day and got pregnant two months later.

Cliche but the months we didn't "try" we were successful. Both occasions I got pregnant (1 MC currently 39 weeks with 🌈) we had gone away for a night away had good food and plenty of wine and relaxed!

Following for tips. The only one i know that works is drink a glass of grapefruit juice once a day from your period until suspected ovulation and its supposed to help you produce more cm. Works for me but im waiting for my next period to try again for the 2nd cycle.

Gave up trying !

Was not expecting the beetroot and grapefruit ones! Loving all of these tips though!

Congratulations @MrsH497 on your pregnancy! I just wish I could relax about it all! x

@CheeseSammich it wasn't instant for us at all. I used the clearblue ovulation kit which I found easier than the cheap sticks. We tried Preseed but I wasn't convinced by it. We both had quite healthy lifestyles anyway, it is so hard to relax it really is but it will happen for you.

My friend always says to me it’s a number game so just have to give it the best shot possible. I recommend pregnacare and ubiquinol. Track your cycles via apps as well as tempting- you’d be surprised how o date varies from app to app. On top of this I use cbd opk. My cycle is 32 days there about and cbd recommends testing from cd 13 but I started from 11. Once it started flashing and about 2days from the earliest expected o date from the app, I tested both morning and afternoon. Sure enough it flashed.
We did dtd every 2-3 days. Once I got peak from cbd I did not dtd on that evening but the next morning.
All I can say is it worked for us.

@MrsH497 I haven't tried the CB ovulation tests yet but definitely going to try them this month. The regular dye ones stress me out a lot. Thank you for all your replies x

When I got pregnant with my first I was using cbd smiley face thingy to time it and had been for six months. The month I finally got pregnant I was going away for work and just had to give it a try before I left - about two days before smiley face. It is a bit of a running joke with DH that I was in Sweden when I ovulated and DS is very tall and blonde 🤣

For no. 2 I deliberately went for it early and got pregnant in the first month.

Folic acid
Regular excercise (nothing too intense)
Balanced diet
Wheatgrass - I had a glass of this every morning you can get it from Holland and barratt.

Hypnotherapy. Had tried and tried, and was about to start IVF. Then I read it could double conception rates, found someone who specialised in fertility, had two sessions and bingo! Quite miraculous.

The month I fell pregnant was the month I cut out caffeine and did the SMEP! I was also eating really healthy and taking seven seas conception vitamins. I'm convinced the no caffeine did it as I've heard a lot of others be successful too when cutting it out :)

We usually use a water based lubricant but I read that this can interfere with sperm so we ditched it and I got pregnant immediately.

Preseed, smep and I ditched the ovulation tests as I found them more stressful than useful. Tracked ovulation with temperature and checking CM. With my first, I had some acupuncture the month I conceived but could have been a coincidence. Good luck!

I can't recommend enough a book called 'it starts with the egg' it recommends lots of supplements in there. We took nearly all of them and partner was told to stop protein shakes immediately, apparently these are terrible for sperm.

We did loads of hiking and the doctor at the miscarriage clinic told us to eat as many antioxidants as possible which we did. BFP after 2 months, my strongest result yet and am currently 37 weeks, after 3 losses. Wishing you lots of luck! I think reading the book and doing everything I physically could made me feel slightly more in control too and therefore less anxious 👍👶

My trouble is dp is very difficult and is not open to change. He drinks too much vapes too much drinks coffee and energy drinks like they are going out of fashion and eats crap and only eats at night.

Is there any quick nice foods i can introduce to him to make things a little better.