How important is nutrition for IVF - worth delaying cycle to prepare?

[Steenac72]

Hi all

We’ve been very bad recently enjoying alcohol, sweets etc general run up to Christmas stuff. We’re going on holiday for Christmas so that’ll be meals out wine and cocktails. From the day we get home till expected egg collection is 8 weeks. Everything I’ve read says 3 months preparation. We’ll be going on good quality supplements no alcohol no caffeine ene fertility foods etc for the two months before but should we delay the cycle a month to get the full 3 months of prep?

To be honest no matter whether I've had 3 months of healthy eating or 3 months of not hasn't changed the outcome - cut out the alcohol and caffeine and diet soft drinks and you'll be fine x

Don't delay. The evidence around the effectiveness of diet is very weak in relation to IVF outcomes (as opposed to BMI which does make a difference).

I took no supplements at all during our treatment and just ate normally (which for me is neither particularly healthy or unhealthy, and included caffeine and alcohol), our 2nd cycle was successful.

I chose not to cut anything out of my diet while TTC. My logic being that my fertility tests had been good based on my normal diet and it didn't seem sensible to cut things out that my body is accustomed to having.

I made sure I didn't go mad on caffeine or alcohol but still had 2 coffees a day and a couple of glasses of wine on evenings out.

I did up my intake of a few good foods like spinach, avocado, omega 3 fish a bit and I started adding cayenne pepper to cooking where it went with the recipe (aids blood flow).

I have been being super healthy since September however, during the festive period i have decided to let it go. We are starting Ivf in Feb and my consultant encouraged me to relax and not to worry about what I eat over Christmas. I considered delaying too but as pp have said there is little of evidence of it making much difference.

My best cycle yet (egg quality wise) was after me not cutting wine out, eating what i wanted..

Its luck of the draw in my opinion. Id relax, enjoy christmas.

I agree with softscoop.

I tried to eat lots of protein though when actually doing the stims. eg switched to eggs for breakfast in the week which I wouldn’t normally do.

The only evidence is high protein and limited snacks due to insulin and egg maturity. Apart from that just take the supplements and chill!

I think the best way to look at it is psychologically. If you do your cycle after 2 months and the outcome is poor are you going to blame yourself? If you are then wait that extra month. If not then just go as planned.
We've just had a failed cycle and my consultant wants us to have a 3 month break with nutritionalist imput in that time

I was lucky enough to be successful on my first Ivf attempt...I did stop all alcohol and caffeine but otherwise ate the same rubbish diet I usually do 😓 but did make an effort to eat more fruit and veg on top of my usual cakes biscuits etc.

Bit as pp said...I think I would have maybe blamed myself / my poor diet if it hadn't have worked

On four cycles of IUI I actually got a BFP on all four but lost the first three at various stages between 5-11 weeks. My diet was different each time.

The one that stuck and was a successful pregnancy, I had a large glass of wine the evening before the IUI procedure. I then went on holiday to France and ate steak that was still a bit pink in the middle and drank a small glass of wine on a couple of occasions whereas I’d abstained on cycle 3 which was a MC. Do I think alcohol is the answer? Most definitely not! It’s nice for us to think we have control on our chances by changing our diet but unless you’re changing your diet from one built on fast food and alcohol to a super duper varied diet with tons of veg and fish and vitamin B I really can’t see it makes much of a difference.

Do what feels right for you.

I do believe keeping well hydrated with water is worthwhile though!

Thanks everyone. Decided to go ahead and not wait the extra month - our diet in terms of food is good - salmon several times a week, leafy greens, avocado, seeds, protein yoghurts etc it’s just we’ve been having a lot of sweets crisps and wine on top of that but I guess the foundation is there. I’m going to get strict again with supplements for now but enjoy the holiday and then put in the effort come Jan so I don’t feel guilty for the cycle (plus I could do with losing some weight too!) thanks for all the helpful and reassuring replies.

Hope everyone gets to enjoy some downtime over Christmas too!