How to get pregnant naturally

10 August 2020

Amy

How to get pregnant naturally

If you want to get pregnant naturally, it’s important to understand a woman’s menstrual cycle. There are only a few days in the month in which you can get pregnant, these are the days leading up to and day of ovulation. Ovulation usually happens once a month as part of the menstrual cycle, and is when an egg is released from the ovaries. Once released, the egg lives for roughly 12-24 hours and it must be fertilised during this time by sperm for pregnancy to happen.

Day one of the cycle is on the first day of your period and as a general rule, the average cycle is 28 days and ovulation occurs on day 14. However, this is just a rough guide and these days can vary from woman to woman and from month to month. 

As sperm can live for up to 5 days inside a woman’s body, it can “wait” for the egg to be released. Therefore, you can still get pregnant if you have sex on the days leading up to ovulation.

If you want to get pregnant you should try to accurately calculate your personal menstrual cycle, there are tools and apps (such as Clue or Eve by Glow) that can help you do this. However, don’t limit having sex to just around the time of ovulation, keep sex with your partner enjoyable to stop yourself from worrying about getting pregnant, this will help limit stress. Read more on stress and fertility here.

How long does it take to get pregnant?

Generally, couples who have regular unprotected sex and are under 40:
– Around 8 out of 10 couples will get pregnant within a year
– Around 9 out of 10 couples will get pregnant within 2 years

Women become increasingly less fertile as they get older, from around the age of 35 your chances of getting pregnant slowly start to decline.

One study found that:
– 92% of couples aged 19 – 26 would get pregnant after 1 year
– 82% of couples aged 35 – 39 would get pregnant after 1 year

How to increase your chances of getting pregnant

One of the main things you can do to increase your fertility is to ensure you and your partner are in good health mentally and physically. There are a number of things you can do to help this and to help increase your chances of getting pregnant:

1. Stop using contraception – after using some contraceptive pills and injections your body may take some time to return to normal
2. Supplements –  taking supplements should never replace a healthy diet, however, if you are deficient in a particular vitamin, supplements can be helpful. Read our article on fertility supplements here.
3. Diet – good nutrition can help lay the foundation for fertility and healthy pregnancy. Ensuring you have a balanced diet full of good protein sources, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats is important. Read our full article on the fertility diet here.
4. Exercise & weight – it’s important to ensure you maintain a healthy weight when trying to conceive. Exercise is an important way to keep yourself healthy and a sedentary lifestyle is linked to a higher risk of infertility. Read our article on weight and fertility here.
5. Stop smoking & drinking – Smoking and alcohol consumption have both been associated with taking longer to get pregnant and other infertility issues. Read our article on smoking and fertility here.
6. Sperm-friendly lubricant – Vaginal dryness is very common and normal, so sometimes it may be necessary to use a lubricant. However, it’s important to use the right one as there are some ingredients such as petroleum, propylene glycol, glycerin, parabens, silicone, and Nonoxynol-9 (sometimes abbreviated as N-9, which can affect sperm motility. 

Here at The Evewell, we are fertility experts with 20+ years of experience, if you are considering getting pregnant we are here to help! Please get in touch, you can call us on 020 3974 0950 or email us at appointments@evewell.com.