One of our esteemed partner clinics, Laurel Fertility Care, is responsible for making our April IVF giveaway possible! They offered $19,000 towards IVF treatment for a lucky couple or individual. The winner of this prize, announced on April 16th, 2022, is Diana S. from California.
Laurel Fertility Care has four San Francisco, Modesto, Fresno, and Oakland, California. Their team is dedicated to providing the best fertility support and care possible. The knowledgeable staff and highly credentialed medical and lab directors have achieved remarkable success rates. Here are their top tips for those trying to conceive.
5 Tips For Those Trying To Conceive
If you are trying to get pregnant without much success, you are probably frustrated. You may wonder, “What is wrong with me?” Feeling defeated and resentful towards your body is normal and completely valid. Working through your emotions about your infertility is crucial for your mental health, and we recommend finding a trusted source to talk to. Additionally, these five health tips may be beneficial if you’re trying to conceive.
Stop Smoking
Smoking is bad for your overall health, including your immune system, your cancer risk, your dental health, and more. Smoking is also detrimental to your reproductive health. Smoking cigarettes can, “affect the ability of a fertilized egg to implant, the quality of the eggs themselves and can often times negatively impact the growing embryo after pregnancy is achieved,” according to Laurel Fertility experts.
Recent research also shows that smoking can affect sperm quality in men as well. And no, smoking marijuana is not any better! Avoid that too.
Reduce Alcohol Consumption
Although drinking a glass of red wine occasionally isn’t horrible for your health, drinking more than a few drinks per night is damaging to your reproductive health. Research suggests that consuming more than two drinks a day may decrease fertility rates and increase the time it takes for a couple to conceive.
Laurel Fertility clinicians echo that statement saying, “Because the amount of alcohol that it is safe for an individual to consume during and before pregnancy is unknown, our fertility specialists advise that those trying to conceive refrain from consuming alcohol in excess.”
Avoid Some Prescription Medications
While abruptly stopping prescription medications is never advised, there are several types of prescription pills that can hamper your ability to conceive. Medications for acne, blood clotting, hypertension, and epilepsy may impede your ability to conceive. It’s important to be aware of which medications affect fertility and to work closely with your care team to devise a new medication strategy.
The team at Laurel Fertility is here to help. “Our reproductive specialists [can] guide you through the process of weaning off of certain medications that may affect your fertility treatments and achieving pregnancy.”
Connect with the Laurel Fertility Care team by scheduling a consultation below!
Nix The Red Meat
If you’re trying to conceive you may want to put down that hamburger, at least for a while. Red meat has been shown to affect embryo implantation and pregnancy rates. Current research suggests that high consumption of red and processed meats, such as beef, bacon, hot dogs, and sausage, are likely dietary contributors to infertility for people of all genders.
Eating a more plant-based diet is great for reproductive, and overall health.
“Additionally, we recommend avoiding foods that are high in saturated fats and cholesterol. They can increase unhealthy weight gain and the risk for miscarriage early on in the pregnancy. Low-fat dairy, high-mercury fish, and deli meats should all also be avoided to maintain a healthy weight with limited fat intake,” says the Laurel Fertility team.
Do Some Yoga
Lastly, reduce your stress to increase your odds of conceiving. Laurel Fertility experts say that “stress can cause hormonal shifts that may impact your ovulation and fertility.”
Although eliminating stress is an impossible task, there are many things you can do to manage or reduce it like yoga, journaling, acupuncture, or meditation.
Many couples struggle to conceive and do not have the means to seek treatment. At The Gift of Parenthood organization, we look forward to a future of more affordable and successful fertility treatment options for those struggling. In the meantime, we aim to help couples and individuals struggling with infertility achieve their dreams of becoming parents through monthly grant giveaways. We are honored to partner with Laurel Fertility to make parenthood possible for those struggling.
