How to Get Your Body Baby Ready Before You’re Ready to Try
Why should you think about fertility before you are ready to try?
We know that everyone is TTC later than in years before. Egg freezing, IVF, IUI’s, and natural fertility solutions are now more and more mainstream. And it makes sense! We are graduating with record amounts of college debt, finding the right job takes time, and finding love in the age of online dating can take longer, too.
For women, there are significant reasons to wait as it can influence their income throughout their future significantly, whereas for men having a family doesn’t.
I have a daughter in kindergarten and we don’t watch much Disney, but when we do, I am awestruck by what I didn’t notice as a kid: everything goes perfectly after you find “the one” and get married. First, as any one who is in a serious relationship ready for a kid will tell you, that’s far from the truth. Second, Disney princesses are so focused on finding “a man,” that they don’t seem to focus on what is important to them—their health, their happiness, their finances, and their future plan.
It’s never too early to start a natural fertility program to help your body be healthy
I have a few clients who are in their 20s and focusing on getting their body baby ready for when the time comes to have a kid. They are either single, not sure their guy is the “life partner,” still going back to grad school, or actively building their careers. Yet, each of these women have read about some of the side-effects of long term birth control use and realized they want to address the underlying issues with their menstrual cycles naturally instead of just being on the pill to fix a symptom such as acne or menstrual irregular cycles.
These clients have embarked on our fertility coaching program and overhauled their lifestyle. One client had very short periods when we started (periods that are too short can make it harder to get pregnant and stay pregnant), and her periods are now average length. A second client who had PCOS always got migraines with her period. At 28, she had been on the pill for almost 10 years. When she read the book Beyond the Pill, she realized she wanted to get off the pill and explore the root cause of her PCOS and migraines. One year later, with detailed functional testing and completing the coaching program, she has regular periods, no symptoms related to PCOS, and has identified foods that triggered her migraines. She is still years away from having a baby and just made a big move to another state for a job. But, she’s ready.
Why start taking care of your body before wanting a baby
How you live now impacts your health and your fertility later—even years later—and being healthy before pregnancy is just as vital for the development of a healthy baby.
Studies have shown that lifestyle choices made during the years before can have a major effect on both women and their infants. These lifestyle factors, such as alcohol consumption and smoking, are among the most commonly known for issues that can occur if partaken during pregnancy. However, usage can negatively alter hormones by increasing estradiol, testosterone, and LH levels. Heavy alcohol use can also decrease ovarian reserve and physiological possibilities for becoming pregnant. Evidence shows that alcoholism can also cause women to begin experiencing menopause at an earlier age.
Why your nutrition is important long before you want to get pregnant
It’s not just about smoking, alcohol and medication. How you eat long before you want a baby matters.
Nutrient deficits can alter the quality of reproductive cells. This can subsequently harm a future embryo’s mental and physical development. To reduce risks, women should aim to have an appropriate body storage of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and other essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) before pregnancy.
This can be achieved by consuming less processed food products and more whole foods. Most people think that they eat enough food, so their nutrition must be good enough, right? Yet, suboptimal or low vitamin status comes up more than I would expect. This can be due to a number of reasons such as eating certain foods and excluding others out of habit or preference, any kind of “diet”, overcooking food, alcohol consumption—which interferes with the absorption of nutrients—taking medications including the pill, and acid-blockers.
Yet, my experience in the coaching practice has shown me otherwise and it’s worth getting a good nutrition work-up well before you want to get pregnant because it takes awhile to rebuild, store nutrients, and rebalance the body. This can take from months to over a year. The nutrition plan that is right for you is based on your health history, genetics, individual health needs, and goals. What worked for a cousin or friend in terms of diet is likely not the best fit for you.
Why an irregular period may be a symptom of a health problem that taking the pill can mask
Many younger women may use birth control medications for acne, irregular periods, PMS, and preventing pregnancy. These methods, including implants, patches, ring, shots, and the pill contain synthetic hormones to disrupt the body’s natural production. Higher than normal levels of estrogen and progestin stop the ovary from releasing an egg to prevent sperm from having an egg to fertilize. They also cause changes to the cervical mucus, making it thicker to prevent sperm from finding its way into the uterus. The birth control pill has been revolutionary in preventing unwanted pregnancy. However, short term and long term side effects can occur and it seems like there needs to be more awareness of the side effects. In functional medicine, there is an interest in looking at all the possible changes that can occur in the body with the pill. There can be emotional changes, such as an increase in feelings of anxiety and depression.There can be physical changes in body composition, such as breast size and weight fluctuation. Birth control can also lead to health conditions, such as blood clotting and migraines. A common side effect of the pill is low-libido and yeast infections. If you want to get pregnant, it’s worth it to take time to figure out what symptom the pill is helping with and how that symptom can impact your fertility. The books, “The Fifth Vital Sign” or “Beyond the Pill” both have really good information on what to know on the issue of the pill and women’s health.
Getting pregnant after the Pill
While some women may have success in getting pregnant sooner after stopping contraceptives, for others it may take much longer than anticipated. While it can reportedly take several months for a woman's body to return to their normal patterns that “normal pattern” might be what was masking a problem that is important for fertility such as failure to ovulate, irregular periods, etc. This difficulty can be severely discouraging and stressful for a couple who is ready to become parents at that time. This is why getting your body rebalanced and optimized is something you want to do long before the moment you decide it’s time to try to have a baby.
Lifestyle change long before TTC
Getting your body baby-ready isn’t as simple as eating better and rebalancing your hormones. As advancements in understanding the mind and body connection are being made in modern medicine, many women and couples are seeking to take a more holistic approach in their everyday lives. This can mean learning information about preventative and future care as well as seeing functional practitioners that look at all aspects of well-being. With growing awareness of the detriments of stress, management techniques like meditation and movement are being practiced on a routine basis. Both have shown to improve antiinflammatory responses, mood, and metabolism. All of this matters.
As I have mentioned before, there are quite a few changes that we work with clients to make in their 8-step coaching program. These include nutrition and functional medicine, sleep, detoxing your home and personal care, exercise, and individual testing and fertility care program. All of this is covered in our coaching program.
While you may think having a baby is a long way off—or you’re not sure—just know that it comes up faster than you expect. Even if you are not quite ready for that big leap in deciding to try for a baby, there are critical ways that women in their 20s and 30s can begin to prepare in advance for more ease and joy in getting pregnant.
Having a stressful fertility journey of not being able to conceive, or stay pregnant, or being on a very tight time schedule due to age, can be overwhelming and further reduce your chances. Yet, if your body is baby-ready, the only side effect you’ll have is…better health! You are worth the investment and so is your future family.
Confused on where to start and how to put together a lifestyle plan to help your health with fertility? Join our coaching program.
The Simplina Full Fertility Functional Medicine & Coaching Program is 4 months for 8 total sessions. You and your partner (if they want to join) have a coaching session every two weeks. This customized functional medicine fertility plan will help you both improve your health status in ways to specifically increase pregnancy odds step-by-step with the support you need.