Deciding to have a baby is an exciting time, a life changing decision bringing hope for the future and picturing ourselves as parents.

Many women fall pregnant easily however for some it is more of a challenge. Suddenly all around you it feels like every other woman is pregnant, what is happening with your body? Why isn’t it happening for you?

Firstly it’s important to remember that 90% of couples will fall pregnant within 2 years. You have more chance of falling pregnant then not. However, there are some areas to think about.

When our body is working in harmony, we are more likely to fall pregnant. Before you start trying to conceive or whilst you are trying, view this time as a positive period where you can prepare your body for your baby, the same way we externally prepare by decorating a nursery, buying a car seat and baby items, we must reset our bodies.

Stress

Increased stress disrupts our hormones it can lengthen your cycle or stop periods altogether, sometime this stress is the stress of trying to get pregnant and this can be difficult to manage.

Focusing on reducing stress by getting enough sleep, having time away from work and screen free time will help. Try and do activities that bring you pleasure, bonus points if it’s an activity that gets you moving and takes place outside.

Spend time with people who make you smile, who make you laugh and give you that warm feeling.  These people are ‘radiators’ and will reduce stress and make you feel uplifted. The other group of people who put excess pressure on you, criticise you and stop you fulfilling your goals are ‘hoovers’. They may make you feel guilty, less worthy and make you question yourself. Its not always possible, but try and minimise your time with the ‘hoovers’ and maximise ‘radiator’ time.

Movement

Sometimes this stress is caused by excessive physical training. If you are struggling to become pregnant and are training hard every it is worth stepping back and adding back in some rest days Also looking at the type of exercise you are doing and replacing some sessions with more restorative activities such as yoga, Pilates or Thai Chi.

If we are struggling with irregular periods, we need to try and regulate our cycle. If we are carrying excess weight this can cause an irregular cycle and affect our ability to conceive. We also know that being overweight during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, gestational diabetes and high blood pressure and birth complications. There are big incentives to use this time to our bodies healthier and able to provide a healthy pregnancy for you and your baby.

Food

By eating a real food diet, low in processed carbohydrates ( Bread/pasta/rice/cereals/crackers) and cutting out sugar we will enable our weight and hormones to normalise. Real food is also full of the right nutrients that our body needs to conceive and feed our pregnant body and baby.

It’s important to supplement your diet with vitamin D3 ( minimum 1000IU a day) and  Vitamin B9. Vitamin B9 is also known as folate or the synthetic form is called folic acid and is what is contained in most pre natal supplements. Guidance advises 400mcg a day or 5mg if your BMI is >30 or there is a family history of spina bifida. The more natural B9 – folate is more easily absorbed and can be found in some supplements, it is known aslevomefolic acid or 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF).