Have you been trying to get pregnant? Are you wondering if you’re doing things the right way? If you answered yes to these questions, here are 9 common mistakes you might probably make or are already making while trying to conceive.
9 Likely Mistakes Of People Trying To Conceive
1. Clinging To Unhealthy Habits
It’s important to ensure that you don’t neglect your general health apart from ensuring good reproductive health. If you’re looking to get pregnant, you obviously need to put a stop to unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking. Cut down on caffeine and artificial sweeteners. Also, ensure that your diet is well balanced and healthy. This is important to keep your weight steady and prevent it from fluctuating too much – being too skinny or extremely overweight is likely to cause problems.
2. Timing Ovulation Incorrectly
A woman’s menstrual cycle is expected to last for 28 days, which means ovulation should occur on day 14. However, the cycle doesn’t stay the same for every woman and may vary every month. So, yours may either be shorter or longer than the expected cycle.
A simple method to estimate your ovulation is to count back 14 days from the day you started your period. This is likely to give you your ovulation date. That said, this method may work better if you have relatively regular cycles. You may also notice an increase in an egg-white-like discharge a few days before ovulation. Many women miss this indication and tend to mistake their normal discharge as a sign of ovulation.
3. Getting Naughty Only When You Think You’re Ovulating
Even if your cycle is fairly regular, chances are you may not ovulate on the day you think you will. Instead, you may ovulate either a few days before or a few days after your predicted ovulation date. Also, fertilization can occur only for about 24 hours after ovulation and the sperm may live up to 3–5 days in your body. So, if you’re looking to increase your chances of conceiving, you might want to start having sex 4–6 days before your estimated ovulation date and continue till 4–6 days after. This way, your chances of missing your ovulation date will be lower and you won’t have to wait another month before attempting to conceive again. That said, don’t limit yourself to just this period, especially if you want to have sex just because of this.
4. Indulging In Extremely Frequent Sex
While having too little sex is a problem, having sex too often may also spell trouble for you. If you indulge in hanky panky too often, your man’s sperm count is likely to reduce, which can take a few days to go up. Not just that, having sex too often is also more likely to make sex feel like a chore and both of you may lose interest when the time comes. So, you’re better off having sex every other day a few days before ovulation and a few days after.
5. Sticking To One Position Or Trying Too Many
If you’re sticking to just one position or mixing it up aplenty thinking either will help you conceive faster, you’re mistaken. Whether you want to stick to the standard missionary, throw your legs up in the air, or bend over, you can go ahead if you’re doing this just for fun. The position you take has no role to play in whether or not you conceive. This is simply because the man’s sperm goes directly toward the egg in the fallopian tube when he ejaculates. And this happens in a span of just a few seconds. So, you have all the freedom to go the conventional way or mix it all up.
6. Using Lubricants
Think twice before using lube when you’re trying to get pregnant. Lubricants are said to negatively affect sperm movement, making it much harder for the sperm to reach the egg. If you absolutely need lube, try natural, sperm-friendly ones like olive oil, vegetable oil, or baby oil.
7. Assuming The Woman Is The Problem
More often than not, couples tend to assume the woman is the one with fertility problems. However, close to 40% of the time, the man is likely to be the one with fertility issues. If you haven’t been able to conceive even after a year of trying and are under 35, both you and your partner might want to see the doctor at the earliest.
8. Not Trying Early Enough
While you may have a bunch of things to do before you consider having a baby, ensure you that don’t delay it for too long. If you’re looking to have a child and are ready for it, go ahead and start trying. The ability to conceive is said to drop by half between the ages of 20 and 40.
9. Seeing A Doctor Too Soon Or Too Late
Ensure that you spend enough time trying before you see a doctor. It easily takes up to a year to conceive if you’re below 35 and don’t have health problems that may come in the way. That said, if your menstrual cycle is incredibly short or incredibly long or either of you has a history of sexually transmitted diseases, you may want to visit your doctor soon and rule out any problems.
Avoid making these mistakes if you’re trying to conceive to be blessed with your bundle of joy soon.
