How to Plan for Successful Preconception
So you’ve decided that you’d like to start a family. This can be an exciting time. It can also raise many questions and concerns. Many patients ask, “what can I do to prepare? What do I need to know?” In most traditional medicine settings, you will likely be advised in two forms - one: to get off your birth control if applicable, and two: to start taking a prenatal vitamin.
However, there are actually a lot more things that you and your partner can do to increase your chances of having a healthy pregnancy. Your eggs take 120 days to mature, so the four months before conception are essential for optimizing fertility. Your body requires support for a successful pregnancy, and the process should start at the beginning of an egg’s life cycle. Let’s not also forget about increasing sperm quality as well. Many male partners are unaware that their actions also affect the sperm they are donating to this
From a Functional Medicine Doctor Perspective - What Can You Do?
Taking prenatal vitamins is, of course, a good idea. Getting the proper level of vitamins your body requires for pregnancy is critical to the success of the preconception and conception stages. The prenatal vitamin that an integrative medicine doctor chooses will contain methylated B vitamins. This folate is ready to be used by your body and doesn’t need to be converted first. This step is especially essential for people with MTHFR genetic variants. Regardless of your status with MTHFR, everyone planning to get pregnant should include methylated folate into their diet, as well as leafy greens, which are also high in folate. Your vitamins should also include DHA or an omega-3 fatty acid that helps with your baby’s brain development. It can be found in fatty fish like salmon. Investing in a high-quality prenatal vitamin in this phase is essential.
Next, assess your caffeine intake. How many milligrams of caffeine are you taking in daily? Studies show that high caffeine intake is correlated with increased rates of early miscarriage. While you don’t necessarily need to give up caffeine altogether, switching from coffee to tea or limiting yourself to one cup of coffee per day is highly recommended by holistic health professionals. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that pregnant women limit their caffeine consumption to less than 200 mg per day.
In addition to limiting caffeine, you may want to eliminate alcohol completely. Sadly, while it is a popular idea that drinking small amounts of alcohol during the latter trimesters of pregnancy is harmless, studies still show that no amount of alcohol is safe for the development of your baby. Alcohol readily crosses the placenta, with fetal blood alcohol levels approaching maternal levels within two hours of maternal intake. Alcohol is a known teratogen that can impact fetal growth and development during all stages of pregnancy. The current recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Center for Disease Control (CDC), Surgeon General, and medical societies from other countries, including the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, all recommend complete abstinence during pregnancy. In a way, I consider this time of pregnancy and pre-pregnancy to prepare for the 4th trimester–the newborn phase of life. Whatever you can do to set yourself up for success in this period is essential.
The preconception phase is an excellent time to assess for toxic exposures and exposure to potential endocrine disruptors. The self-care products you use on your skin, the plastics in your kitchen, chemical cleaning products, and any scented products in your home are all likely to contain toxins harmful to you, your developing fetus, and eventually your baby. Endocrine disruptors can mimic hormones and trick your body into gaining weight, and can negatively affect estrogen levels. To learn more about detoxifying your daily life, check out our blog post here.
Your body is about to embark on an incredible journey - resting is key for preconception and pregnancy stages. A good night's sleep of 7-8 hours will provide your body with the proper amount of rest and recovery that is essential for housing another human. Yoga and meditation can also be useful tools to reduce stress and reset your body. Stress has various effects on you and can shut down your sex hormone production completely – that’s why it’s so common to have missed periods or heavier periods during stressful times of your life. In fight-or-flight, your body will naturally halt the production of estradiol and progesterone, both necessary for proper ovulation. Take a deep breath, rest, and relax whenever possible.
Another variable that can affect fertility is body weight. Adipose tissue makes and stores estrogen, which at imbalanced levels, can alter your ovulation and cycle. Excess body weight can be harmful to preconception and pregnancy as well.
To ensure you are on the right track to a successful and healthy pregnancy, your functional health doctor will likely recommend blood work before you begin. Bloodwork can provide information about potential nutritional deficiencies, thyroid function(essential for a healthy pregnancy), and other hormone levels. The four months prior to conception are a great time to work on creating balance, optimizing nutrition, and instilling habits that may make pregnancy easier.
Seek out the best functional medicine doctors Denver by clicking back to our home page to start your preconception journey and get a plan tailored to your needs.
