Up-to-date information about optimizing natural fertility

1. Fun Facts about
Fertility

2. Fertility
– Fertility: the capacity to produce a child
– About 80% of couples will produce a child in the first 6
months of attempting pregnancy
– Monthly fecundability ( the probability of pregnancy per
month) is greatest in the first 3 months

3. Infertility
– The failure to achieve a successful pregnancy after 12
months or more of regular unprotected intercourse or
exposure to sperm
– Earlier investigation and treatment may be indicated in
women over 35 years of age, after 6 months of
unprotected intercourse

4. Frequency of Intercourse
– Intervals of abstinence greater than 5 days may adversely affect
sperm counts
– In a study of 10,000 semen specimens sperm concentrations and
motility remain normal with daily ejaculations. Therefore, frequent
ejaculation does not decrease male fertility.
– In men with oligozoospermia, sperm concentration and motility
may be highest with daily ejaculation.

5. WHO 2010: new normal values
based on men with proven fertility

6. Fertility Window: 6 day interval
ending on the day of ovulation

7. The Fertile Window
– Conception is possible from intercourse beginning 5 days
before ovulation extending through the day of ovulation.
Conception on the day after ovulation has never been
documented.
– The egg may be fertilizable in vivo for less than a day
because spermatozoa can survive for up to 6 days in
properly estrogenized cervical mucus.

8. Changes in
cervical
mucus

9. Billings Method: before ovulation
– Changes in cervical and vaginal mucus
– 5 to 6 days before ovulation, estrogen is secreted in
increasing amounts from the developing ovarian follicle;
Type E mucus is produced by the cervix, which is
biochemically and biophysically designed to facilitate the
transport and survival of sperm within the cervix

10. Billings Method: after ovulation
– After ovulation progesterone is secreted causing the cervix to
secrete Type G mucus, which is designed to block the passage and
survival of spermatozoa.

12. Coital Practices
– Sperm deposited at the cervix at midcycle are found within
the fallopian tubes within 15 minutes. Sperm travers the
fallopian tube and are expelled into the peritoneal cavity.
– There is no evidence that coital position affects fecundability.
– Some vaginal lubricants may decrease fertility, including K-Y
Jelly.

13. Diet and Lifestyle
– Fertility rates are decreased in women who are very obese or very
thin.
– There is little evidence that special diets can increase fertility, such
as vegetarian diets, low-fat diets, vitamin-enriched diets or herbal
remedies.
– Women trying to conceive should be advised to take a folic acid
supplement of at least 400 mcg daily to reduce the risk for neural
tube defects.

14. Smoking Cigarettes
– Smoking decreases fertility in women and may have a detrimental
effect in men as well. Smoking may increase the rate of depletion
of ovarian follicles.
– Smoking is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage.
– Although decreases in sperm density and motility and
abnormalities in sperm morphology have been observed in men
who smoke, available date do not demonstrate conclusively that
smoking decreases male fertility.

15. Alcohol
– The effect of alcohol on female fertility has not been clearly established. One
study in Stockholm observed that the risk of infertility was significantly
increased, but a study in the Netherlands suggested that time to conception
was shorter for women who drink wine than for women who consume no
alcohol.
– Alcohol consumption should stop altogether during pregnancy because alcohol
has well-documented detrimental effects on fetal development, and no “safe”
level of alcohol consumption has been established.
– In men, alcohol consumption has no adverse effect on semen paameters.

16. Caffeine