Trying to conceive isn’t always straightforward, I’m sure many of you would agree! Luckily, there are many ways that we can help to boost our chances of becoming pregnant.

If you’re keen to expand your family but finding that it’s taking longer than you anticipated, you may want to consider making little changes before seeing a doctor for extra medical help. We asked the mummies in our online community for tips & advice on trying to conceive – we hope that this helps!

Look After Your Health

Many of our mummies have reported that taking vitamin and mineral supplements in the months prior to conception helped them to fall pregnant after trying for a while. Of course, we can’t prove that it was specifically the supplements that helped, but it’s certainly worth trying (as well as being good for an conceived baby)!

Chloe Lavan told us;

“I found out I had PCOS in November 2016 which was causing missing periods and also got ill a lot due to poor diet and anaemia. So I decided to take a combination of 6 different types of vitamins. This really helped regulate my periods and also felt really good in my health for the first time in ages. I didn’t exactly try to conceive but when I found out about my PCOS I stopped taking the pill as didn’t think it would happen without any sort of medical help. I fell pregnant in the June 2017 with a healthy baby boy and have a 10 week old girl who was also a surprise.”

She took calcium, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin D3, zinc, vitamin C with wild rose hips, and iron.

Weight Loss & Pregnancy

Myself and Bethany Collings strongly recommend weight loss as an effective way of improving your health and encouraging ovulation. We both have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), weight loss is fantastic for rebalancing hormones and regulating your cycle, even if you don’t have PCOS.

Tracking ovulation

Beth Squires recommended using an ovulation tracking app. This works by you inputting your average cycle length, and last period dates. The app will then calculate your ‘fertile phase’ and give you a rough estimate of your ovulation date. Having sex during this phase, which falls a few days either side of your estimated ovulation date, is an effective way to ensure sperm meets egg!

We love the Ovia app – search for it in iTunes or the Google Play Store.

Remove Unnecessary Stress

I’ll admit it, being told to ‘stop trying, just relax’ is one of the most annoying phrases someone struggling to conceive can be told! It’s so cliche and at times it can come across as flippant, but there is honestly a lot to be said for relaxing a little.

Halena Lister told us;

“My advice would be to start taking pregnancy vitamins as soon as you decide you want to start trying for a baby and try to relax about the whole thing. I think as soon as you start stressing about conceiving it makes it more difficult.”

We agree! Stress can impact your health negatively, meaning that your body is less likely to feel ready to accept a new pregnancy. Losing a lot of weight helped me to get pregnant, but I also attribute my pregnancy to going from stressful teacher training on three hours sleep a night, to a much more relaxed job where I felt at ease. I was pregnant within 4 weeks of leaving my teacher training course in November 2015, after years of gynaecological issues and zero ovulation.

Caitlin Macleod told us;

“Know when you’re ovulating but don’t obsess over it. The minute we stopped trying and thought sod it we’ll book a holiday and do some work on the house and try again in a few months – I got pregnant!”

Sods law! Caitlin’s story is definitely a great example of how stepping back and relaxing can help. A lot of couples booked in for IVF go through similar and find out that they’ve naturally conceived just before their first IVF appointment, ironically.

None of these ideas worked… What now?

If you’ve been trying to conceive for a year or more, you may be able to get some additional support. Book in with your GP and explain to them that you wish to have a baby but that your attempts have been unsuccessful. They should be able to refer you onward to the right specialists.