Do you think diet has alot to do with sucessfully concieving?

[riximama16]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and have a gorgeous 26 month old DD who is still breastfed and loves it! My Hubby and I have been trying to concieve since my cycles started again in October so this is going onto cycle no 3. I was just wondering if what you eat can effect your fertility? I am a vegaterian, eat only wholewheat carbs, I do love chocolate, diet coke and red wine (the odd glass) I know this could be effecting my fertility, is there anything you have done to your diet to make it more conceiving friendly? I would love to hear from you! I have not yet ovulated (I dont think as I have not had any signs of ovulation) may be just my cycles going back to normal after 26 months!!!

I would love to hear from you.

xxx

[anyalily]

I would ditch the diet coke, I have heard caffeine can play a role, and the fake sugar cannot be good... 

I think diet is involved to the extent that it should be supporting you to be as healthy as possible. When we started TTC, I started taking prenatals, quit caffeine (so so so hard for me but I am glad once I am done with it) and I do still drink small amounts of beer and wine 1-3 times per week, if I feel like it, but I don't have more than one drink in a day.

Remember that plenty of women get pregnant on crappy diets, and many women with superlative diets have fertility challenges... Of course, being underweight or overweight has a proven connection with fertility issues.

Good luck!

[Jaimee]

Welcome to MDC!! 

Diet can absolutely affect your fertility.  But I seriously doubt that the odd diet coke and glass of wine are doing anything.  What plays in more to fertility is your weight and the nutrients that you are getting.  For example, a lot of vegetarians are low on vitamins like B complex, and could do with a supplement of B6 and B12 especially.  Making sure that you are not over or under weight is important as estrogen and progesterone are both stored in fat.  So taking a look at your caloric and fat intake as well as your exercise routine couldn't hurt.

But honestly, you're still breastfeeding and that is probably the biggest factor affecting your fertility at this point.  Even though my cycles resumed at 8 months postpartum with my first, they were not fertile again until my dd cut way back on her nursing and night weaned a full 2 years postpartum.  So it took my cycles 16 months to regulate once they resumed.  Every woman is different.

To find out what is happening with your cycles, I highly recommend charting your basal body temperature and cervical fluid.  This will tell you when you are fertile, if/when you ovulate, how long your luteal phase is (the time between O and AF- it is generally agreed that you need at least 10 non-spotting days to sustain a pregnancy), when to test, when to expect AF, if you're pregnant and if there is anything of concern happening with your cycle.  If you'd like more information about charting, just post!  Good luck!

[DoubleDouble]

Take all super-diets and no-no recommendations with a grain of salt. I dealt with infertility for 6+ years and conceived after months of drinking lots of coffee every day. (Stressful job, almost had coffee on IV drip.)

I was also underweight (and my mom conceived me when she was underweight.)

Good diet can't hurt, eating well has never harmed anyone, just don't think it will be all end all.

Edited by DoubleDouble - 11/29/11 at 12:11pm