We all know that the average age of a first time mom is increasing but what if that’s you? What can you do to prepare your body for pregnancy if your TTC after 35? Despite what friends and even your doctor may tell you, don't take a wait and see approach to your fertility after 35. While it’s true that more women than ever are getting pregnant after 35, it’s also true that more women (and men) than ever are experiencing infertility. While you don’t have to rush to see a fertility doctor you should start to actively establish what your fertility health is NOW and work on things in your control to improve it.
Establish if you’re reproductive system is healthy by getting basic physical and blood panel done, a hormone panel and an extended thyroid panel which includes tsh, t4 and also six additional thyroid values: Free T3, Free T4, Total T3, Reverse T3, anti Thyroglobulin Ab, and anti TPO Ab. This will establish an important baseline if you experience infertility later in your journey. Most of this is usually covered by insurance.
Take a hard look at your lifestyle choices and diet which all have a significant impact on your fertility. Are you a healthy weight? Do you eat mostly whole foods and skip the processed foods? Do you drink more water than anything else? All of this, while basic, has a huge impact on your hormone regulation and health. If the answer to any of these is “no” then come up with a plan to make small changes which again can have a big impact. This counts for your partner too! Talk to them about making better choices for your reproductive health.
Supplement! Supplements only count if they’re quality, whole food supplements, otherwise than can be doing more harm than good. Synthetic supplements are poorly absorbed (meaning a big waste of money) but worse than that they can cause hormone issues themselves because of their impact on your liver and kidneys, which play a huge role in your hormone/reproductive health. Start with these 3 basics that are helpful to most people
1) Good quality refrigerated probiotic with as many individual strains as you can.
2) A whole food prenatal vitamin that isn’t a gummy and doesn’t contain dyes or artificial sweeteners. Make sure it includes folate and NOT folic acid which is a synthetic form of folate and methylcobalamin NOT cynocabalamin which is synthetic B vitamin.
3)Magnesium Complex. If you are eating a diet that includes dairy it’s very likely that you aren’t getting enough magnesium to help digest it. Most Americans are magnesium deficient and eating a diet high in dairy without enough magnesium causes an inflammation response in the body. It will also help with your sleep, concentration and bowel function.
If you’re looking for more helpful tips on the how and why to supplement for fertility check out my mini course
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