There are many cases where women are not able to fall pregnant the natural way. After years of trying with no results, it can be frustrating for the couple if they don’t know what the cause is. There is a course of action that you can take if you’re not able to conceive naturally.

Take stock of your lifestyle habits and be honest with yourself. You could diarise your daily habits and review it after a week. You will be surprised how much of what you eat or ingest can affect your fertility. Start with diarising what you ate for breakfast. Keep track of your snacks as well as your lunch and supper. For example, jot down that you had cereal and coffee for breakfast. Perhaps you had cookies as a snack with a cup of coffee. For lunch you had a chicken mayo sandwich with a soda. You then had a coffee and maybe smoked a cigarette. You had a chocolate or packet of chips as an afternoon snack. For supper you had a rice, potato and steak meal with a soda. When you add these up you will notice that no fruit or vegetables are included in the daily food intake, plus smoking affects fertility negatively. Your body is a natural element and requires natural foods such as fruit, vegetables and water to obtain all the necessary nutrients. Meat, chicken and fish are also good sources of nutrition. Caffeine intake should be kept to a minimum as well as any processed foods. You will also have to assess your weight. Are you overweight or underweight? Will your body be able to handle carrying a new growing human being? These are hard-hitting questions. But you have to reflect on your lifestyle habits if you want to fall pregnant.

Your partner also needs to do the same introspection as bad lifestyle habits also affect sperm production and motility. Drinking much alcohol, bad eating habits and weight issues can all play a role in male fertility. Excessive exercise and tight underwear have an impact too. Focus on adopting healthy lifestyle habits when you are trying to fall pregnant.

If, after a year and after making these lifestyle changes, conception does not happen then you should visit a fertility clinic. You have fertility treatment options such as IVF, IUI, ICSI, Assisted Reproductive Therapy and In-Vitro Maturation, amongst others. A fertility doctor will be able to assist you with the course of treatment that is suitable to your situation.