Search Results for: blog does exposure to chemicals affect fertility

Natural Methods to Enhance Fertility

After a lifetime of hearing warnings about safe sex and avoiding unintended pregnancy, women are often surprised if they don’t conceive as soon as they start trying. There are some things you can do to naturally enhance your fertility, before you head off to the nearest fertility clinic for a consultation. Many of these techniques will benefit your health and your baby, when you do conceive. A healthy diet can increase your chances of conception. Foods believed to improve fertility include fruits and vegetables that contain antioxidants, including carrots, red peppers, mangos, figs and blueberries. There is some evidence that … Continue reading →

Do OTC Medications Affect Fertility?

The topic for this blog came from a question asked in our forums. In fact, there is some evidence that certain medications can interfere with fertility. Whether or not these medications would completely prevent pregnancy is unclear. It is actually widely believed that some common medications can interfere with ovulation. These are drugs known as NSAIDS, and sold under names like Aleve, Advil and Ibuprofen. In the book Stay Fertile Longer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant, the author talks about this link. The reason cited is that these medications block the production of prostaglandins, which interferes with … Continue reading →

Baby Blog Month in Review: August 2008

Isn’t it crazy the way babies grow so quickly? It seems that you just get used to one stage and boom they are already into another. Tonight, were busy getting the household all set for my eldest child’s first day of second grade. My two younger ones are excited and want to start school, too. It will be a busy month. Don’t worry about the missing last week of blogs. I’ve gotten quite a few questions about where I have been. The Baby Blog tends to go on hiatus the last week of the month. That may change in the … Continue reading →

Increasing Female Fertility

Whether you have been trying to conceive, have been having trouble conceiving or are planning to get pregnant in the future, your fertility may be on your mind. The best time to start making changes is before you are ready to start trying. There are several things you can do to enhance your fertility and increase your chances of successful conception. Your body weight can affect your fertility. Women with more body fat and a higher body mass index are more likely to have problems getting pregnant than women with less body fat. In addition, being overweight puts you at … Continue reading →

The Pregnancy Blog Review for May 15 – 26

The pregnancy blog review is a good place to see all the recent postings to the blog in one convenient place. I try to cover a wide range of topics related to infertility, conception, pregnancy, birth and the post partum weeks. Sperm count tests freak out a lot of men. Many balk at the thought of giving the sample in a crowded doctor’s office. For these men, home testing seems like the perfect solution, but is it? Learn more in Home Sperm Count Tests. Pregnancy and Your Cell Phone discusses recent research about the use of cell phones during pregnancy. … Continue reading →

Does Exposure to Chemicals Affect Fertility?

I read this article in which upcoming research into the affect of exposure to chemicals in the environment is discussed. It immediately resonated with me. We are exposed to literally thousands of chemicals, many of which bioaccumulate in the body over time. This article resonated with me because I have long suspected this to be the case. The number of people in my circle of friends who have experienced infertility is alarming. This appears to be a much larger problem than it was for my mother or grandmother’s generation. I’ve looked for research on this subject in the past, but … Continue reading →

Pesticides in the Placenta

The dangers of exposure to chemicals and pesticides have been debated for years and most people understand that we are exposed to an alarming number of chemicals every day. Some of these chemicals accumulate in the body, often stored in fatty tissue. It turns out our exposure may start in the womb. A recent study at the University of Granada studied the placentas of pregnant women for the presence of pesticides. The results were astonishing, 100% of the placentas tested positive for pesticides. The study tested for 17 known pesticides. While all the mothers tested positive for at least one … Continue reading →

A Pollutant with an Effect on Baby’s Gender?

By now, most of us have heard of PCBs. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are man made chemicals. The chemicals were widely used in industry for decades. In 1976, the federal government in the US banned the production of the chemicals. However, there is still significant contamination of PCBs in the environment. This is largely due to contamination resulting from improper disposal of the chemicals. PCBs have been found in newborn babies and breastmilk, over thirty years after the chemicals were banned. One of the problems with PCBs is they are not soluble in water. This results in a process known … Continue reading →