Preconception 101

Lesson 3: Tried and True Tips on Pregnancy Achievement

Healthy Habits

Habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol and excessive caffeine should be halted while trying to conceive. Why? Because if you do get pregnant the first 2 weeks of pregnancy you won’t know it and this is a critical time in the development of the baby. Actually the first three months are critical in the development of the baby. You want your system to be clean from contaminants and better able to help with the growth of the baby. Of course, if you must indulge in alcoholic beverages, you may safely do so during the first half of your cycle, however I would caution against it, for the reason that it may impede conception.

Douching is another thing to absolutely avoid. Douching can in fact be detrimental to the procreation act. Contrary to popular belief, the vagina is not dirty after menstruation or sexual intercourse. The vagina is self cleaning. Unless you have a medical condition that requires douching (and if you do, your doctor will have “prescribed” a douche for you) then you really don’t need to douche. Simple daily bathing with soap and water is sufficient.

Douching can hurt your chances of conception by washing away all the good fertile quality cervical fluid and can dry out the vagina - making penetration much more difficult. Especially if you have a problem with not producing enough fertile quality cervical fluid. And if you like to douche after intercourse - you are washing away the sperm and that totally counteracts the act of conception. Douching can also introduce bacteria to the vagina - thus infecting the environment - which is why douching should only be used when prescribed by a physician. Infections can hinder conception and cause uncomfortable symptoms.

Douching has been traced to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Because it alters the acidity in the vagina - making it impossible for sperm to live and setting up infections, douching is best left for doctor's prescriptions only. Scented tampons and vaginal sprays can also add to these undesirable conditions in the vagina. And these undesirable conditions make it almost impossible for conception to occur.

Another negative and scary aspect of douching is that it may cause cervical cancer. Women who douche on a weekly basis are at a higher risk to contract cervical cancer.

Douching has been linked to infertility. Perhaps if you have been trying to conceive for some time now and you douche on a regular basis you are greatly impairing your ability to conceive and adding problems. Douching has been thought to add to the ectopic pregnancy rate (a pregnancy that the embryo implants in the fallopian tube). If this occurs the pregnancy must be aborted and possibly the fallopian tube and ovary will have to be removed if the embryo has been allowed to grow to the point of rupturing the tube. Rarely though, this can cause maternal death.

Stay away from douching. Does the promise of freshness and the so-called promise of cleanliness while douching override your desire to conceive a baby? Even if conception wasn’t the issue, it is still dangerous to douche without a doctor’s go ahead.

See www.webmd.com and do a search for douching to read articles about why it's a dangerous practice.

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