What is preconception wellness?
This is the preparatory phase before conceiving in which health can be optimized in mom for the best pregnancy outcomes.
Why prepare?
The preconception phase is the time for ensuring that the body is ready for pregnancy, with the obstacles removed and baby building blocks in place. This is the time for investigation into health issues that have become normalized because they have the potential to impact fertility and pregnancy.
Additionally, and importantly, preconception wellness is about you.
Preconception care has amazing benefits for baby, but the truth is that many healthy babies are made without a carefully planned preconception phase (am I right?!).
The preconception time can be one in which you prioritize your health for the sake of your future baby, but it can also be one in which you prioritize your health for you. It might be the first time, in a long time, that you’ve thought about yourself, your health, and put effort towards feeling better.
It’s time to resolve those health issues that have nagged you over the years, to learn about your fertility and hormones, and to optimize your health. The incentive might be healthy conception and pregnancy, but the results will be a healthier you.
For women who are struggling with subfertility/infertility, this phase can end up being much longer than planned. This is another reason why this time is for you. If you are doing all the things and baby still isn’t here, remember that this time was always for you and that everyday your efforts are supporting your overall health.
How can a preconception wellness plan help me?
Irregular cycles, PMS, or heavy periods?
Utilizing the fertility awareness method (FAM) during the preconception phase, women can learn so much about their bodies, their cycles, and their overall health. FAM is natural, effective, non-hormonal birth control that can prevent pregnancy during preconception by relying on the interpretation of body clues. Using basal body temperature, changes in cervix positioning and cervical mucus, we can know accurately when ovulation is occurring and when conception is possible in the cycle. The preconception time allows for symptom tracking, for lab evaluation, and a holistic approach to regulating hormones, ensuring that healthy ovulation is occurring and that you are in tune with the rhythm of your fertile window. Menstrual cycle irregularity and subfertility can occur and last for 6 to 18 months following hormonal contraceptive use, meaning that FAMs are crucially important options for women in the preconception phase looking to conceive.
Headaches?
Those headaches to which you have become so accustomed that Ibuprofen is a purse staple? It’s time to get to the bottom of these. Anti-inflammatory drugs are associated with an increased risk of early miscarriage when taken around the time of ovulation. This is why it is so important to find a holistic provider who can get to the bottom of those headaches, or at the very least, provide natural options for pain relief. From digestive issues, hormone imbalances, and nervous system dysregulation, preconception care is a time to re-align and restore for a healthy pregnancy and postpartum wellness.
Constipation?
If daily bowel movements are not happening for you, preconception is the time to find out why and correct this! Infrequent bowel movements can lead to/be caused by hormone imbalances, issues with gut flora, food intolerances, and dietary and lifestyle factors. If constipation is an issue for you, it can be an indicator that something else is off. Low thyroid function, or hypothyroidism, is commonly behind constipation in women and can be a factor in fertility and miscarriage risk. Preconception is the time to optimize thyroid function, correct gut dysbiosis and establish healthy, regular bowel movements. With constipation being such a common occurrence in pregnancy due to hormone changes and structural shifts in the body (hello, your body is holding a person now in a place that was perviously just guts!), get yourself off on the right foot with regularity before pregnancy.
Previous medication use?
If you have a long history of antibiotic use (maybe for acne), or a history of hormonal birth control, or acid blocking medications (like PPIs for heartburn), you may have nutrient depletions which are common side effects of these medications. Preconception time is when we can find and correct these nutrient deficiencies to ensure that they do not become an obstacle to a healthy pregnancy and postpartum wellness. Importantly, some of these nutrient depletions can greatly affect the way you feel. We are talking more than optimizing nutrients for baby; this is time to nourish YOU and get your energy and vitality back!
Environmental exposures?
Each day, the average women uses 12 personal care products that contain 168 different chemicals. Some of these chemicals are known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors that can impact fertility. And this is just our personal care products. Our household products including our laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, and shower cleaner can multiply the risk even more. Holistic preconception care aims to decrease the chemicals in our environment and remove obstacles to health. This is a slow process of switching over products to safer, non-toxic options and has to be started in preconception to make the biggest impact on the health of the future family.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to preconception wellness, and must be individualized to each woman and her personal health history and goals. Because of the thoroughness of this phase, ideally a preconception wellness plan spans 6-12 months.
If you are interested in working on preconception wellness, fill out a contact form to schedule your free introductory call!
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