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8 Top Causes of Delay When Trying to Get Pregnant
Have you been trying to get pregnant for a while without success? Continue reading to see the reasons you may be experiencing delays.
Quite a number of women would like to get pregnant and a lot try for a long time without achieving their desired result.
Did you know that for every couple there is only a 25% chance of getting pregnant each month? Did you also know that for each couple, there may arise certain factors or health complications that further reduce this chance of getting pregnant each month?
One in seven couples experience delays getting pregnant, and for these couples, any of the following may be a factor for their delays.
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Top Reasons Why You are Experience Delays When Trying to Get Pregnant
1) You Are Stressed
Stress is bad for the body and especially so for a woman actively trying to conceive.
Stress hinders conception by screwing up your hormones and one of the hormones that gets affected is the hormone that triggers your ovaries to release a mature egg each month and also prepares your body for conception.
If you find you are stressed out most of the time, you want to take some time to relax. Work towards removing all stressors from around you and keep trying for a baby.
If you undergo daily or regular stress, then you want to get on a daily multivitamin for women as several studies have found that beyond preparing your body for conception multivitamins also help reduce the damaging effect of stress.
Related: Does Eating Yam Boost Your Chances of Having Twins?
2) You Don’t Try at the Right Time
There’s a fertile window for every woman each month and if you miss this your chances of taking in that month are slim to none.
Depending on your cycle, you should ovulate on the 14th day if you have a 28th day cycle. You are usually fertile for a few days leading up to this day as well as the ovulation day as sperm can survive inside a woman for up to five days. You should therefore try for a baby in the five days leading up to your ovulation as well as the ovulation day itself.
The released egg survives for just 24 hours, so you want to ensure there are a handful of sperm waiting and ready to strike once the egg gets released.
Using an ovulation kit will let you know your fertile day and you should get one.
3) You Use the Wrong Lubricant
Another reason why women experience delays getting pregnant is the use of the wrong lubricant.
Most lubricants are unfriendly to sperm and kill the sperm before they get the chance to fertilize the egg.
They work by changing the natural friendly PH mucus of the vagina, making it acidic which affects the sperm motility.
If using lubricants, you should opt for water-based lubes known to be pregnancy-friendly while avoiding silicon-based ones known to kill sperms.
In essence, you should avoid lubricants with glycerin or propylene glycol as active ingredients to increase your chances of getting pregnant.
Related: How to Get Pregnant Fast (9 Tips for Success)
4) You Might Have Unhealthy Lifestyle Habits
Unhealthy lifestyle habits can also negatively affect your chances of getting pregnant.
Here are some lifestyle choices or habits and how they affect conception and pregnancy:
- Excessive Drinking and Smoking
These habits promote irregular ovulation in women. They increase your chances of having an ectopic pregnancy, reduce the quality of your eggs, and also increase your risk of a miscarriage.
For men, these unhealthy lifestyle choices reduce the quality of your man’s sperm as well as the sperm motility (how fast they can move towards the egg before they die).
- Taking Too Much Caffeine
Taking too much caffeine is also bad for your chances of getting pregnant.
While taking a cup of coffee or tea a day is okay, taking up to 300mg daily is considered unhealthy for conception as it could lead to reduced fertility and an increased chance of miscarriage.
- Too Much Exercise
All healthcare practitioners recommend some form of exercise regularly. However, doing too much can stress you out and this also negatively affects fertility.
Since exercise can’t be measured on a scale, it is recommended you don’t go above 45 minutes daily if you are trying to get pregnant.
Some exercises considered safe when trying to get pregnant are yoga, barre, and Pilates as these build strength, balance, and endurance which come in handy towards achieving your goal.
5) Certain Female Health Issues
Being diagnosed with one or multiple health issues have been responsible for over 50% of all infertility cases.
There are a myriad of these health complications which affect conception and some of these are:
- Endometriosis
- Ovulation issues (irregular ovulation or the absence of one)
- Poor egg quality
- Sperm allergy
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- Blocked fallopian tubes
- Sperm issues (low sperm count, low motility or morphology)
- Tuberculosis in the genital tract
- Fibroid
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
- Immune system diseases (asthma, diabetes, or kidney diseases)
Some of these health complications may present no symptoms or bring about symptoms that usually are not a cause for alarm. If you have been trying to get pregnant for an extended period, usually a year or six months or are a woman are above 35, your doctor will usually run some tests to find out the cause for your delayed fertility and prescribe the corresponding treatment.
6) You Wash Up Immediately After Sex
While it hasn’t been medically proven that lying still after sex increases your chances of getting pregnant, it still comes recommended as logically standing up right immediately to go wash up causes the sperm to obey the law of gravity and go downwards, instead of upwards towards the egg.
You want to lay still for at least 20 minutes, with a pillow placed under your bum to tilt it slightly upward, an act believed to help the sperm move faster.
7) You Have Weight Issues
The wrong weight can also negatively effect your chances of getting pregnant.
Women who are too thin or too fat struggle to get pregnant.
To increase your chances of a pregnancy occurring, you should get your weight to an ideal state.
The healthy weight range for a woman trying to get pregnant is 18.5 and 24.9.
Read Also: 60 Pregnancy Facts for First-Time Moms
8) Your Partner Possibly Has Male Fertility Issues
You may also experience delays getting pregnant if your partner has one or more male fertility issues.
Since 40% of all infertility cases stem from the man, it is recommended your partner also gets checked.
Some top causes of infertility issues in male include:
- Infection (like epididymitis where the testicles get infected)
- Varicocele
- Ejaculation Issues (like the absence of sperm in the ejaculated semen or retrograde ejaculation)
- Low sperm count
- Bad sperm morphology or motility
- Anti-sperm antibodies
- Hernia
- Pituitary tumors
- Venous leak
- Undescended testicles
- Torsion (or twisted testicles)
- Erectile dysfunction
- Nerve damage
Just as with female infertility, couples usually go on to conceive when your partner successfully undergoes the appropriate infertility treatment.
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