How To Boost Fertility and Get Pregnant Naturally In Your 40s
We all know that getting pregnant as you get older can be a challenge. However, there are protocols you can do and supplements you can take to put the odds more in your favor. There are, of course, many factors that come into play when you are trying to conceive and some of these also depend upon your partner too.
Getting pregnant in your 40s is a topic I wanted to speak about because right now I am in my 40s and recently got pregnant naturally! Despite working with women and couples for years to help them to get pregnant, I wasn’t sure I would ever get to this place, but with the right health protocol I got pregnant relatively quickly.
My hope is that this will help you on your fertility journey and that you will also be able to conceive naturally too.
All the products I discuss here you can save 10% on if you purchase through my online dispensary with Fullscript. To purchase physician-grade supplements, click here to create an account or login to access my online supplements shop and purchase them directly. When you login simply select immune support in my favorites.
Is it possible for me to conceive naturally in my 40s and how long will it take to get pregnant?
I guess my answer to this is a typical doctor answer which is it depends! It definitely is possible however there can be other factors that can be prohibitive regardless of age but it definitely is possible for women to get pregnant in their early, mid or even late 40s without traditional assistance.
Another question that often comes up is how long will it take to conceive naturally. Of course, again, this is dependent on various different factors which I will discuss now.
Factors that indicate if you can or can’t get pregnant naturally
There are many factors that go into determining whether or not you can become pregnant, and the topic of conception can be complicated. The greatest fertility indicators, in my opinion, are whether you are ovulating every month, hormonal balance, and endometrial receptivity and egg quality.
Are you ovulating and how frequently?
The first thing that needs to be established is whether you are actually ovulating. This means you are actively releasing an egg on a monthly or close to a monthly basis.
The other question regarding ovulation is to determine how often you are ovulating. If you suffer from conditions such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, or if there is a problem with your fallopian tubes then you may be ovulating less frequently or possibly not at all.
Hormonal Balance
Another big factor is hormonal balance which can diminish as we age. Having a healthy balance of hormones is important because estrogen and progesterone need to be in proper balance to support a healthy cycle as well as pregnancy.
Endometrial Receptivity
A factor which is not age specific is endometrial receptivity which is the ability of implantation to occur and so there's a lot of factors that can go into that such as if you have inflammation or autoimmune conditions and then also endometrial thickness.
Egg Quality
But really the biggest difference between a woman in her 40s versus a woman younger trying to conceive really stems down to egg quality which can diminish as you age. This is probably the biggest factor for how long it's going to take someone in their 40s to get pregnant.
Egg quality means whether an egg is chromosomally normal or abnormal. A normal egg has 23 chromosomes and when fertilized by the sperm, which also has 23 chromosomes, a normal embryo will have a total of 46 chromosomes. So really the biggest factor on how long it's going to take to get pregnant in your 40s is egg quality.
Sperm quality
Another important aspect to conceiving naturally is sperm quality, sperm count, motility and morphology of sperm. Healthy sperm has a higher probability of successful conception. What’s more, if you are struggling to get pregnant it is important to get your partner evaluated to rule out different possibilities of what could be preventing you from getting pregnant.
Supplements you can take to boost male fertility include:
ProOmega®-D Nordic by Naturals
O.N.E. Multivitamin by Pure Encapsulations
Alpha Lipoic Acid 500mg
Acetyl L-Carnitine 800mg by Designs for Health
Ubiquinol 200mg by Protocol for Life Balance
All these supplements can be purchased on Fullscript - my online dispensary. All supplements on my Fullscript page are
You can purchase them from here: Male Fertility Protocol
Why timing of intercourse is crucial to conception
It may seem like a no brainer but timing of intercourse is paramount to successfully conceiving. I recommend that you time intercourse about three to five days prior to ovulation. This is because you only have a 24 hour window of viability for the sperm to meet the egg and to fertilize it. This way you avoid having intercourse after ovulation and missing that window of opportunity.
How to find out when you are ovulating and when you are fertile
In order to time intercourse properly, it is important to understand when you are ovulating and learn the signs of ovulation. There are a few different methods for how you can do this which I will share with you now.
The Fertility Awareness Method
The fertility awareness method works by determining ovulation by means of menstrual tracking as well as examining cervical mucus, basal body temperature and other physical indicators. If you are unsure of how to examine your cervical mucus and are not sure which type indicates ovulation, I recommend you either read my blog post: Vaginal Discharge 101 or Natural Birth Control.
Basal body temperature can be used in conjunction with examining cervical mucus however, I wouldn’t recommend using basal body temperature alone because once you notice the thermal shift that one experiences when ovulation has occurred, more often than not you have missed that fertile window. As such, I recommend rather trying to notice changes in your cervical mucus in order to establish ovulation.
Ovulation predictor kits or LH strips
If you don’t feel confident in being able to determine ovulation by examining cervical mucus, then I highly recommend using ovulation predictor kits or LH strips which detect levels of the luteinizing hormone.
If you have a less predictable cycle or a condition such as polycystic ovarian syndrome then I would highly recommend a fertility kit that uses more advanced technology. That would be one that not only tests LH but also estradiol as well. This will give better accuracy.
Mira is one fertility kit I would definitely recommend for tracking fertility and hormones.
Improving egg quality through diet and supplements
As mentioned before, egg quality is another essential factor in successfully conceiving when you are in your 40s. As such, it is essential to focus on improving egg quality through diet and supplements.
So what are some of the things you can do to improve egg quality?
Before I discuss what supplements are helpful for this, I recommend that you read my blog article Fertility Diet: A Naturopathic Approach to Food, Supplements, and Lifestyle. In this article, I discuss what foods boost egg quality and overall fertility.
Supplements
Supplements that boost egg quality are:
Multivitamin that has folate, activated folate and methylfolate
Selenium
Idoine
CoQ-10 Ubiquinol
Alpha Lipoic Acid (taken away from food)
All these supplements can all be found on my Fullscript which is an online dispensary.
Follow this link to purchase these supplements: https://us.fullscript.com/protocols/ibranin-fertile-after-40-supplements
Other lifestyle changes you can make to boost egg quality
As well as boosting egg quality with supplements and diet, there are other lifestyle changes you can make to boost your egg quality.
Eliminate alcohol or at least reduce it.
Reduce or preferably eliminate caffeine.
Stop smoking if you are a smoker.
Reduce exposure to plastics as they contain hormone disrupting chemicals
If you are trying to get pregnant or plan to start trying soon, I would recommend starting as early as possible with these recommendations. It takes a minimum of three months for these dietary and lifestyle changes to take effect. An ideal timeline would be six months prior to trying to conceive so if you are struggling to get pregnant know that it may take a little bit of time for these changes to take effect.
If you are looking for more assistance in trying to conceive and would like to try naturopathic medicine, you can book an appointment with one of our providers.
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FAQs
How many eggs does a woman have at 40?
By the time a woman reaches 40, she'll be down to roughly 18,000 eggs which is about 3% of her pre-birth egg supply. The chances of conception are considered lower at this age, however it is definitely still possible to get pregnant!
Is it safe to get pregnant at 40?
If you get pregnant at any age after 35 you are considered of ‘advanced maternal age’. This is because as you become older there is more of a risk to pregnancy and giving birth and the possibility of complications increases. However, with advances in technology surrounding fertility, pregnancy and delivery it is possible to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
What age is too late to have a baby?
There is no particular age that is too late to have a baby however, after 45 it is very difficult to conceive naturally. If you are in your 40s and are planning on getting pregnant, typically you would want to start as soon as possible.
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