I’m not sure it counts if you say it to yourself. But I deserve a gold star for the weird things I did to get pregnant.

And almost all the things I did to help my fertility are natural!

So in this post I’m going to share the 9 weird things I did to boost my fertility and get pregnant faster!!

And I’m not telling you to use the same tricks I did. After all, the world is FULL of natural fertility tips. Instead just do what feels right for you.

But if this list of weird things that helped me get pregnant faster really does help?

F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.!

I’d been trying to get pregnant for a couple of years

And compared to some my fertility clients? That’s nothing!

We tried the old tricks to get pregnant:

You know… Healthy food. Reduced alcohol. Loose shorts. Sex every 2 days from a week before ovulation, avoiding the sauna at the gym…all of it….yawn.

And we’d done the more draining fertility things too:

Ovulation test kits. Basal Body Temperature. Fallopian Tube Check. Hubby had a sperm count…eventually. And month after month of waiting on waiting lists for this and for that. I got a Clomid prescription. Whoop Whoop!

But Clomid didn’t like me. And I didn’t like Clomid! After a few nasty asthma attacks and 2 trips to A&E. Clomid and I kissed our goodbyes.

But it was the weird fertility tips that made the difference. It was the weird fertility tips that lead to successful conception. 

So these are the weird ways I increased my Fertility… in order… With the weirdest and best at number 1.

9 Weird Ways to Increase Fertility

1. Hypnosis for Fertility worked like fuel to a fire!

Hypnosis was the BEST thing I ever did!

I got pregnant fast. And I felt better, even faster!

Because I literally found a part of my unconscious mind that was ‘helping’ me and stopping me from getting pregnant. 

Weird huh?

So hypnotherapy (and hypnosis) helped me support my unconscious mind to help with fertility!

And better than that? I felt better from almost the first hypnotherapy session.

I say almost the first session. Because the stress, grief and self doubt I was carrying was unbearable. And it’s takes a bit of work.

But hypnosis for fertility helped me feel calm. It helped me feel hopeful again. I had a quiet sense of faith. And it helped me find a level of ease and acceptance within myself that I believe, transformed my body chemistry.

Before hypnotherapy for fertility my stress levels were unreal.

I was upset by every pregnant woman I saw. And I saw pregnant people everywhere! I could not stop thinking about pregnancy. And kept thinking I would fail.

But just by asking Can hypnotherapy help with fertility? And then stumbling across Integrated Parts Hypnotherapy something significant changed.

Finally it felt like a case of WHEN not IF.

Fertility Hypnosis helped me connect with a part of my mind that controlled my fertility. Called Parts Hypnotherapy, it helped me connect with my unconscious mind and ask it to help me get pregnant. A few weeks later I had a positive pregnancy test!

Or if this sounds a bit too good to be true? You can read about my journey with fertility hypnosis here.

2. Chinese Herbal Medicine gets your fertile body rocking!

When I was a kid. I struggled with crippling period pains. Having spent more time at the GP than I did at school (slight exaggeration). My Dad took me to a local herbalist doctor called Michael McIntyre. One disgusting herbal tea concoction later. And my period cramps cramps stopped for good.

So after my first year of infertility I went back to Michael for help. He’s one of the nicest people you could ever meet. He gave me a different, equally disgusting ‘brew yourself’ Chinese herbal medicine tea and my irregular menstrual cycles became gorgeous 28 day – regular as clockwork – wonders.

3. Acupuncture does something for fertility

Alongside the Chinese herbal medicine above I had acupuncture. I’m not 100% sure what the acupuncture was trying to do.

How can crying your eyes out while a bloke sticks needles in your feet help your fertility?

But combined with the horrendous herbal concoctions? My Chinese herbalist doctor told me “Your body is now perfectly ready for pregnancy”. So I was ready to go! My menstrual cycles were now regular. I has having a nice heavy bleed (his words not mine). And from what I was told? I was ‘ready for pregnancy and nothing was holding me back’

So let’s get a bit geeky before we move onto the next weird way to increase fertility.

A systematic review of 37 studies that included acupuncture concluded that while there was some preliminary evidence of the effectiveness, more research is needed. GREAT. 

Natalie A Clark, A systematic review of the evidence for complementary and alternative medicine in infertility, International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 2013 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0020729213002695

4. Warm Foods stop the drafts through your uterus

Another Chinese medicine trick. Stick to warm and room temp foods and drinks.

And this is what Michael said:

Imagine you are in bed and your partner keeps lifting the duvet, wafting it and making you cold. Would you want to be there?

No.

That’s what it’s like in your uterus when you drink cold drinks or eat cold food. Cold wafting through.

Which doesn’t make for a comfortable uterus.

And given that you want a fertilised embryo to settle down, make home and grow for nine months? Would you be happy in utero that felt like a fridge?

No.

So (and again, I’m not telling you to do this. This is merely what I did). I quite ice cubes and ice cream. Quit fridge temp foods.

And ditched my cropped sports tops for t-shirts as well.

Why?

Same reason. Cropped tops let your uterus get cold. Proper tops don’t!

5. Warm feet helps your uterus

Keep your feet warm.

I switched my stockings for socks and my bare feet for slippers. 

Because I’ve been told by midwives, alternative therapists and my own Chinese clients.

Warm feet help the uterus.

So warm feet can help with fertility. But when you are pregnant? Warm feet can help with  morning sickness, supporting spontaneous labour and even having a natural labour.

I even know a Midwife who can touch a labouring woman’s leg and judge with pretty good accuracy how dilated the cervix is!

6. Cervical Secretions can tell you when your ovulating

I got this from a Zita West book. I got a lot from my Zita West book! But after reading it twice and feeling like a total failure. This was the only thing that stuck with me as a top fertility tip that was up there with hypnotherapy.

During ovulation cervical secretions are like egg white. Clear translucent and very stretchy.

Within this stretchy secretion are tiny tubules that sperm can swim up with ease. The PH is perfect for sperm too.

In comparison. When you are not ovulating. Cervical secretions become thick and milky looking. Even blobby! The PH is hostile to sperm as well.

By knowing your cervical secretions (and how to check them) you can track your ovulation easily and without the fuss & faff of ovulation kits.

 7. Only Fun Sex gets you Pregnant

As a Biology grad I know this isn’t true. But.

Standing in my (then) work kitchen listening to my 40+ colleague telling me how her pregnancy was a complete accident. And she had no interest in her ex beyond co parenting when their baby was born?

She said something that made my life better:

“You know you only get pregnant when the sex is fun!” 

NO. I didn’t know that!

But having recently heard my husband complain “You’re only using me for sex”. It was safe to say the spark had left the bedroom.

Sex felt like a hopeless chore. 

And my colleague had a point. Fun sex makes you happy.  Happy sex equals happy hormones. And happy sex equals reduced stress hormones. Happy is Oxytocin.

And the female orgasm creates contractions that draw sperm upwards!

More than that? One of the first things I ask my Hypnotherapy for IVF clients is Are you still having sex? And is their love in your IVF appointments?

When we are scared or stressed. The brain doesn’t know the difference! Fertility (of any kind) if not a priority. 

So bringing back the calm with hypnotherapy and bringing back the love and fun into the bedroom. Helps!

 8. Tinned soup makes Sperm Better

I wasn’t convinced either!

Having read that I should avoid processed foods at all costs (in Zita’s book). Well. You can imagine my reaction when my hubby said tinned tomato soup was good for sperm. 

But you know what it’s like. The easier it is to do? The more appealing it is.

And my hubby. The avid ‘take a tin of soup to work’ guy. Found it super easy (pun intended) to switch his noodle soup for tomato soup. And it made him feel super useful (last pun I promise).

 9. If sperm swim up? Do headstands help you get pregnant?

Can raising your hips with a pillow help you conceive?

I’m not sure where I came up with this one? My “I got pregnant with hypnosis” baby was born in 2008 which was before google was born!

But my logic? Despite knowing that you can get pregnant in any position…and there is NO evidence that position makes a difference!

If sperm need to swim up? Do a head stand and let gravity help you get pregnant!

And guess what? I only did this twice. But both times I got pregnant – with a boy. (Second time was a lift the hips job not a full head stand). 

But while it worked. I’m happy to write this off as coincidence.

Saying this helped with successful conception is too much of a stretch. I mean. I haven’t seen other mammals do this? But then I’ve never seen other a horse having hypnosis, an antelope having acupuncture or a tiger drinking tinned tomato soup.

At the time I thought of this with baby no 1. My body was primed for conception. And fertility hypnotherapy meant I felt good. For the first time in forever I was confident my subconscious mind was on my side. I felt a sense of ease and peace I hadn’t had for years.

So even the fact that I was relaxed enough to:

1. Have the creative idea of a headstand
2. Not take myself too seriously
3. Do it with no expectations

Was a sign that I was in a good place!