Planning to make a baby? Here’s a fun way to establish when your partner’s physically ready. Hint: it’s a little more intimate than arriving home with flowers. Also, it’s time to nix that nicotine.
Advertisement
It’s a numbers game: 7288 menstrual cycles, 782 couples. That’s the work that went into a study that established that the way to check when your partner is likely to conceive. It’s all about vaginal mucus.
In the past, it was all about timing. The window period of five days before ovulation was thought to be the best time to “try for a baby” as it’s euphemistically put.
But an extensive study at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, has found that partners who allow the condition of the woman’s vaginal mucus to direct their efforts are far more likely to succeed. Couples following the guidelines may conceive up to twice as quickly as those not doing so, so the researchers who conducted the study.
What the study says
The study’s findings, carried in New Scientist and Human Reproduction, bear noting. On the days with the best mucus secretions, when it’s abundant and watery, transparent or reddish, the probability of conception was as high as 0.3. When there was no mucus present, the likelihood of conception was around 0.13.
So-called self-monitoring is fairly common, but until now wasn’t seen as more reliable than using a calendar. Gynaecologists have long known that pinching vaginal mucus between thumb and forefinger and seeing whether there’s a “string” between them when the digits separate is a good gauge of whether a woman is ready to conceive. The longer the string, the readier her body.
Presumably if the string of mucus can stretch the length of the room it’s time to take the phone off the hook and draw the curtains. It also means you’ve got really long fingers.
Smoking and babies don't mix
So much for the favourable conditions for making a baby. But if you didn’t already know it, planning to have a baby means planning to quit smoking. It’s an absolute necessity.
A study, released a short time ago by the British Medical Assocation, revealed what it termed the shocking impact of the addiction on pregnancy.
Smoking harms almost every aspect of reproductive health. In the UK:
Smoking has made about 120 000 men aged 30 to 50 impotent. It had already been known to affect sperm count;
It’s linked to 5000 miscarriages each year;
It increases the risk of stillbirth, miscarriage and so-called sudden infant death syndrome. It can also lead to malformations such as cleft palate;
Women who smoke during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a low-weight baby. Babies with low birth weight are more at risk of heart disease and diabetes;
Smoking reduces the quality and quantity of breast milk;
Women who smoke risk irregular, more painful periods and an earlier onset of menopause;
Women who smoke and take the pill are 20 times more likely to develop blood clots, which may lead to a stroke or heart attack;
Women who are exposed to second-hand smoke while pregnant are at risk of having a low-weight or premature baby;
The normally staid BMA told the New Scientist it would call for the government to take “rigorous” action after the “shocking” report.
One other area of concern: if you’re planning to start a family and you or your partner works in a pub, it may be time to look for another job. A survey conducted by a researcher at Imperial College in London found that secondhand tobacco smoke kills one bar worker a week.
The study found that passive smoke claimed 3600 lives in the UK each year.
In South Africa, the health regulations on smoking in public places mean that most patrons are spared secondhand tobacco smoke if they choose to be. Restaurant employees aren’t afforded the same protection. (William Smook)
Bookmark with:
What are social bookmarks?