Planning A Baby? Study Says Winter Is The Best Time To Get Pregnant

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If you are planning to expand your clan to three or more, you might want to know everything that makes conception easier for you and your partner. You start by taking care of your health, providing your body with the right nutrition, and figuring out which time of the month is best to make a baby. Obviously, there is so much more to getting pregnant than just doing the deed. You should know to time everything perfectly while making sure your mind and body are at its optimal health. While you might be familiar with some of these factors, a new study reveals that late fall may actually be the best time to conceive.

The study which was published in the journal, Human Reproduction shows that couples living in North America and Denmark (at lower altitudes) are highly likely to conceive towards the end of November and the beginning of December even if they start trying two months early (1).

Planning A Baby? Study Says Winter Is The Best Time To Get Pregnant
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Dr. Amelia Wesselink, who is the study lead author and postdoctoral associate in epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health says that several studies have been done on the topic of seasonal patterns in birth. She also adds that such studies often fail to consider several factors such as when the couple has been trying, the time it took for them to conceive, and the duration of their pregnancy. Dr. Wesselink says that after taking into account when couples start trying for a baby, her study found a reduction in fecundability in the late spring months with a peak around late fall. Fecundability can be defined as the probability of a woman conceiving within a period of time, especially within a menstrual cycle. It was found that this correlation was more significantly observed among couples from lower latitudes.

Planning A Baby? Study Says Winter Is The Best Time To Get Pregnant
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The study finds that seasonal affected fecundability for Danes by 8% with a peak in the fall and a decline in the spring, while the seasonal affected fecundability was 16% for North Americans (2). It was observed that the seasonal variation in southern U.S. states was much stronger with conception rates increasing towards the end of November at 45%. However, the link between fecundability and season remained the same in northern states, Canada, and Denmark.

Planning A Baby? Study Says Winter Is The Best Time To Get Pregnant
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The study was based on the data collected from 14,331 women who were trying to get pregnant for less than 6 months. The data included 5,827 Canadian and U.S. women in the BUSPH-based Pregnancy Study Online as well as 8,504 Danish women in the Snart Gravid and Snart Foraeldre studies based in Denmark. The findings were gathered by surveying the participants of the study every two months until they get pregnant or have tried for a baby for over 12 menstrual cycles. The data also took into account several other factors such as income and education, diet and smoking habits, as well as menstruation and intercourse frequency.

It was found that there was no significant change in the findings even after controlling seasonally-varying factors such as sugar-sweetened drinks intake, medication use, intercourse frequency, and smoking (3).

Dr. Wesselink says that though this study does not identify the reasons behind the seasonal variation in fertility, new studies will help understand how seasonal varying factors affect fertility, including vitamin D exposure, temperature, humidity, and environmental factors such as air pollution.

In the end, it is important to understand that several factors contribute to conception more than a particular time of year. If you have been trying to get pregnant for quite some time, you can visit your healthcare provider to find out if you are both in good health and figure out what you need to do to increase your chances at conception.

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