A Bangkok Hospital Pattaya obstetrician offered tips for couples struggling to have children on how to improve their odds of getting pregnant.
Dr. Issaraporn Thanaratsiriworakul, head of the hospital’s Fertility Center, spoke to prospective patients at a Feb. 25 workshop.
He noted that fertility problems have increased as couples increasingly wait to have children. Fertility decreases with age, with 15% of all couples facing fertility challenges, he said.
There are things couples can do to improve their chances, however.
Timing plays a major role in pregnancy, he said. Couples set on having children need to pay special attention to the would-be mother’s ovulation cycle.
For women who menstruate on a regular schedule, ovulation should occur on the 14th day of her 28-day cycle. In that case, Issaraporn recommended couples have intercourse on the 13th, 15th and 17th days.
Many women, however, have irregular cycles. In those cases, BHP can assist women in calculating their ovulation date by monitoring basal temperature, cervical mucus and saliva levels, and use of the Clearblue Easy Digital Ovulation Test.
Women who reach orgasm also have an easier time getting pregnant, he said, as plasm secretion and muscle contractions help sperm reach the waiting egg.
Dr. Issaraporn also said couples experiencing fertility problems should refrain from both smoking and drinking, as both can kill viable sperm in men and shorten the ovulation time in women.
