I will share some practical ways, nutritionally and physically, for how to prepare your body before trying for a baby in 2025.
As a Holistic Nutrition Consultant for pregnancy, postpartum and babies, I do not claim to have the educational background for nutritional preconception care. However, I have had four babies myself and have read a lot about preconception care in books (that I will link below).
Taking care of your body nutritionally and physically during pregnancy is very similar to how to take care of your body before you conceive, so I feel that I can write about this confidently.
Before I list the 10 things you should be doing to prepare your body before trying for a baby in 2025, I would highly recommend you see a Naturopath or Functional Medicine Doctor who specialises in preconception care for guidance.
What I will cover in this post
- Why preconception care matters
- 10 things to prepare your body for carrying a baby
- Books and resources I recommend for preconception/pregnancy care
Why preconception care matters
Like a seed that can only grow in fertile and nourished soil, so a baby’s health stems from the health of her conception.
Sadly, I don’t think preconception care is taken seriously enough in our society. We often ‘plan to fall pregnant’ at a certain time, but don’t put much thought into preparing our body for pregnancy.
I fell victim to this mentality with my first two pregnancies, giving little thought to how I was preparing my body for pregnancy. Sure, I ate fairly well and exercised, but there is more I could have done to proactively prepare my body.
Please hear me out when I say that you are no less if you do not proactively prepare your body for pregnancy. However, preconception care matters because it could quite literally reduce the risk of your baby from developing abnormalities, allergies and diseases and even reduce the risk of miscarriage.
Here are 10 ways you can prepare your body before trying for a baby next year!
How to prepare your body before trying for a baby in 2025
This is a condensed list, however, it is a great starting point if you want to take action before ‘trying’ to conceive for a baby.
This is not part of the 10 points, but I would recommend starting to prepare your body at least 6 months in advance. With that said, make sure you come off any hormonal contraception at least 6 months in advance to get your menstrual cycle back into a regular rhythm.
- Have your and your partners’ blood levels checked: I would get an extensive blood test (by seeing a Naturopath or Functional Medicine Doctor) rather than your regular GP, because they will often look at more than the basics. This is a great way to identify which nutrient stores need replenishing.
2. Take a high quality preconception prenatal supplement: I love the NaturoBest Preconception Care supplement (for you and your partner), as it is a whole foods based supplement, containing most crucial ingredients for preconception optimisation.
3. Focus on eating mostly whole foods and less processed foods: eating a mainly whole foods diet is a great way to keep your body, hormones and fertility in optimal shape for conception. Processed foods contain refined flours, sugars and artificial flavours and colours that wreak havoc on your hormones, gut health and fertility.
Eat foods like fresh fruit and vegetables, organic meat, pasture-raised eggs, nuts, seeds, and unhomogenized milk.
4. Live a less toxic lifestyle: toxic chemicals are everywhere unfortunately. But the ones in our home can cause most of the problems with our hormonal health and fertility. Try swapping your plastic tupperware for glass tupperware, ditch any fragranced perfumes, body lotions, shampoo and conditioner, limit packaged foods and drink filtered water (Earths Water has an affordable filtered jug for just $99).
5. Avoid/limit alcohol at least three months before trying to conceive (for both you and your partner). Alcoholic consumption can wreak havoc on your gut health.
6. Focus on eating foods like fish (high levels of Vitamin D and Omega 3), leafy greens and berries (folate and antioxidants), meat (lots of vitamins and minerals), eggs (Vitamin D and folate) and nuts (fat, protein and various vitamins and minerals). All of which can optimise your fertility.
7. Try to limit stress: trust me when I say while it is easy to stress about ‘trying for a baby’, it does not support your fertility, and rather reduces the likelihood of falling pregnant when it gets out of hand.
A quick little story. When we tried for our first baby, I was stressed. I downloaded all the fertility tracking apps and researched until my eyes were red. It was not until I decided to delete the apps and surrender it to God that we fell pregnant that month. Because of this, I truly believe that stress can inhibit our ability to fall pregnant.
8. Exercise (you and your partner): it seems obvious but exercise is really important in optimising your body’s health for conception. It regulates your hormones and stress levels, keeps your body in a healthy state and supports your mental health. All those things support a healthy conception.
9. Eat enough: when you are not eating enough throughout the day, it can mean unstable blood sugar levels, unmet hunger hormones and nutrient depletion. Make sure you are eating three balanced meals a day (with a good source of protein, whole carbs and fat) and if you feel like a balanced snack in between, like apples and nut butter, then eat those too.
10. Limit caffeine consumption: this does not mean to cut it out completely, unless you want to. I would suggest drinking no more than one cup of coffee a day, as recommended during pregnancy also.
Books and resources I recommend for preconception/pregnancy care
I absolutely love reading about optimising fertility, especially after I had a miscarriage and we tried for our rainbow baby. The difference between not educating myself about nourishing my body before conceiving a baby to having knowledge and practical steps in place before conceiving could not be more dichotomous.
Here are some resources I recommend women take a look at before/during conceiving a baby:
Books:
Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Toni Weschler)
Awakening Fertility (Heng Ou etc.)
Real Food for Mother and Baby (Nina Planck)
My book: Your Holistic Guide to Pregnancy Nutrition
Podcasts:
She Podcast (Jordan Lee Dooley): Jordan shares about her fertility journey and her holistic approach to falling pregnant after multiple miscarriages.
The Doctor Mom Podcast: a great podcast about holistic medicine approach toward fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and children.
If you have any questions about preconception care, comment below and I will be sure to answer you!
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