Planning for fertility is important for women and men

Most people don’t start planning for fertility until they want to start a family. However, you may run into problems if you wait to focus on your fertility. Our Las Vegas fertility doctors want women and men to start thinking about and protecting their reproductive potential before they even start thinking about a family.

The importance of planning for fertility

Patients often come to our Las Vegas fertility doctors after struggling to conceive for months or years. They assumed it would be easy to have a baby and feel frustrated by this unexpected roadblock. Because time is of the essence when it comes to fertility, our team recommends planning for fertility now. This can help you avoid unpleasant surprises in the future.

Tips to help you plan for fertility

One of the best ways to start planning for fertility is by undergoing fertility testing. For women, this is often in the form of ovarian reserve testing. This can provide valuable information about how many eggs you have left in your ovaries. For men, fertility testing is sperm testing. This testing assesses the quality, quantity and movement of your sperm.

The results of fertility testing can help you decide how to proceed with family building. If your test results look good, you can feel more confident if you want to wait to start your family. However, if your results suggest a problem, our Las Vegas fertility doctors can make some recommendations to help you have a family in the future.

If you have a low ovarian reserve and aren’t ready to have a baby yet, our team might suggest egg freezing. This fertility preservation technique can help you preserve your eggs now so that you can use them in the future. You may also want to consider embryo freezing if you have a partner who you would like to have children with later.
If your test results reveal potential issues with your fertility, you may decide that you want to start trying for a family now with help from highly effective fertility treatments like intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Other steps you can take now for a family later

Making lifestyle changes can help you protect your fertility. For example, weight can affect your fertility. If you are underweight, you will want to gain a healthy amount of weight. Additionally, if you are overweight, you should try to lose weight through exercise and eating a healthy diet. Losing just 5-10% of your body weight can improve your fertility.

You should also avoid cigarette smoking, drug use and excessive drinking. All these habits can have a negative effect on your fertility.