How to conceive in the Year of the Rooster

Dear Dr G,

First of all, Happy Chinese New Year! Hope the Year of the Rooster this year will bring you and your family good fortune.

I am 42 years old and my wife is six years younger than me.

Since I am born in the Year of the Dragon and my wife, in the Year of the Rooster, the fortune-teller told us that we get along well and should have a baby born this year to bring us more luck.

I am sorry to put you on the spot over the Chinese New Year, but do you have any tips for my wife to conceive sooner?

People always talk about the fertility period. What exactly is that?

How often should we have sex over the period?

Is there any position in sexual intercourse that will improve our chances?

Please help.

Dragon Dad

“Fertile Window” is the interval calculated scientifically to encourage sexual activities and enhance the rate of pregnancy.

According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, this spans a six-day period during where couples are encouraged to have sexual intercourse when planning to conceive.

The interval is ranging from five days’ prior and one-day post ovulation.

As the “Fertile Window” is determined by the exact timing of the ovulation, the monitoring of precise ovulation date is crucial.

For women with regular periods, the ovulation date is generally set two weeks prior to the first date of period. For women with irregular menstruation, the ovulation timing can range from 12 to 16 days.

There are several methods of predicting ovulation more accurately; these include urine tests kits for Luteinizing Hormone (LH).

The hormone surges during ovulation, and therefore couples are advised to have intercourse daily to increase the pregnancy rate.

Other more primitive method of tracking ovulation would be basal body temperature method – the early morning body temperature charting on three consecutive menstrual cycles.

Such monitoring can detect a typical increase of less than half a degree Fahrenheit or 0.3 degrees Celsius. A woman is most fertile two to three days before the slight rise in temperature.

Experts generally advise couples to have more intercourse during the “Fertile Window”.

Researchers have shown that there is a small difference in pregnancy rates between couples having sex daily, compared with the ones having intercourse on alternate days.

In the study, the pregnancy rate was recorded to be 37% compared with 33% in alternate days.

One study also found intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy when it occurs two days before ovulation.

There are generally old wives tales about certain positions women have to adopt to increase the flow of semen for better fertilisation – and these have been proven to be ineffective.

Apparently, numerous studies have also been carried out to determine the efficacy of different sexual positions to correlate with the chances of pregnancies.

Again the results have demonstrated no difference in outcomes of various sexual positions.

I guess we cannot help but feeling “sorry” for those guys enrolled in the studies!

According to many experts, the Rooster Year of 2017 is the fire Rooster that will bring uncertainty.

Being born in the Year of Rooster, Dr G wonders whether this year will turn out to be a glorious “phoenix” (firebird) or a disappointing “turkey” (fire chicken).

When Dr G is put on the spot on tips to conceive a Rooster baby, the answer is: “Try non-stop in the bedroom!” On that note, Happy Rooster CNY to everyone!