Trying to add a boy to our family after DD

Hi everyone!

I have been following GD for a long time and now finally ready to TTC from next month-ish so thought to share my progress - would really appreciate any advice on how I could improve my chances. Not sure if 4-6 weeks are enough to sway blue but giving it a go.

Some background:
I’m swaying blue as already have 1 DD, 2.5yrs old. Didn’t sway with DD, but now that I look back I was very girl friendly in terms naturally eating LE, having almond milk with cereal (although did have breakfast most mornings and good lunch and dinners, but would wait till I felt hungry to eat), and was taking Pregnacare on and off…since reading that Pregnacare might sway girl due to random herbs I don’t plan to take it for this blue sway.

So far have been on a semi-HE diet since one week, which is so much harder than I thought - my BMI is 22 (higher than when I conceived DD). Here’s what I’m doing:

DW (30yrs) supplements:
- folic acid 1200mcg (3x 400mcg daily)
- probiotic BioKult daily first thing in the morning
- 2000 IU vit-D (before having my DD I was diagnosed with low vit-D)
- Boots multivitamin (one daily, has folic acid: 200mcg)

My usual HE day looks like this:
- have breakfast within first hour of waking: 2 choc weetabix with full fat milk + handful of nuts / Quaker oat pouch with full fat milk with 1tbsp of peanut butter stirred in and some walnuts
- light snack: carrot sticks with hummus/ cheese and olives/ boiled egg
- lunch: one bowl of cheesy pasta with 2-3 chicken goujons / 4 fish finger sandwich with some veg / 2 fried eggs with a slice of bread / baked salmon with veg or feta salad
- light snack: choc nut bar / whatever fruit/veg DD has/ coco vita coconut water
- dinner: usually homemade meal like Indian meat curry with naan / chilli con carne with rice / spagbol

- snack before bed: bowl of cheerios / chock shreddies/ chocolate weetabix with full fat milk

My main concerns are:
- I’m tracking my calories but I don’t seem to be hitting higher than 1600 per day - how important is it to hit 2000-2200cals and 90g of protein for blue sway? I’m only 160cm
- I need to add more veg/fruit to hit 9 servings recommended by Atomic.
- being on the HE diet I’m already putting on some weight so need to start weight training to turn the weight gain into muscle. I’m relatively inactive as have a desk job, my exercise usually is running behind my toddler
- DH is taking vit D and probiotic. He is turning 37 this year. I have got him releasing every 2 to 4 days. He also has a desk job so relatively inactive and, if this makes any difference, loves his tea first thing in the morning.
- I don’t track my ovulation and have long cycles (more than 35 days sometimes), can I just dtd every 2 days from AF and still be ok (i.e. CD9, CD11, CD13 etc), or do I need to track EWCM and ovulation? I don’t want to deplete my husband as with DD we were dtd every night for a few days and I got pregnant the first cycle. The more I read it seems that frequency is a strong swayer and we might have got DD due to my diet rather than dtd frequency

Apologies for the long post and glad to have found this site!

Can you bump this for me?? It's getting late here and I want to give you my best answer.

Hi Atomic, bumping this for you.

Also, I have increased folic acid intake today (from 1400 to 2200). Is it ok to take folic acid as follows: 800mcg after morning snack (at 11.30am), then 600mcg (at 3pm), then another 800mcg (at 6/7pm). I’m worried that the digestion of 800mcg in one go - do you suggest dividing that dose or its ok? Is folic acid a strong swayer?

It's ok to do that. We do believe that smaller doses more often are better absorbed but 800 is still not that high and it is spread out over the day so you're always getting some. Your call.

It's not that it's a strong swayer, but that it's necessary to a healthy pregnancy and when people are eating sway diets, they may not be getting the same nutrients they were under normal circumstances. Additionally, blue swayers are often ingesting things (particularly green tea and increased sodium) that may cause folic acid to be depleted. My 3rd son ended up with mild spina bifida from green tea only one serving a day, and even though I was taking 800 mcg folic and eating a very balanced diet too. So that's why we take a bit more.

Thank you so much for your reply, Atomic. I will continue my folic acid intake, I don’t drink any green tea and caffeine so perhaps I will stick to 1800mcg for now.

If you have any other suggestions/tips regarding my sway (info in my original post), please do let me know. I’m thinking to delay ttc to March cycle so I can try test when I ovulate this and next cycle (bought digital clearblue).