When to start swaying?!

[beverlyjune]

I'm new to this site and completely new to swaying. I have 2 boys, 5 and 8 months. Hoping to sway for a DD in a year or so. How early is too early to start makin a plan to sway? I don't want to go over the top but since I can only have one more I would love to complete our family with a pink bundle. I'm sure both my boys would love another boy, since my oldest always asks me what if you have three boys mom! What in your opinion was most effective, diet, exercise, timing, positon?? Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance!

[maidentomother]

I think it is ideal to sway for 12w (diet + exercise) before TTC. Longer than that in advance I don't advise, though if your current lifestyle is very boy friendly and/or you have a lot of weight to lose, it can be wise to gradually change your habits. But it depends on whether you prefer to take things slowly or just jump in the deep end.

Regardless, I think learning about & planning your sway well in advance is always a good idea, that way you're not tackling a new project soon before TTC (we think that sways blue). So better to get organized in advance.

I think 12w of strict, vegetarian LE diet, no snacking and skipping breakfast PLUS 60+ min of daily cardio exercise (walking, running, biking, swimming) while taking ONLY folic acid, no other vitamins or supps, is ideal. Then once you start TTC, one BD attempt at positive OPK, so 1-2 days before O. If you can get clomid or femara, those sway strongly too. The diet is most important in my opinion, especially keeping overall fat low and eating less saturated fat, more polyunsaturated fat.

Welcome and good luck!

[atomic sagebrush]

12+ weeks on diet has gotten best results for us, although I think if you're planning a very strict sway with lots of factors that inhibit conception, you are prob. better off starting more like 6 weeks and then count on probably getting BFN the first month or two.

Our results have shown that diet, exercise, and one attempt are very good sway tactics and that the rest of it is either not working at all or inhibits conception so much that it isn't worth it (because it makes it so much harder to get pregnant that you end up stopping ovulation and end up having to sway blue just to get pregnant at all)

Another thing to consider is how much weightyou have to spare. A petite person may lose too much weight if you try to diet for 12 weeks prior to swaying. A person who is on hte heavier side may actually want to start dieting sooner to try and lose a significant amount of weight beforehand.

[beverlyjune]

I think it's a great idea to start planning the sway so I don't have to be stressed and worried about it when we do start TTC. Thanks for that idea maidentomother. I would say I probably have about 10-15 lbs to lose to be back at pre baby #1 weight so I won't start dieting and exercise vigorously until about 12 weeks before then. Never thought of how much weight I had to lose as when to start. Having never TTC and always being pleasantly surprised, TTC will be a first for me. I do track my cycles regularly since DS2 though. Just so I can predict when my cycles start and end. I'm still breastfeeding so things are a bit off.

I feel like I ovulate more then once a month (I know not very likely). But I have a number of days with EWCM and just have a lot of CM in general. Sorry TMI.

[atomic sagebrush]

I have your questionnaire and will get to work ASAP.

[maidentomother]

I think a lot of us never TTC before, it just happened. That's true for me, too. Btw, I am a confirmed hyper ovulator (I release 2 eggs about 4 times a year, it used to less often but the frequency has increased as I've gotten older) and CM doesn't help me determine how many eggs I release. When not swaying, I also have a great deal of fertile CM for many days. But I had even more and for longer in my 20s, when I hyper Oed less frequently. You can do ultrasound monitored cycles if you're curious, or get tested for the hyper O gene, though that won't tell you much about how it manifests for you. I think there are some women who release 2 eggs most months, but it's quite rare. About 10% of women have the hyper O gene. Do you have a strong family history of fraternal twins?

[beverlyjune]

That's interesting madientomother. I had no idea you could confirm that. I knew it was possible but I've never used an ovulation kit so I wouldn't know for sure. Just seem to have a lot of CM ever since I had my first DS. There is one set of fraternal twins (my grandmas sisters) but other then that there doesn't seem to be a strong family history.

[maidentomother]

OPKs won't really help confirm hyper O, at least for me. It is more likely I'll have 2 surges or one long one in hyper O months, but those things don't always happen. And there are many ladies who typically get multiple LH surges but don't O until the last one. So most women who get multiple surges are not releasing 2 eggs.

Lots of fertile CM can either mean high fertility (which predisposes you to boys) or PCOS (which also predisposes you to boys).