Resources for Fertility and Natural Pregnancy after 40

Overview

I tried LOTS of different things in my efforts to get pregnant naturally and bring a baby to term and they are noted in the many different posts on this blog.  

After nearly five years and two miscarriages I gave birth to a healthy baby girl the day before my 43rd birthday.  She is now ten.

I received an email from a reader a few years ago, asking if there was a summary of all the things I tried somewhere.  

There wasn't, but I thought I'd put one together, finally and here it is.

Some of the links in on this page will be affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through one of these links, at no extra cost to you.  And As an Amazon Associate I hope to earn from qualifying purchases from Amazon.  You can read all about it in the disclosure if you like.

Also please note, most of these are links for resources that I noted/used/considered at the time - over a decade ago, while I was living in the UK.  

There will be more contemporary alternatives.  And research moves on.  But I have no personal experience of so my resources are limited to what worked for me at the time...

In any case, here is a summary of the links from my posts over the course of this blog's life so far... from trying to conceive, miscarriage, pregnancy, to the newborn stage.  

And also the sudden loss of my daughter's father a few years later.

Eating for Fertility after 40

Books

•  The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis from So, What Worked - TTC Edition

• The Baby Making Bible by Emma Cannon, from these posts

• The Food We Eat  by Joanna Blythman, from Pizza and Salad

• The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobbyn, from all of these posts. Read my review

• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, from Home is the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen and Adventures in Home-made Yoghurt

• Ceviche Peruvian Kitchen by Martin Morales, from Spicy Mackerel Ceviche

• 30 Something and the Clock is Ticking by Kasey Edwards.  Read my review.

• The Impatient Woman’s Guide To Getting Pregnant by Jean Twenge, from Hope from the Daily Mail.  Again!

• Watership Down by Richard Adams, from Naming and Honouring Angels and Matilda The Musical

• Trying : love, loose pants & the quest for a baby by Mark Cossey.  Read my review.

• from Matilda The Musical
• The Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch
• The Hunger Games Trilogy  by Suzanne Collins, 
• Boy, by Roald Dahl
• Matilda, by Roald Dahl

• BBT Thermometer from So, What Worked - TTC Edition

Recipes

Most annoyingly, the US and UK government websites I linked to for nutrition information for my recipes have both been restructured so my links are pointless.

Much like this page, at some point I will work to put together a resource for eating for fertility summarising all of the info.  

We absolutely LOVED our weekly Abel & Cole organic veg box delivery each week when we were living in London.  Eating seasonally helps provide more nutrition and variety, plus avoids food miles. 100% better than buying veg at the major supermarkets, for sure.

Natural Pregnancy after 40

• Weston Price Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers and The Brewer medical diet for normal and high-risk pregnancy by Thomas H Brewer.  See also the online summary for the Brewer Diet for Pregnancy

• Soluble fibre for morning sickness.  Karen Hurd's original article is no longer available but this blog post pretty much covers it. See also, Food Sources of Soluble Fibre - from Homemade Granola.

• Anti-nausea snacks for morning sickness.  Consumption of apple during pregnancy is supposed to reduce the risk of asthma.  And my daughter has no peanut/treenut issues so common in Australia.

• Yoghurt Tutorial from Adventures in Home-made Yoghurt

• Floradix for iron deficiency from Hospital Update - A Comedy of Errors.

• What To Expect App from Naming and Honouring Angels

• Spinning Babies from Rollercoasting

• The hairband trick - to make your current clothes last longer as your belly expands and DIY maternity Jeans tutorial from Sewing Maternity-wear for Fun and Love.  I referenced a number of sewing projects on that post. Most of the links are now broken, but I'm happy to see that Megan Nielsen of diymaternity.com (archived content) is still sharing maternity and baby sewing tutorials. 

• Its not pregnancy related, but I was pregnant while organising the move to Australia, and I used the Freecycle Network to give away items we couldn't take with us.  Items that were still useful but  - from Moving to Australia with a Baby on Board.  Here in Australia there are many local community "Buy Nothing Facebook groups to achieve the same thing.

Baby after 40

Not much in this category as I was too busy trying to keep a baby alive.  I'm sure I have lots in my email to friends I haven't blogged about.  Will try to add.

• Safe Co-sleeping guidelines 
  

• Arms Reach / Snuggle bed from Co-sleeping arrangements - DIY Sidecar Crib.  We decided against them for our personal needs, but they work for many parents.

• Baby Sign Language from Seachange

Miscarriage and Loss after 40

I have always thought of this blog as being about fostering creativity.  

• creating a new life.  

• creating a recipe.

• solving a problem in a creative way.

And sharing the information I found about eating for fertility / conceiving naturally after 40.

But the fact is, I started it in June 2013, when I was trying to come to terms with the loss of my first pregnancy a month earlier.

It was my safe space to overshare with the internet all the crazy thoughts in my head. And record my determination to overcome.

So maybe this blog was always about grief, and finding a way forward.

Over a decade later, and much neglect, it is still my safe space.  

Some links:

• An Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales, from New Years Eve Gratitude

• Headspace meditation app from Meditation

There are more resources.  Just not part of a post on this blog. Yet.