Trying to Conceive: 5 Common TTC Mistakes and What to Do Instead
If you’re trying to conceive, how can you give yourself the best chance of getting pregnant each cycle, and when should you ask for fertility testing?
Fertility doctor Natalie Crawford, MD, explains 5 common trying-to-conceive mistakes and what you can do differently. She breaks down preconception health, ovulation tracking, the fertile window, fertility testing, when to see a fertility doctor, and lifestyle factors that may affect egg and sperm health.
IN THIS VIDEO:
00:00 Are you making these trying-to-conceive mistakes?
00:45 What to know before trying to get pregnant
02:09 Are you tracking ovulation correctly?
03:33 The best time to have sex to get pregnant
04:02 What your luteal phase can reveal
05:04 When should you get a fertility evaluation?
06:23 Fertility testing by age, including after 40
06:56 Which fertility tests should you consider?
07:26 Lifestyle factors that may affect fertility
08:19 How to prepare for your next cycle
What Should You Do Before Trying to Conceive?
One of the biggest mistakes I see is making a complete switch from preventing pregnancy to trying to conceive without preparing first.
I call the time before pregnancy “trimester zero.”
Your eggs and sperm develop inside your bodies. Sperm take about 90 days to develop and move through the male reproductive system. Your eggs have been with you your entire life, but during the 60 to 90 days before ovulation, the developing follicle becomes more responsive to the environment around it.
That makes the 3 months before conception a valuable window.
This is a time to lower chronic inflammation where you can, begin taking appropriate vitamins, review your health, and reduce exposures that may affect egg or sperm function.
It does not mean that 3 months of healthy choices can erase age, change the number of eggs in your ovaries, or guarantee a pregnancy. It means you are using the part of the process you can influence to prepare as thoughtfully as possible.
Mistake 1: Starting to Try Without Preparing
In my perfect world, you would not simply “pull the goalie” and start trying without a preconception plan.
You would give yourself approximately 3 months to prepare both partners for pregnancy.
That preparation may include:
Taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid
Reviewing your medications and supplements with your doctor
Eating a nutrient-dense diet
Reducing ultra-processed foods and added sugars
Avoiding cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol
Looking at sources of chronic inflammation
Reducing exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and excess plastics where possible
Addressing chronic medical conditions
Considering both egg and sperm health
You do not have to become perfect before you are allowed to get pregnant. But you should understand that the preconception window matters.
Use it.
Mistake 2: Not Tracking Your Ovulation
Many people stop using contraception, have unprotected intercourse, and hope the timing works.
That approach does work for many people. It does not work for everyone.
If you are trying to get pregnant, I recommend learning when you ovulate so you can identify your most fertile days and make each cycle count.
Why Isn’t a Period-Tracking App Enough?
A calendar-based app predicts ovulation using your previous cycle lengths. It does not measure a physiological sign from your current cycle.
Ovulation can move from month to month, even if your periods appear fairly regular. Research has found that apps relying on cycle-length information alone predicted the exact day of ovulation with no better than approximately 21% accuracy.
That is not good enough when you are using the prediction to time intercourse.
You can still use an app to record your periods, test results, symptoms, and cycle patterns. But the app’s predicted ovulation date should not be your only source of information.
How Should You Track Ovulation?
Use at least one fertility-awareness sign that gives you information about what your body is doing.
Options include:
Basal body temperature
Ovulation predictor kits
Urinary hormone monitoring
Cervical mucus monitoring
No single tracking method is superior for every person. Find a method you understand and can use consistently.
An ovulation predictor kit detects the luteinizing hormone surge that occurs before ovulation. Cervical mucus can help you recognize that the fertile window is approaching. Basal body temperature may help you see a pattern after ovulation has occurred.
The important distinction is that these methods use information from your body. A calendar prediction uses dates alone.
What Is the Best Time to Have Sex to Get Pregnant?
The day before ovulation and the day of ovulation are the top days to have intercourse when trying to conceive.
An egg can only be fertilized for a limited period after ovulation. Sperm can survive longer inside the reproductive tract, which is why having sperm present before the egg is released can be so important.
Do not wait until you assume ovulation is over.
Tracking your cycle helps you identify the fertile window while there is still time to act.
What Can Your Luteal Phase Tell You?
Tracking ovulation does more than help you time intercourse. It can also reveal cycle patterns that deserve a closer look.
One commonly missed pattern is a short luteal phase.
The luteal phase is the time between ovulation and the beginning of your next period. After the follicle releases the egg, it becomes the corpus luteum and produces progesterone.
Progesterone is essential to the implantation process. If the body does not produce progesterone for as long as needed, getting pregnant may be more difficult.
A short luteal phase is not something you can identify by knowing the first day of your period alone. You need an estimate of when ovulation occurred.
If your luteal phase appears consistently short, talk with your doctor. A clinician may consider the strength and timing of ovulation and evaluate potential contributors such as thyroid dysfunction, elevated prolactin, or hypothalamic dysfunction.
Your periods should also be reasonably regular and predictable. If they are not, do not wait a year before seeking help.
Mistake 3: Waiting a Full Year for a Fertility Evaluation
Standard advice often tells people under 35 to try for a year before requesting a fertility evaluation.
That one-year timeline only applies when everything else appears reassuring.
You are ovulating regularly. You can track your cycle. You are not experiencing significant pain or extremely heavy bleeding. Intercourse, erection, and ejaculation are possible. You do not have a known condition that can affect fertility. There is no concerning family history.
If all of that is true and you are younger than 35, then 12 months is the longest I would recommend trying without an evaluation.
It is not a requirement that you wait that long.
When Should You Get a Fertility Evaluation?
Here is the timeline I discuss in the video:
If you are younger than 35 and everything appears normal, get evaluated after no more than 12 months.
If you are 35 or older, get evaluated after 6 months.
If you are 40 or older, seek a fertility evaluation right away.
If you have irregular cycles, significant pain, very heavy bleeding, known endometriosis, PMOS, a history suggesting reduced ovarian reserve, or a sexual or sperm concern, get evaluated sooner.
If you want a fertility evaluation before these timelines, you can ask for one.
Do not assume months of trying “do not count” simply because you were not tracking perfectly. At the same time, tracking can give you and your doctor better information about whether intercourse was occurring during the fertile window.
An evaluation does not mean you must begin fertility treatment. You may receive reassuring information and decide to continue trying without treatment.
But if your fallopian tubes are blocked, there is no sperm in the semen, or you are not ovulating, repeating the same approach for another year will not solve the underlying problem.
Your time matters.
Mistake 4: Not Getting Proactive Fertility Testing
In my ideal world, you would get fertility information before spending months trying without it.
You would know:
Whether the uterus appears normal
Whether the fallopian tubes are open
What your ovarian reserve testing shows
What the semen analysis shows
Whether you are ovulating regularly
Not every test gives a yes-or-no answer about whether you will become pregnant.
Ovarian reserve testing does not directly measure egg quality or guarantee natural conception. It provides information about egg quantity and can help guide a larger conversation about age, timing, and reproductive plans.
A normal test result also does not guarantee that pregnancy will happen. Fertility is more complex than one blood test, ultrasound, or semen sample.
The point of proactive testing is not to create false certainty. It is to uncover information that could change your decisions.
You cannot make decisions using data you do not have.
What Does a Fertility Evaluation Include?
The specific testing should reflect your history, age, symptoms, and goals, but a fertility evaluation commonly considers:
Ovulation
Are you releasing an egg regularly? Do your cycle pattern and hormone signs suggest that ovulation is occurring?
The Uterus and Fallopian Tubes
Does the uterine cavity appear normal? Are the fallopian tubes open so the egg and sperm have a chance to meet?
Ovarian Reserve
What can testing tell you about the number of eggs remaining and the expected response to fertility treatment? What can it not tell you about egg quality or the chance of natural conception?
Sperm
What does the semen analysis show about sperm concentration, movement, and shape?
Sperm testing belongs near the beginning of an evaluation, not after every possible test has been performed on the female partner.
Mistake 5: Ignoring Lifestyle Factors That May Affect Fertility
People conceive under all kinds of circumstances. Knowing someone who became pregnant while smoking, using cannabis, drinking alcohol, or following a poor diet does not prove that those choices have no effect.
Fertility is not an all-or-nothing equation.
One behavior may not determine whether you get pregnant. But multiple exposures can contribute to inflammation and may affect the health and function of eggs and sperm.
If your goal is to give yourself the highest reasonable chance of a healthy pregnancy, I recommend:
Do not smoke cigarettes.
Do not use cannabis.
Do not drink alcohol.
Reduce ultra-processed foods and added sugars.
Limit exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals where possible.
Reduce unnecessary use of plastics, particularly around food and heat.
Support both egg and sperm health.
Make these changes during the preconception window, not only after a positive pregnancy test.
This does not mean you caused infertility or pregnancy loss because you were not perfect.
It means you deserve accurate information before making decisions. If there are exposures you can reasonably reduce, address them sooner.
Frequently Asked Questions About Trying to Conceive
Should I prepare before trying to get pregnant?
Yes. I recommend thinking of the approximately 3 months before conception as trimester zero.
Use that time to begin a prenatal vitamin, review your medical health and medications, reduce harmful exposures, and support both egg and sperm health.
Do I need to track ovulation?
I recommend tracking ovulation when you are trying to conceive.
Tracking helps you identify the days when intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy. It can also reveal concerns such as irregular ovulation or a consistently short luteal phase.
Can my period app accurately predict ovulation?
An app that uses only your previous cycle dates cannot know exactly when you ovulate during the current cycle.
Use a physiological sign such as an ovulation predictor kit, basal body temperature, urinary hormone monitoring, or cervical mucus. You can record that information in an app, but do not rely only on the app’s calendar prediction.
When is the best time to have intercourse?
The day before ovulation and the day of ovulation are the best days.
Because sperm can already be present before the egg is released, do not wait until after presumed ovulation to begin having intercourse.
Do I have to try for a year before seeing a fertility doctor?
No.
Twelve months is the maximum for someone younger than 35 when cycles are regular and there are no known symptoms, diagnoses, or risk factors. After age 35, seek an evaluation after 6 months. At age 40 or older, get evaluated right away.
Any concerning symptom or known fertility risk can justify an earlier evaluation.
Can I request fertility testing before I meet the definition of infertility?
Yes. You can request a fertility evaluation at any time.
My preferred approach is proactive. Knowing whether you ovulate, whether your tubes are open, what your ovarian reserve testing shows, and what the semen analysis shows may help you make informed decisions.
Does a fertility evaluation mean I have to begin IVF?
No. Testing gives you information.
You may learn that there is a barrier requiring treatment, or you may receive reassuring results and decide to continue trying without assistance. Having an evaluation does not obligate you to choose IVF.
Should both partners prepare and get tested?
Yes. Eggs and sperm both matter.
Preconception changes should include both partners, and a semen analysis should be part of a fertility evaluation rather than an afterthought.
The Bottom Line
Do not enter the trying-to-conceive process blindly.
Use the 3 months before pregnancy as trimester zero. Prepare your body. Include sperm health in the plan. Track ovulation using information from your body, not only a calendar prediction. Time intercourse around the day before and the day of ovulation.
Know the maximum amount of time you should try before an evaluation, but do not treat that maximum as a rule that prevents you from asking for help sooner.
If your periods are irregular, you have pain or heavy bleeding, you have a known fertility condition, or you are concerned about sperm, do not pass go. Get the evaluation.
Arm yourself with information sooner.
Understand your hormones, optimize your health, and take charge of your fertility with Dr. Natalie Crawford’s science-backed guide, The Fertility Formula: https://www.nataliecrawfordmd.com/book
Natalie Crawford, MD, is a doctor, but she is not your doctor. This article is for general education and is not a substitute for individualized medical care. Talk with your physician about your symptoms, medical history, medications, and fertility timeline.