What it is
Trimester zero is the season before pregnancy. Mothers who are trying to conceive, or TTC, often ask what they can do now. Getting ready to get pregnant is less about a perfect plan and more about a few steady habits.
The egg that becomes your baby starts to mature about three months before it is released. The baby's neural tube closes by about day 28 after conception. That is often before a missed period. So the body you bring to conception matters.
Nearly half of U.S. pregnancies are unplanned, by CDC estimates. So the CDC and ACOG suggest that anyone who could become pregnant care for her health as if she might.
What's typical
Many couples start thinking about this three to six months before they try. A common path looks like this. You book a visit with your provider. You start a prenatal with folic acid at least one month before trying. You look at sleep, alcohol, smoking, and stress. You learn your cycle. Then you give it time. About 30 out of 100 couples conceive in the first month. About 85 out of 100 conceive within a year.
What's known
ACOG and the CDC agree on the basics: folic acid before conception, a checkup, up-to-date vaccines, and a review of any medicines. Lily Nichols, a dietitian who writes on prenatal nutrition, adds that nutrient stores built before pregnancy carry a mother through the sick, tired first trimester. Many cultures hold the same idea. Chinese medicine sees the months before conception as a time to warm and nourish the body. Science and tradition mostly point the same way here.
What helps
- Start a prenatal with folic acid at least a month before you try. Ask your provider which one.
- Eat real food most of the time: eggs, meat or beans, fish, dairy, vegetables, fruit.
- Protect sleep. Seven to nine hours is the target most sleep experts give.
- Cut back on alcohol and quit smoking if you can. Kick It California offers free help with quitting.
- Tell your partner this is a two-person project. Sperm takes three months to make, too.
When to call someone
- Nownot an emergency topic. Severe pelvic pain or heavy bleeding is always a call to your provider or 911.
- Todayyou take a medicine for a long-term condition and want to try soon. Some medicines need a change first. Do not stop on your own; call and ask.
- At your next visityou want a preconception visit, you are 35 or older, you have diabetes or thyroid disease, or you have been trying for a while.
Who helps
Tools: Due Date Calculator · Birthworker Directory
Related
- Eating before you conceiveBefore Pregnancy
- The preconception visitBefore Pregnancy
- Prenatal vitamins: when to start and what's in themBefore Pregnancy
- Tracking your cycle and ovulationBefore Pregnancy
- Coming off birth controlBefore Pregnancy
- Trying to conceive: how long is normal, when to ask for helpBefore Pregnancy
- Your partner's health before conceptionBefore Pregnancy
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Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Planning for pregnancy
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — Good health before pregnancy: prepregnancy care FAQ
- Lily Nichols RDN — Real Food for Pregnancy
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