Your desire for a child

As soon as you wish to have a child, you should take folic acid. Regular use can significantly reduce the risk of malformations in the baby, such as spinal defects, cleft lip and palate and heart defects.
Around 600 micrograms of folic acid are needed daily during pregnancy and usually cannot be compensated for by diet alone. Nevertheless, you can eat a diet rich in folic acid by eating a balanced diet with lots of vegetables, fruit, wholemeal and dairy products as well as fish. Pregnant women and women who wish to have children are therefore recommended to take an additional 400 micrograms of folic acid per day in tablet form up to three months before a planned pregnancy, and to continue to take this up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

Nicotine affects fertility in both men and women. This is the ideal reason to quit smoking when deciding to have a child, not just to cut down. This applies all the more after the onset of pregnancy, because cigarette consumption not only harms the expectant mother, but also the unborn child. The risk of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth increases, as does the child's tendency to allergies and infectious diseases.

Since there are no known limits for the safe consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, you should completely refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages if you wish to have a child, at the latest from the time you become aware of your pregnancy.

Being significantly overweight can have a negative effect on the quality of ovulation, so weight reduction is definitely advisable.
Approximately 50 % of all Germans are overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of > 25. A BMI of 30 or more is called obesity. Being overweight can not only lead to problems getting pregnant, but also to complications during pregnancy. The rate of miscarriages and malformations increases and there are more premature births due to complications such as gestational diabetes, malfunctions of the placenta or growth problems for the child. Ultrasound-guided monitoring is also much more difficult in overweight women because of the thickened abdominal wall. Being severely underweight also reduces the chances of getting pregnant, because it can lead to cycle problems - up to and including a lack of periods. For the sake of your own health and that of your unborn child, you should therefore eat a healthy, balanced diet and take regular exercise. If you are overweight or underweight, professional help is available in the form of nutritional advice or sports programmes.

If you have to take medication on a permanent basis, you should check with your general practitioner or gynaecologist whether this could endanger your pregnancy. It may then be necessary to switch to a different medication in advance. This applies, for example, to drugs used to treat high blood pressure, psychotropic drugs, anti-epileptic drugs and antibiotics.
In the case of chronic diseases, it is generally recommended that the medication is kept stable for about six months before the start of pregnancy, so that the risks for mother and child are kept as low as possible. If your partner regularly takes medication, he should also discuss with his doctor whether the quality of his sperm may be affected by it.

When planning a pregnancy, it is worth taking a look at your own vaccination certificate. On the one hand, infectious diseases of the parents can endanger the newborn or an illness of the mother during pregnancy can lead to miscarriages or malformations of the child. On the other hand, childhood diseases can be much more severe and even life-threatening in unvaccinated adults.
Both parents should have their vaccination status for tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), measles and poliomyelitis checked before becoming pregnant.
For women who wish to have children, it is important to also check their vaccination or immune status for the following infectious diseases:
Rubella, chickenpox, influenza, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus and parvovirus B 19 infection.