What factors can cause secondary infertility?
Fertility issues are frustrating, stressful and painful, period. Whether you already have children or not, struggling to conceive is never easy and it’s not uncommon for women who easily got pregnant with their first to struggle the second or subsequent time around.
Secondary infertility is a diagnosis given to couples who have successfully given birth once but struggle to conceive or stay pregnant the subsequent time around. Secondary infertility affects approximately 5% of couples in the UK, which equates to roughly 1 in 20 couples.
Secondary infertility can be super confusing and frustrating, especially if you didn’t have any issues the first time around and can leave you wondering what changed.
If this is you, I’ve put together a few key things to rule out.
Nutrient status
Postpartum depletion can be a big factor in secondary infertility. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and raising a baby is one of the most taxing things you can put your body through. And where your baby usually gets all the nutrients they need, oftentimes this is at the expensive of the mum’s nutrient status, particularly if your diet hasn’t been brilliant.
All systems in the body need nutrients as co-factors (or cogs in the machine if you like) in order to function so being low on certain nutrients will start to impact your body’s ability to work properly. To start with the GP can run a Full Blood Count which will give you an idea of your iron, folate and B12 levels. Working with a nutritionist to run more in-depth testing and help you to safely replenish with food and supplements can be really beneficial.
2. Check your thyroid
Pregnancy puts a lot of stress on your thyroid as the amount of thyroid hormones needed is more than 50% to support baby’s thyroid and brain development. Having a struggling thyroid, postpartum is fairly common and can lead to symptoms like fatigue, difficultly losing weight, irregular periods, difficulty conceiving and also puts you at risk of miscarriage. In fact studies have shown that up to 23% of all new mothers experience thyroid dysfunction postpartum and as many of these symptoms can be chalked down to being a new mum, it often gets missed!
A full thyroid panel is recommended during the Fourth Trimester, as well as prior to the conception of a pregnancy. If you are experiencing secondary infertility this is something to rule out and again working with a nutritionist or functional medicine practitioner who can run more in-depth testing and help you to build levels back up can be super helpful.
3. Age
Where I firmly believe that women are capable of conceiving and carrying a healthy pregnancy at all reproductive ages, as we get older, we do come up against a few more hurdles. Egg quality and quantity start to decline in our mid-late 30s so if you are trying for number two a few years down the line, it will naturally be a little harder to fall pregnant. Doing everything you can to support your overall health and the health of your eggs is really important.
Packing your diet with anti-oxidants, minimising things like coffee and alcohol, prioritising sleep as much as possible and scheduling in time for yourself so you can manage your stress are all super important.
You could also look at introducing some supplements to support egg health including a good quality prenatal supplement (which includes folate not folic acid). There are a number of additional evidence-based supplements I recommend to my clients including Co-Enzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid and NAC amongst others but these are very much context dependant and on an individual basis. Please consult with your provider or get in touch if you’d like to work with me 121.
4. Male Factor
I always stress in my practice, that baby-making is a two-player game. Women often take on infertility alone and assume the issue is with them but research shows that impaired sperm function and male factor infertility is just as likely. A change in factors like diet, sleep, stress, weight gain, age, medications, environmental toxin exposure can impact sperm so it’s always worth both teammates getting checked out if secondary infertility arises.