Holistic prevention of miscarriage

How to reduce chances of miscarriage

Have you recently suffered from one or multiple miscarriages? If so, I’m so sorry for your loss. Miscarriages are very common, but I know this doesn’t make them any easier. They can be one of the hardest, most devastating things to go through.

If you’re looking for some answers, let’s talk about some common causes of miscarriage and what you can do to address them and to holistically prevent miscarriage.

What causes miscarriage?

Here are 7 of the most common reasons miscarriages happen:

Chromosomal abnormalities – often times this is just a fluke of nature and doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong
Egg and sperm quality – you want those cells to divide healthfully so that the embryo is viable and as healthy as possible. Sperm quality is linked to early miscarriages, around 6-8 weeks. So don’t overlook that.
Thyroid issues – I recommend getting a full thyroid panel. And do note that for fertility you want your TSH to be below 2.5, so a slightly different optimal range than for the general population
MTHFR – this is a common genetic variant that is strongly linked to miscarriages. You can test for this, but you can also just assume you have it and make sure you're taking the optimal form of folate in your prenatal vitamin. You can also test for homocysteine and B12 levels to see how well you’re methylating.
Blood clotting factors - there are several possible types of clotting factors. If you’ve had multiple miscarriages, you’ll want to rule these out. Often, just by addressing a potential MTHFR mutation, you can improve your clotting factors. But sometimes more is needed.
Hormone imbalances – I especially recommend testing your luteal phase (usually day 21) progesterone levels, which are linked to miscarriages.
Autoimmune factors

You can perform tests for these – for indicators of egg and sperm health, thyroid issues, progesterone levels, blood clotting factors, MTHFR mutation, and autoimmune factors.

We can also assess these based on your other symptoms and health history. I recommend working with a personalized health professional well-versed in holistic fertility to guide you in this. I do offer fertility coaching.

What can you do to prevent miscarriage?

The next step is to focus on prevention. I recommend taking 3-4 months – stop trying to conceive for that time, and focus on addressing these underlying issues and potential causes.

The Becoming Mama program is designed to holistically address all the factors that can affect fertility and miscarriages:

The Becoming Mama Framework

Together these 10 Steps provide a complete blueprint to holistically improve all the factors that affect your fertility.

You rinse and repeat these steps every cycle, and every cycle gets more and more fertile, until you're pregnant.

Plus a keep-the-faith mindset so that the stress of TTC doesn't affect your relationships, happiness, and fertility.

Interpret your body's signals
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Proper supplementation
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Biohack your fertility for hormone balance & egg quality
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Track your fertility progress to know you're on the path to pregnancy success
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You do this with diet, supplements, and lifestyle tweaks. These can be powerful, but you need to devote adequate time before trying to conceive - based on the biology of folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis, it takes at least 3 months to properly affect egg and sperm health.

Take that time to nourish yourself with supplements for egg and sperm health, and a really healthy whole foods anti-inflammatory diet. I’d recommend avoiding gluten and dairy in case there are thyroid or other autoimmune factors. I have a detailed 4-week fertility meal plan as part of the Becoming Mama program, with recipes and shopping lists, in case that’s helpful for you.

I would just go ahead and assume you have the MTFHR mutation, and make sure you’re on a prenatal that has the correct form of methyl folate. And toss all your supplements that contain folic acid, the incorrect toxic form of folate for those with the MTHFR mutation.

This should give you some empowering information and action steps to take. I hope it's helpful and I wish you the best.

I hope you have a beautiful day, and remember, your fertile health is a daily practice.

Katie