I have increasingly found that the books we have bought and borrowed concerning natural fertility are aimed at women. As a feminist, this grates a little. Whilst I absolutely categorically disagree with either party being 'blamed' for fertility problems, there is a long history of women carrying this sadness alone. In many cultures, there is never even a question that the fertility problem might be down to the man, and women are beaten, disgraced and made to feel worthless for not 'producing' children. In order to protect male feelings about virility and masculinity, they are not getting treatment that could help them have children.
Whilst a couple is trying to conceive, it is often the women who give up alcohol, smoking, drugs, bad food or whatever. This is great, but what about the men? There is now more of move towards recognising the health and lifestyle of the male in conception and a healthy pregnancy and baby, but boy, has it been a long time coming! I have a friend whose partner gave up drinking and smoking weed for a month or so whilst they were trying to conceive - when they were unsuccessful he went straight back to it, saying it clearly didn't make a difference! The average sperm and egg take around three months to develop so laying off the booze/drugs/fags/cheeseburgers etc. for three months prior to conception should surely be what men are encouraged to do?!
I wish the books we have got would be more helpful with male fertility issues - with fertility problems in general being divided pretty equally between male, female and unknown, it seems odd that every book lists 101 things a woman should be doing to optimise her chances with maybe a page saying that men should avoid saunas or something. Come on, we can't make these babies on our own!
2 comments:
I am so enjoying reading your thoughts and just wanted to post about a book on male health called The Male Herbal, which deals briefly with male fertility. I think that you have already read this? It suggests a programme of herbal treatments to build fertility and includes plants like Siberian Ginseng and licorice to alleviate stress and hence give the body space to increase sperm count, damiana, a nerve tonic with a strong affinity for sexual organs, saw palento and ho(? - haven't heard of this before), which increase sperm motility and red raspberry leaves and burdock root, which I'd always thought were specifically women's herbs but apparently they supply nourishment to the reproductive system of both men and women. Also the author, James Green, recommends a regular aromatherapy massage with rose essential oil as it is said to increase sperm cell count and is beneficial for the nervous, emotional and circulatory systems too. Apparently this can be used internally too - one drop of pure rose essential oil in a little honey and water daily for two weeks, rest a week, then repeat. Sounds quite yummy actually!
Thanks love, very helpful, though convincing R to have a massage will be another thing altogether! x
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