Fertility | Conception | How To Conceive and Get Pregnant

What not to say to a childless woman

Wendy Squires There are two words for the woman who announced it was a tragedy that I was chlidless.

The new wave of older mums

Michaela Fox Halle Berry recently announced she is pregnant at the age of 46, but it’s not just high profile women who are delaying motherhood – since 2001, there's been an 80 per cent increase in mums over 40 in Australia. So what's behind the trend?

Surrogacy's painful path to parenthood

Julia Medew Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, leading hundreds of people each year to pay women overseas amid difficult decisions and sometimes tragic outcomes.

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Why I took an Egg Timer Test

JOCELYN BREWER A single woman took a blood test to find out about her 'ovarian reserve'. This is what happened next ...

'It is possible': how one amazing family came to be

It seemed Lauren and Joe Kamnik would never have a family - until they started seeing things differently. Then life threw a few curve balls their way for good measure.

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Dispelling fertility misconceptions

Rachael Oakes-Ash A leading professor has spoken about fertility in the hopes of combating common myths regarding to pregnancy and conception.

Cancer no reason to avoid baby talk

Kate Hagan Research finds that fewer than half of young cancer patients discuss their fertility with experts before treatment, but there are options available to them.

Average age of mums still rising

The average age of Australian mothers is still rising, but not as rapidly as it was a few decades ago, new statistics reveal.

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The big question about baby number two

KASEY EDWARDS It's a question that can leave even the most confident women shaken, so perhaps it's best we just stop using it as small talk, writes Kasey Edwards.

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The big question about baby number two

KASEY EDWARDS It's a question that can leave even the most confident women shaken, so perhaps it's best we just stop using it as small talk, writes Kasey Edwards.

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No more menopause? Science beats fertility clock

JULIA MEDEW Melbourne doctors have learnt how to preserve a woman's fertility indefinitely, possibly helping avoid menopause altogether.

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I’m not going to have kids

ANDREW P STREET It's not just women who can think they've left it too late to start a family, as one man reveals.

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Why do some men refuse fertility tests?

KASEY EDWARDS Either person in a couple can have issues that make conceiving difficult. So why do a lot of men drag their feet when it comes to getting their sperm tested?

Local researchers in fertility breakthrough

Bridie Smith Melbourne researchers discover a way to protect the fertility of women who undergo cancer treatment or suffer from early menopause.

Endometriosis: the facts

EB staff writers Endometriosis is a condition that can cause pain and fertility problems in its sufferers. Here are the symptoms, treatments and other issues related to this condition.

Pregnant at 46, Dinnigan says women mustn't wait too long

Elissa Blake Collette Dinnigan, who is expecting a baby boy at the age of 46, warns other women not to leave pregnancy too late.

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Dad's age linked to gene mutations

Nicky Phillips Children born to older fathers start life with more genetic mutations than the offspring of younger fathers, scientists report.

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Pre-pregnancy planning at the EB morning tea sponsored by Elevit with Iodine

EB Team Fewer than 50 per cent of Australian pregnancies are planned, and less than 40 percent of women take folate before conception. That’s just a couple of the health concerns raised by Dr Debra Kennedy, director of Mothersafe, at the recent Essential Baby morning tea sponsored by Elevit with Iodine*.

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The business of making babies

Kishwar Desai When author Kishwar Desai began researching her novel abiout commercial surrogacy in India, she wasn't prepared for what lay ahead. Poverty-stricken surrogates give over their lives, bodies and rights to the "commissioning parents", while doctors, lawyers and tourism agents grow rich on the resulting deals.

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Skinny jeans a big problem for men

The skinny jeans trend for men is responsible for a range of health problems around the groin, including low sperm counts, twisted testicles and bladder problems, British researchers say.

Time women realise fertility myths before it's too late

Kasey Edwards The Wonder Clock app aims to women when their biological clocks will expire. But as Kasey Edwards points out, women need to face the facts and ignore the fertility myths - as well as apps like this.

The IVF lottery of joy and sorrow

Wendy Squires Wendy Squires has a deeply felt opinion that children aren't a given in life - they're a gift. And sadly, it's simply not every woman's lot or luck in life to reproduce.

Second baby blues

Bronwyn McNulty Your first child may have been conceived easily enough, but the second mightn't be such a simple process. As Bronwyn McNulty discovered, secondary infertility can be a heartbreaking experience for couples, even when they've already got children.

Sperm donation dangers

Jacqueline Mroz An American couple was overjoyed when, after years of trying for a baby, they had success with donated sperm. But when their son was born with cystic fibrosis, they realised just how fallible sperm banks can be.

How your diet can improve your fertility

Paula Goodyer One study has found that one in three men and women are deficient in vitamin D, while one in eight can't properly absorb folate. Both are important in the baby-making process, so eating smarter can improve your chances of pregnancy.

Breeding success

How to boost your fertility

Emily Dunn Protect your reproductive health to give yourself the best chance of conceiving.

It's a boom, baby, as births hit a new record

Jessica Wright Australian women have rewritten the history books by giving birth to 297, 900 babies in 2010, a new national record according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Having a child 'at the right time' is easier said than done

Alison Cassar As a 41-year-old woman who has been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for more than a year, I have a simple thing to say to the medical profession - wanting to have children is about more than biology.

Doctor told to keep mum - mother knows best when to have a baby

Janice Breen Burns Helen Meyer-Tinning, who gave birth to her first baby at 37 and second at 39, admits she sometimes thinks about how old she will be when her children are 21 or older. The issue is one, however, that she doesn't lose sleep over.

Lucy has a gay dad and a 'tummy mummy'

Neil McMahon Stuart Gent hopes his daughter Lucy will grow up believing herself blessed, a girl conceived and born with love in mind and with the greatest care and deliberation. She was no accident or afterthought.

Is this baby really a crime?

Tim Barlass From March 1, it will be a crime to enter into a commercial surrogacy agreement paying a willing mother at a clinic in India, as Krista and Matt Geary have done with their new daughter Elizabeth. The couple would be in breach of the new NSW Surrogacy Act.

Poor sperm? Blame it on your mother

Nicky Phillips Most men never want to think about their mothers when it comes to matters of the bedroom. But if they encounter problems with sperm production and infertility, they just might have to.

Fast lifestyle, faster sperm

Nicky Phillips It is a finding that could warm many men's hearts: size does not count and a paunchy middle is an advantage. Australian researchers studying how quickly sperm can travel inside the female to reach the egg have shown that having more than one partner is the key to faster sperm, in mice at least.

The miracle of conception is no metaphor for some women

Monica Dux No matter how hard you try or how desperately you want it, whether you get a baby or not is often outside your control.

Fertility breakthrough offers hope for breast cancer survivors

Julie Robotham, Medical Editor Toby Robertson is an only child. He was a toddler when his mother, Cath, received the devastating diagnosis of breast cancer, so the sibling his parents wanted to give him was not to be. Pink Ribbon day is October 26th.

Fertility not affected after taking the pill

Louise Hall Taking the oral contraceptive pill does not affect a woman's ability to fall pregnant after she goes off it, with four in five women falling pregnant within a year, a study has found.

Secondary infertility

Gill South A lot has been written about primary infertility, a medical condition which affects one in six couples of childbearing age in Australia and one in five in New Zealand. But there is another more silent group which doesn't get to voice their anguish as publicly.

Secondary infertility: facing an incomplete family

Gill South Secondary infertility can be as mystifying to the medical experts as to the couples involved.

The cold, hard facts on getting pregnant after 35

Lucinda Schmidt Halle Berry did it at 41. So did Nicole Kidman. Geena Davis had twins at the seemingly over-ripe age of 48. Has the slew of female celebrities giving birth after 35 meant that the rest of us now reason it's easy enough for us as well?

In the nick of time

Jacinta Tynan Over 35 and pregnant? Congratulations - you've beaten the biological clock. But as Jacinta Tynan discovers, friends yet to conceive may not be so thrilled to hear your happy news...

Surrogacy - could you do it?

Amity Dry Sarah Jessica Parker and actor husband Matthew Broderick have welcomed twin baby girls born to a surrogate. EB Blogger Amity Dry discusses the emotional minefield the experience must be for all involved.

Are you leaving it too late?

Louise Hall Fertility experts have called for an urgent public debate on the trend for women to delay motherhood because many of them still do not understand how rapidly fertility declines after the age of 35.

Is the weight worth it?

Kyra Sim “Lose weight” … it’s a prescription you may hear from your doctor or midwife to improve your chances of fertility. They dispense it so easily but is it really that important? Can you afford to ignore it?

News archive

What's the best age to have a baby?

Allison Tait When is the best age to have a baby? Whether it's your teens, 20s, 30s or 40s, each decade brings its own set of challenges and rewards - biological, material, emotional - as these four mothers tell Allison Tait.

Stem-cell injection may increase fertility

Ian Sample Infertile women may one day be given stem-cell injections to repopulate their ovaries with eggs.

Biological clock ticks for men, too

Louise Hall Children born to older fathers perform less well in intelligence tests during infancy and early childhood, research shows, adding to the body of evidence linking paternal age to neuro-developmental disorders in offspring.

Fertility treatment link to rise in defect risk

Nick Miller New research has linked fertility treatment with the increased risk of birth defects including malformed hearts, cleft lips and bowel problems.

Women seek fertility treatment in India

Raekha Prasad India is experiencing an influx of tourists from Europe and Britain to receive fertility treatment. The ads are brazen: 'Healthy young women - superovulated exclusively for you!' The fees are half those of clinics in Britain, even accounting for flights and hotels.