Books about Fertility

Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Best fertility book?

June 2007

I'll be 40 this year and we just started trying to get pregnant. The last time I did this was 20yrs ago! I feel a bit silly saying it, but I need to understand how to get pregnant now! I assume things have changed, docs know more now, etc. I want to start with a book I can read with DH (or to DH!). What's the best book out there for how to do the one thing I've been trying NOT to do for 20yrs?! Many thanks. hopeful

You're going to get this a million times - but Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler is the TTC bible.

Hopefully others will have recommendation as far as TTC at age 40 - but TCOYF should get you started as far as what fertility signs to look for - will help you figure out if you're still ovulating for starters! Good Luck!! Jennifer

I was in the exact same boat as you w/ the same questions. My recommendation is to talk to your Ob/Gyn right away. My 1st was not planned. Trying w/ my second and nearing 40 and it's been 8 months w/ no success. Wish I would have read some of these books and talked to my Dr. earlier. The 1st book is super important.

  • Taking Charge of Your Fertility - T. Weschler
  • The Mother of All Pregnancy Books
  • The Fastest Way to Get Pregnant Naturally
    If you go to Amazon.com you can see the authors of the other books if you pull up the first book. Also, I was able to find all these books in my local library. Other recommendation is to get knowledge quickly but then try to have fun. I keep setting deadlines for my self and I think that's caused stress & problems. Sex is automatic rather than natural. So, I'm probably missing biological signs that would otherwise spur timely sexual activity. Good luck. Anon
    I really enjoyed 'The Garden of Fertility'. Here is a link to the author's website http://www.gardenoffertility.com/ I think its a great place to get started and has good info about nutrition, etc. for good reproductive health as well as the basics of how to and how not to get pregnant. Kristina
    Taking Charge of Your Fertility helped us, I believe. I think that it takes a little patience to get to know your body and it's cycle. Also, I think having an Ovulator Predictor Kit (digital w/ smiley face) was extremely helpful. Kimberly in SF
    I liked ''Taking Charge of Your Fertility''. Lots about how our bodies work... anon
    Taking Charge of Your Fertility is the best book out there. Definitely worth buying your own copy. You'll learn so much about the way your body works. It's very rewarding. Took charge of my fertility
    I didn't read the question, but my favorite book was ''The Infertility Cure'', by Randine Louis I was told by fertility experts that it was unlikely I would have a child. After reading her book, I called her and she recommended Dr. Lifang Liang. I now have a two year old, which I had when I was 41. Happy Mother

    Clinical book about fertility/pregnancy

    January 2003

    I'm not sure if this should perhaps be an advice wanted posting. I'm looking for a fertility/pregnancy book that's really clinical, with explanations about what's really going on in the body. The book ''Taking Charge of Your Fertility'' is a good start (especially regarding hormone fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle and how they relate to fertility), but I'd like something more in depth, going beyond just the hormone fluctuations, and also with more expanations about why something occurs due to a particular hormone or process. eg: progesterone causes the basal body temperature to increase, but why? Basically, I'm looking for something less intense than a medical textbook, but more informative than the standard books I've looked at. However, I'm open to buying a textbook (say, at the UCSF bookstore since they are a medical university) if there's one (or two) that could provide a lot of information in a way that I could understand, but I don't know where/how to find the right one. I'd love to hear from anyone with suggestions.

    You might check out Resolve (www.resolve.org), a national organization that addresses issues of fertility and infertility. They have a collection of Fact Sheets on different topics related to infertility (and so by extension, fertility and the reproductive system) that I have found to be excellent in both the amount of real medical information and level of complexity. They are just right for an intelligent lay-person.
    I'm an ob/gyn nurse practitioner, and ''Taking Charge of your Fertility'' is the book I usually recommend to patients, but if you want real depth, the ''bible'' of the field is ''Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility'' by Speroff et al. I don't know of a book that's not a textbook that's better than ''Taking Charge..'' Good luck! (The Speroff book is very expensive...if you're in the Berkeley area, you're welcome to borrow mine, just email me) Debbie