Doctors at Mater Hospital holding free sessions on how to conceive

Two of Sydney’s leading obstetricians are teaching adults all about “the birds and the bees” in a bid to increase the chances of couples conceiving naturally with the sessions helping women avoid IVF.

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Most students are taught the about “the birds and the bees” in high school, but is it seems many of us are forgetting about how to make a baby when the time comes to start our families.

So much so that two of Sydney’s leading obstetricians at The Mater Hospital – Drs Karen Sheng and Sean Burnet – are holding free information sessions teaching couples how to conceive naturally.

Ironically in our connected, information-rich world, many couples don’t know about natural fertility.

The Mater’s Dr Sean Burnet and Dr Karen Sheng are teaching couples how to conceive naturally.

Dr Sheng said a third of women who come to see her thinking they are infertile are actually fine but don’t know the basics of when they should try to conceive.

“A woman’s egg is only fertile for up to 24 hours, so timing for intercourse is very important,” she said.

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And she said many women do not know how to track their cycle or even know when they ovulate.

“We get people come in and say they have been trying nine, 10 months and have not fallen pregnant but they are only having sex once a month, or have not learnt how to maximise their chance,” she said.

“That creates anxiety and people start to think they are infertile. After six months only about 60 per cent of couples are pregnant, so I think having that knowledge will put people at ease as stress is not very good for people trying to fall pregnant.”

And tracking your cycle can now be done easily thanks to technology.

“To track your cycle there are different ways of doing so, so depending if their periods are regular they can use an app to see the fertile window, if periods are not regular, they might need help with fertility kits,” she said.

“The best time for you to be having sex to optimise the chances of conceiving is to have sex before you ovulate, not after, so knowing when you ovulate is important.

Amy Van Der Velden with 1yr old son Oscar show she had naturally after tracking her fertility. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“I say to people not tracking their cycle to at least have sex three to four times a week and that will increase your chance of falling pregnant.”

Infertility is considered if there is a failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse, which is why Amy van der Velden, 32, and her husband Michael thought they had fertility issues.

The Balmain couple tried for 18 months without luck and were considering IVF.

After consulting her obstetrician, she learnt to track her cycle, something she had no idea about.

“When we first decided, we’d been married for a few years,” she said.

“When we didn’t fall pregnant straight away, I wasn’t too concerned but, as a year went past, we thought we need to look into our options.

“To be honest for a female I was pretty naive when it came to that sort of stuff.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about it. I definitely think females should be more aware and know a little bit more about it, because I had no idea how it worked.”

Within months, she fell pregnant and baby Oscar arrived on January 7, 2019. Six months later, the couple fell pregnant again. The new baby is due in May.

“Because we struggled the first time, we never thought we’d be that lucky,” she said.

Originally published as Doctors at Mater Hospital holding free sessions on how to conceive