Listen up, future dad: Your contribution to a healthy child does not begin and end at conception. Here’s your preconception To-Do List:
- Practice Girth Control: The higher your Body Mass Index (BMI), the lower your fertility. Overweight men produce significantly less sperm, and make more abnormal sperm than men at a healthy weight.
- Eat Well: A balanced diet helps men produce top-notch sperm that are more capable of fertilizing an egg.
- Mind Your Meds: Certain drugs, including over-the-counter medications, can affect your ability to father a child. Steroids, marijuana and cocaine can ruin your chances of conceiving.
- Lose the Booze: Heavy alcohol consumption impairs the production of normal sperm and hinders their ability to fertilize an egg.
- Keep It Cool: Your laptop computer could be sabotaging future fatherhood by elevating scrotal temperatures to ranges that hamper sperm production.
For more about dad’s role in making a healthy baby, see chapter 7 in Expect The Best, Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, & After Pregnancy.