Positioning For Conception

Throughout the years, there has been a great deal of conjecture about sexual positions and their effect on conception. Now, a new study on conception rates in artificial insemination (AI) finds that women who remain on their backs for a quarter of an hour after sex have a much better chance of becoming pregnant. This finding has the medical community abuzz, wondering once again about the effect on sex positions on conception.

Target: Egg

Back in the 1980's, there was a theory, based on the work of two American researchers, Rorvik and Shettles, that sperm have a hard journey to make in order to reach the female eggs and that gravity makes the work more difficult. Thus, couples were advised that having the woman flat on her back would assist the sperm in reaching their target.

Today, however, there is a consensus that sexual position has very little impact on the odds of conception. The sperm are going to make their way to the egg no matter what a woman does. Even if she stands upright, the sperm know just how to get where they're going and are positively dogged in their determination to reach their target. However, there's a caveat: if a woman has fertility issues, it sure can't hurt for her to enlist gravity on her side. Maybe this explains the AI discovery. If women are going for AI treatment, it's likely they have fertility issues. Maybe that extra time on their backs after the treatment is a little push in the right direction, so to speak.

From Behind

The upshot is that if you're having trouble getting pregnant, you may not want to use the woman on top position. However, some doctors feel that a tipped or retroverted uterus may be accounted for by having intercourse from behind with the woman positioned on her hands and knees. A tipped uterus is a normal physiological condition in which a woman's uterus tips backward instead of forward. Having intercourse from behind may allow the sperm easier access to the entrance of the cervix.

To maximize the effect of gravity on your baby-making efforts, place a pillow underneath your hips after sex, to raise them a bit. Stay like that for 15-20 minutes. It's not necessary to have your legs up in the air, and you don't need any specially-designed infertility pillow. You may want to cover the pillow with a towel to sop up leakage.

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