As soon as you decide you are ready to try to have a baby, or if you have been trying without success to get pregnant, you need to boost your chances of having a baby by doing everything in your power to conceive.

For most couples, this means making some health and lifestyle changes. While there are many things the woman must do, it is also true that baby-making success is shared. There are some changes men can make to up the odds that they will become fathers.

This post is about some of these changes men need to make in order for a couple to get pregnant.

More Frequent Sex

More frequent sex is an obvious recommendation, given that it is bound to increase the odds of having sex during that relatively brief period (a couple of days or so) during the monthly cycle when a healthy woman is most fertile and likely to conceive, which is around the time of ovulation.

Couples who have more frequent sex at the right time of month increase their chances of becoming pregnant.

Nutrition and Supplements

Both of you need to be eating healthy. In addition, the man needs extra zinc to increase the numbers and vitality of sperm. There is zinc in chocolate, chicken and seafood, but the easiest way to be sure you are getting enough zinc is to take a zinc supplement, widely available at drug stores or pharmacies (chemists).

He also needs more Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, abundant in milk, but also easiest to take in the form of a supplement or multi-vitamin.

The Underwear Issue

Most men go for comfort rather than style, whether they choose Y-fronts, mankinis, jockies or boxers. But this comfort may be too warm for the health of his sperm, that are ideally healthy when they are a couple of degrees cooler than body temperature (which is why they’re housed outside of the body).

This means when you’re still trying to get pregnant for your man there can be no tight underwear, no tight jeans, no long hot baths or steam room or hot tubs – cool it to keep the sperm healthy. It’s loose and comfortable boxers for him until you’re expecting.