IVF is run by your fertility specialist, and nothing here changes that. Our naturopaths and nutritionists in Geelong and Drysdale work alongside your clinic on the parts of the picture that are yours to influence between cycles: food, nutrient status, sleep, alcohol, weight and the strain of the process itself, for both partners.
Less than some websites claim, and more than nothing. Your fertility clinic diagnoses, stimulates, retrieves, fertilises and transfers. It does not usually have time to go through what you eat, how you sleep, how much you drink, or how you are actually coping. Those things are ours.
Most people who come to us are already under a specialist. Some are between cycles and want the next one to start from a better place. Some have had a cycle cancelled or a transfer that did not take and want to know what, if anything, they can change. Some are exhausted by the process and want someone to look at the whole of them, not just the protocol.
We don’t diagnose or treat infertility; that stays with your fertility specialist. Our part is the nutritional, herbal and lifestyle work that sits alongside their care.
An egg completes its final growth over roughly three months and a sperm cell matures over about ten weeks [1][2], so the months between cycles are where the modifiable inputs to egg and sperm health can be worked on. None of it replaces your protocol.
Diet pattern — a diet built around vegetables, legumes, fish, olive oil, nuts and whole grains is associated with better fertility outcomes in women and better semen parameters in men [3][4]. In one cohort of women under 35 having IVF, closer adherence to a Mediterranean pattern was associated with higher rates of clinical pregnancy and live birth [5]. That is an association in one study, not a promise; it is also the pattern we start from.
Nutrient status — the standard bloods your clinic and GP have run, plus anything missing from them. Measured, not assumed. The supplement your clinic has prescribed stays exactly as prescribed.
Blood sugar and weight — insulin resistance and weight in either partner influence egg and sperm quality and how the body responds to stimulation. This is worked on with food and movement, between cycles, at a realistic pace.
Alcohol, smoking, caffeine and heat — the inputs with the most evidence behind them, for men as much as women.
Sleep and stress — IVF is exhausting. We work on sleep, on the practical load, and on what can be taken off your plate; it will not make a cycle work, and we do not pretend it will, but it changes how you get through it.
What stays with the clinic — the diagnosis, the protocol, every medication and its timing, the decision to proceed, cancel or transfer, and anything to do with a pregnancy once it is confirmed.
We ask what your clinic has said about supplements and herbal medicines, and we follow it. Many clinics ask that herbal medicines stop before and during a stimulated cycle; if yours does, so do we. Anything we suggest is checked against your protocol, timed around it, and shared with the clinic if you want it to be. We never ask anyone to change or add to what the clinic has prescribed.
Depending on what we find, a plan can include:
A diet plan for both partners, built around the pattern the research supports and the food you will actually eat during a hard few months.
Correcting what is actually low on your bloods, matched to your results and checked against your protocol.
Blood sugar, weight and movement work between cycles.
A realistic plan for alcohol, caffeine, smoking and sleep.
Nutritional support chosen in consultation, and herbal support only where your clinic is comfortable with it and only between cycles.
Practical support through the cycle: what to eat around retrieval and transfer, how to manage the two-week wait, and where to get psychological support if the process is wearing you down.
We usually start two to three months before a planned cycle where we can, and we work at whatever stage you arrive.
Always for the protocol, every medication and its timing, and every decision about the cycle. Severe pelvic pain, heavy bleeding, sudden bloating with breathlessness or reduced urine during or after stimulation, a fever, or any concern about a medication needs your clinic or an emergency department, not a diet change. A positive test, a loss, or bleeding in early pregnancy goes to your clinic and GP first.
We don’t diagnose or treat infertility, and we do not adjust anything your specialist has prescribed. Seeing a naturopath during IVF is not a reason to add a supplement or herbal medicine your clinic does not know about; some interact with fertility medications and some clinics will pause a cycle over them. Your Fertility, the Australian government-funded fertility education program, sets out the medical side plainly.
Not with the IVF itself; that is entirely your fertility clinic’s work. What a naturopath can do is work on the modifiable inputs to egg and sperm health between cycles, diet, nutrient status, blood sugar, weight, alcohol and sleep, and help you get through the process, alongside your clinic and never instead of it.
Only what your clinic knows about and is comfortable with. Many clinics ask that herbal medicines stop before and during a stimulated cycle, and we follow that. Anything we suggest is checked against your protocol first, and your clinic’s prescription is never changed.
In research, diet quality is associated with fertility outcomes in both partners, and in one cohort women closer to a Mediterranean pattern had higher rates of clinical pregnancy during IVF [3][5]. These are associations, not guarantees. Food is one of the few inputs you control during a cycle, which is why we start there.
Ideally two to three months before a planned cycle, so the months in which eggs and sperm are forming can be worked on. Between cycles is the next best time. During a cycle we keep to food, sleep and practical support and change nothing your clinic has set.
1. Stephenson J, Heslehurst N, Hall J, et al. Before the beginning: nutrition and lifestyle in the preconception period and its importance for future health. Lancet. 2018;391(10132):1830-1841. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30311-8
2. Amann RP. The cycle of the seminiferous epithelium in humans: a need to revisit? J Androl. 2008;29(5):469-487. doi:10.2164/jandrol.107.004655
3. Gaskins AJ, Chavarro JE. Diet and fertility: a review. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018;218(4):379-389. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.08.010
4. Salas-Huetos A, Bulló M, Salas-Salvadó J. Dietary patterns, foods and nutrients in male fertility parameters and fecundability: a systematic review of observational studies. Hum Reprod Update. 2017;23(4):371-389. doi:10.1093/humupd/dmx006
5. Karayiannis D, Kontogianni MD, Mendorou C, et al. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and IVF success rate among non-obese women attempting fertility. Hum Reprod. 2018;33(3):494-502. doi:10.1093/humrep/dey003
If you are between cycles, or about to start one, and want the months around it to count, it is worth having both partners’ health looked at by someone who works with your clinic rather than around it. Our naturopaths and nutritionists consult from Geelong CBD and Drysdale, in person or by telehealth, six days a week. Bring your results and your protocol, and we will start by listening.
