Does low haemoglobin affect the chances of conception?
Q: I am living a happy married life. We got married a year back and we are now planning to have a baby. My wife's haemoglobin count is 9 %. Is this going to affect my wife in conceiving? Please explain me in simple words which is the best time for my wife to conceive after her cycle. There is no problem when we have sex and her periods are also normal.
A:Anaemia is inadequate level of haemoglobin appropriate for age & sex. The most common cause of anaemia in pregnancy is deficiency of iron (~85% cases) and folic acid. Even if a woman is not anaemic at the time of pregnancy, she may still develop anaemia as the pregnancy progresses due to increased demands of the developing baby. There are certain risk factors for women being anaemic and these include: poor nutrition, inadequate gap between pregnancies, persistent nausea or vomiting in early pregnancy and twin pregnancy. An iron deficient mother can have premature labour, intrauterine growth retardation (poor development of baby), severe anaemia due to normal blood loss during delivery and increased susceptibility to infection. For a 28-day cycle, around day 14 is the time for the release of the egg into the fallopian tube and the next 3 days, as the egg moves down the fallopian tube, is the ideal time for the sperm to meet the egg and fertilize it.