When someone is interested in having a baby, they frequently search the internet for fertility tips. The problem when consulting “Doctor Google” is that you can’t be sure if the information you’re getting online is accurate (or even safe!). So the physicians at GENESIS are sharing their favorite fertility books you should check out.

FERTILITY: Why Microbes, Weight & Nutrition Matter

The common phase “you are what you eat” absolutely holds true for fertility. What we take in as far as diet can have profound effects on our fertility and wellbeing in general. Clare Fleishman comprehensively reviews the data around how the food we take in can directly influence our fertility and indirectly through the trillion of microbes that inhibit our body (the microbiome).

As opposed to many books focusing on approaches to diet and maintaining a healthy microbiome, Clare has scoured the literature to present a complete and easy-to-read synopsis of the data supporting the links between a healthy diet, normal weight and a normal microbiome. This book can serve as a guide to help patients adjust their daily intake to optimize fertility outcomes. Available in print and Kindle.

It Starts with the Egg

The quality of a woman’s eggs is one of the most important factors in how long it takes her to get pregnant. And if she does, whether she has an increased risk for miscarriage. This is true regardless of whether she is trying to conceive naturally or through assisted reproduction technology, like IVF.

The author, Rebecca Fett, is a science writer with degrees in molecular biotechnology and biochemistry, and laboratory experience in genetics research. But she does a great job translating scientific “clinic talk” so the average non-medical person can easily understand. With extensive research, the author put together a complete program for improving egg quality in just three months. Online fertility forums are raving over this book as the “ultimate reference guide for fertility and egg quality”. It Starts with the Egg was originally published in 2014, and later revised in 2019. Available in print and Kindle.

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The Fertility Diet

You are what you eat! How many times have you heard that phrase? It’s so true and now research from the landmark Nurses’ Health Study show that what you eat can affect your fertility. The Fertility Diet lists ten simple diet and activity changes you can make to improve your chances of getting pregnant.

The study examined the effects diet and other lifestyle changes had on the fertility of almost 20,000 female nurses. This book removes the clinical talk and serves it in everyday terms, so the average woman trying to conceive can understand the research. Set yourself up for not only a healthy pregnancy, but also a foundation for a healthy lifestyle that will work for your entire lifetime. Available in print and Kindle.

The Trying Game

Before becoming a mother, the author, Amy Klein, endured nine rounds of IVF, four miscarriages, three acupuncturists, two rabbis, and one reproductive immunologist. It’s safe to say she’s a fertility expert from the patient side. She wrote about her experience in her “Fertility Diary” column in the New York Times Motherlode blog.

But when she was still trying to get pregnant she wished she could review advice from medical experts and actual patients. A book with down-to-earth advice and options for every step of the journey. Such a book didn’t exist, so she wrote it. Empowering and compassionate, The Trying Game can easily become your no-nonsense guide to becoming a mom. Available in print and Kindle.

Making Babies

Making Babies offers a 3-month program designed to help couples get the best of both Eastern and Western medicine to enhance their fertility and increase their chances of conception.

Co-Written by Dr. Jill Blakeway, a Doctor of Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine and Founder of Yinova and Sami David, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist. Making Babies helps you to identify your fertility type and offers targeted advice based on your specific pattern. Learn about conventional treatments and testing combined with an explanation of how to use acupuncture and Chinese herbs to boost fertility. Available in print or Kindle.

Overcoming Infertility

This is an update of Dr Richard Grazi’s earlier book, Be Fruitful and Multiply. Over the years there have been huge advances in fertility medicine. While advancing technology is a benefit to couples with infertility, religious couples often find themselves psychologically and ethically challenged. Overcoming Infertility is an invaluable resource for Orthodox Jewish couples, their rabbis and doctors. It helps them understand and resolve the complex issues of fertility treatment as they relate to halakha.

Although this book is dated due to this rapidly changing field, most of the chapters present information that Jewish couples facing infertility will find to be timeless. Available in print.

Original post October 12, 2020
Updated September 22, 2022