too much DTD

[lovemybubs]

Hi,

Just wanted to ask a quick question... is DTD everyday really bad for TTC?

We are trying to do it every second day but for some reason we just cant help ourselves and end up going for it every night.

Should i get serious and sleep in the spare room if i have to or will it not make much difference? how embarrassing

[Heaven]

lol, look at my chart, I'm not too worried about DTD daily.
This may interest you:

IN a contradiction of conventional wisdom on the subject, research has shown those who do not have sex often produce sperm of lower quality than those who do so daily.

International researchers, including Australian doctors, believe sperm's DNA becomes more damaged the longer it remains in the body, cutting the chances of fertilisation and raising the risk of a miscarriage in the first weeks of pregnancy.

The findings, presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's annual conference, will be of particular significance to couples undergoing fertility treatment.

Men are currently advised to stop having sex in the days before they provide a sperm sample for IVF treatment.

Until now, abstaining from sex in the three to seven days before treatment was thought to increase the quantity of sperm produced and improve the chances of pregnancy.

Australian researchers looking at the sperm quality of more than 40 men whose wives had either failed to get pregnant through IVF or had repeatedly miscarried found that when the men had no sex for three days, their sperm contained high levels of DNA damage.

Tested again after having sex every day for a week, the amount of damage dropped by a third.

While the amount of sperm produced had also fallen, fertility doctors said the improvement in quality would help men in their quest for fatherhood.

Researcher Dr David Greening, from the clinic Sydney IVF clinic, said: "I'm convinced ejaculating more frequently reduces sperm DNA damage in most men."

Dr Allan Pacey, a male fertility expert from Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, said the research appeared to suggest that sperm sitting in the body accumulates damage as it ages.

He added: "If sperm is released in a steady stream, the sperm that is ejaculated contains newer and less- damaged cells."

[Kitt3n]

Thanks for that SJ - what a great excuse!

[Heaven]

Now I'm curious. Doing a bit of googling and this is what I've found:

Conception Myths
Having sex too much and masturbation can lower your chances of getting pregnant. While technically if a man ejaculates too frequently his overall sperm count in subsequent ejaculate will decrease, meaning less of a chance of a sperm reaching the egg. However, men can replenish their sperm count within two days, and one study found that couples who had daily intercourse had the highest fertility rates. Cutting out masturbation on the part of dad-to-be may be a good idea, but sex every day shouldn't hurt your chances of conception.

Myth: Having sex every day will increase our chances of conceiving.

The truth is that timing sex during the most fertile days of a woman's monthly cycle will increase your chances ? not how many times you have sex. Generally, the best time to try to conceive is during the 11 - 17th days of a woman's menstrual cycle based on a 28-day cycle. Since a man's sperm can live for 48 - 72 hours in a woman's reproductive tract, intercourse every other day during this period is recommended. A study found no difference in pregnancy rates between couples that had sex daily and those who had sex every other day.[1]

Whether or not you need to have sex everyday in order to conceive depends upon a few things. If it has been determined that the man has low sperm count - it would be best to practice the every other day intercourse - or to wait until the day before the expected ovulation. If there are no problems with sperm count - it would be perfectly okay to have intercourse every day. This depends on your stamina, preferences and determination. If you pretty much know when ovulation occurs every month - it?s only important to have intercourse the day before or the day of and the day following - in case there is another egg released. However it may increase your chances of conception to do so more often.

Can having too much sex affect our chances of conception?

Expert Answers

Sherman Silber, fertility specialist

No. While many couples believe they have to save the man's ejaculate until the exact moment of ovulation, that's not true. In fact some couples become so obsessed with timing sex during ovulation that they actually hurt their chances of getting pregnant. Stressing over ovulation can wreak havoc on your cycle ? not to mention your marriage!

It's a myth to think you should have less sex in order to conceive. All the evidence shows that the more you have sex, the better your chances of getting pregnant. In fact, having sex often ensures that the sperm in a man's ejaculate is as healthy as it can be. Storing it up can decrease its motility, so don't be tempted to put off intercourse until you ovulate, and don't abstain for more than seven days in a row. While it's true that the density of sperm in each ejaculate diminishes with frequent orgasms, all that really matters is that there is some sperm in the woman's fallopian tubes during the time of ovulation.

[Sequoia]

My FS told me to DTD every day before and after O (about 3 days either side), worked for us! Oh and mostly DTD in the morning, rather than at night, no idea if it made a difference or not.

[Shanti]

I think alternating between a.m and p.m if you can, that is a good thing.

We dtd every day during the fertile days and it does get a bit addictive the more you have it the more you want it! Well, we do anyway!! tee hee.....

Like Sara posted, there is a lot of new research and alot of FS now telling people to go home and dtd daily around your fertile days but they say to try and wait until 3 days before you O before you start shagging like mad.... to allow your partners sperm to build up and then go for it!!

We've tried every 2nd day for 2 cycles and it didn't work for us neither has dtd daily yet....... one day it will......

[slyder]

Emz, I don't think it's possible to DTD too often

Assuming your partner has a healthy sperm count and quality, DTD every day would be fine in my book. Yes, the quantity will be less, but the advantage of waiting an extra day for an extra percentage of sperm is outweighed by the greater number of available sperm released overall for the duration of your fertile period if you DTD every day anyway. Make sense? - ie. if your partner gains an extra 10 million sperm by waiting an extra day, but releases, say 30 million daily, obviously the greater number is better

Alternating days
Day 1: 40 million
Day 2: 0
Day 3: 40 million
Day 4: 0

= 80 million

vs

Every day
Day 1: 30 million
Day 2: 30 million
Day 3: 30 million
Day 4: 30 million
= 120 million

Every day or ever second say for a normally fertile couple is fine. Just do whatever you want to do in that regard.

PS. I just made those sperm count numbers up based on very rough averages. Don't take that as gospel.

[Shanti]

Exactly Slyder, you've worded it and described it well if i wasn't so tired I probably could have tried to explain it like that.... you did well! tee hee

So there you go Emz, no need to sleep in another room tonight

[slyder]

Exactly Slyder, you've worded it and described it well if i wasn't so tired I probably could have tried to explain it like that.... you did well! tee hee

Took me forever though. I had the luxury of the edit button!

[lovemybubs]

Thanks for the help everyone. I really thought were doing the wrong thing.
Haha the look on DF's face when i told him the good news was just too funny!!

Thanks, em