6 Reasons You’re Struggling to Get Or Stay Pregnant (Even If You’re Doing Everything Right)

You’ve cleaned up your diet. You’re tracking your cycle. You’ve cut back on caffeine and swapped wine nights for mocktails. 

You’ve cut out gluten and dairy.

Maybe you’ve even tried acupuncture, a naturopath, laundry list of random supplements, and all the things Instagram tells you to do to boost fertility.

And still… no positive test OR you’re struggling to maintain pregnancy.

If that’s where you are right now, first take a breath. It’s not your fault. So many women feel like they’re “broken” when their body doesn’t respond the way they expect. 

But the truth is, fertility is about more than just trying harder or doing everything perfectly.

There are often deeper reasons your body is struggling to conceive..

but the good news is, once you understand the “why” you can start focusing on the right steps for your body. Let’s dig into 6 common reasons women struggle with fertility (even when they’re doing everything “right”).

1. You’re Not Actually Ovulating Regularly

You can have a monthly bleed and still not be ovulating. Without ovulation, there’s no egg to fertilize… and without regular ovulation, timing conception gets tricky. Also, ovulation is where we make progesterone. Healthy progesterone levels are imperative for fertility. Stress, poor gut health, thyroid issues, or conditions like PCOS can all interfere with ovulation.

👉 Clue to look for: Your basal body temperature never rises, you don’t see egg-white cervical mucus mid-cycle, or your cycles are greater than 37 days or MIA most months. 

2. Your Minerals Are Out of Balance

Magnesium, zinc, copper, and selenium all play huge roles in hormone production, egg quality, and a healthy luteal phase. When minerals are depleted from stress, restrictive diets, or even years of birth control, your body may not have the raw materials it needs for conception.

👉 Clue to look for: Chronic fatigue, painful periods, feeling “wired but tired.”, it taking months to get your cycle regulated after stopping the pill.

3. Your Gut Health Is Wrecking Your Hormones + Driving Inflammation

Your gut health isn’t just about digestion — it also processes and eliminates excess estrogen and toxins. If your gut is sluggish, inflamed, or out of balance, estrogen + toxins/waste can be reabsorbed back into your system and throw off your hormone balance. This can make cycles irregular, PMS worse, and ovulation harder to track.

👉 Clue to look for: Bloating, constipation, IBS-like symptoms, brutal endo symptoms, and “endo belly.” (IYKYK)

4. You Lack of Safety In Your Body

When your body is constantly in fight-or-flight mode, cortisol takes priority over progesterone. Progesterone + cortisol actually come from the same hormone building blocks. Your body will actively shunt resources towards cortisol during periods of higher stress.

Without enough progesterone, it’s harder to conceive and harder to maintain a healthy luteal phase that comes without all the miserable PMS or period symptoms. Stress isn’t just under eating or toxic marriage or job. Stress can ALSO be poor gut health + nutrient deficiencies. Your body needs SAFETY to heal. Safety to balance hormones.. To ease your cycles… to support fertility + healthy conception This is why stress — physical and emotional — matter more than most women realize.

👉 Clue to look for: Short luteal phases (less than 10 days), spotting in between ovulation + your period, constantly feeling on edge, not being able to sleep at night, digestive issues, wired but tired or always feeling drained.

5. Inflammation Is Silently Sabotaging Conception

Endometriosis, PCOS, Hashimoto’s, and even undiagnosed chronic inflammation can all interfere with egg quality, implantation, and hormone communication. Inflammation also increases oxidative stress, which impacts both eggs and sperm quality/ amount. Chronic inflammation can lead to that lack of safety I was JUST talking about.

👉 Clue to look for: Painful periods, joint pain, body aches, skin flares, or a diagnosis of a chronic condition or autoimmune disease.

6. You’re Following Random Advice Online + Cookie Cutter Recommendations

The internet is full of fertility hacks and more often than not, fertility specialists are using the same approach/ solutions with EACH patient, but the truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to boosting fertility. 

What worked for your friend or that influencer you follow may not be the missing piece for you. If you’re not working with your body’s unique needs, you may end up spinning your wheels without progress. 

👉 Clue to look for: You’re exhausted from trying it all + HAVE tried it all, but your cycle and symptoms haven’t shifted + you’re still not pregnant (or you’re struggling to stay pregnant)

If you’ve been struggling to conceive, please hear this: you are not broken. 

And this isn’t it for you.

Your body is trying to tell you something. It’s communicating that it needs DEEPER support…

And once you start listening to these signs, everything changes.

IVF can be helpful, but it shouldn’t be the first step for everyone because there’s a LOT that can be done before dropping that kind of money just to essentially gamble. And ya’ll I mean BIGGG MONEY :( 

That’s exactly why Kyndle + I created our Free Body Wisdom: Fertility Clues Quiz.

This quiz helps you uncover your unique WHY behind fertility struggles and gives you tangible steps to focus on right now to help.

No more guessing, no more cookie-cutter advice. 

Just clarity on what your body needs most.

✨ Take the quiz here

Because you deserve to feel supported, empowered, and connected to your body again.

And if you feel that you need deeper support, our Nourish to Nurture root-cause focused fertility prep program can help you restore hormone balance, heal your gut, and prepare your body for a healthy future + pregnancy (whether that’s now or later).

At the end of the quiz, you can find more info about this program if you’d like to learn more. And as always, my DMs on IG are always open!