low sperm count and BD

[Briss]

My DH has 12 million which I thought was low (cos minimum is 20 million) so we started BD every other day as recommended for low sperm count couples. This obviously reduces our chances. I see that quite a lot of couples here have much less than that like 1-2 millions so I figured maybe 12 million is not that low and we should BD everyday? does anyone know at what point they recommend the "every other day" strategy?

 

[marie44]

They recommend every other day with low sperm count because it takes 48 hours to regenerate healthy sperm. It is not an exact science since every man is different but I have read every other day is optimal & my dr confirmed. If you're not sure, try every other day one month and every day the next month. My dh has about the same count and we had no luck with bd unfortunately but it is possible so keep trying

 

[Briss]

Thanks Marie, we try to use different strategies every cycle but when we do the "every other day" BD strategy I just have this very annoying almost guilty feeling that we have not done enough... it is so hard to see High or Peak and not BD

surprisingly our FS did not see his sperm count as a problem cos his morphology was less than 5% and motility 42% (to be honest these numbers do not tell me anything) she said we could still conceive naturally. Although considering our age and length of TTC suggested IVF. I do not think we get to IVF stage before the second half of this year so in the meantime am trying to maximise our chances for natural

 

[charbaby]

hi briss, my o/h has 70-80 million sperm but only 2% morph so we was told to do it every other day just because it supposedly will give us better chance xx Good luck xx

 

[Briss]

So far I have identified the following strategies (but the info is SO conflicting):

1. BD every day during the fertile period
reported BFP success on BaB - up to nine days in a row with a low count
a few reported cases of reduced sperm count following this strategy on BaB
It appears to have been shown, both with normal sperm counts and low sperm counts, that daily intercourse during the fertile period produces the highest pregnancy rates.

2. BD every other day during the fertile period
reported BFP success according to Fertility Friends charts;
it is said to have been proven that every other day is more effective than every day regardless of sperm count.

3. BD 2 days before O and the day of
one reported BFP success on BaB after 6 months of using this strategy with only 4 mill sperm count

4. to abstain for 5 days then BD 5 days in a row
Seems like abstaining for more than 2 days in not good "In men with low sperm counts, the researchers found the volume of semen increased after prolonged abstinence, but the quality got gradually worse the longer the men held back." https://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC276/333/22002/366291.html?d=dmtICNNews

 

[susan_1981]

My husband has a lower than normal sperm count but not that bad (one count was 18 million and another 17 million). I have been pregnant 3 times, first time I miscarried, second was chemical and third time is now (and I'm nearly 22 weeks!). Each time I have fallen pregnant, we have had sex every other day from CD6 to CD10 and then for 5 consecutive days from CD12-16 (I generally ov anywhere between CD14 and 16 so I'm quite easy to predict). The first time I fell pregnant, it only took 3 cycles, the next time it took a year and then after that another 2 years. As I said, each time I fell pregnant, we tried every other day and then 5 consecutive days. We also used pre-seed this time. So for me, it was more sex that worked. We tried so many months trying the every other day but it never worked for us (and for some reason we only tried the 5 consecutive days about 5 times and 3 of those times it worked!). I'm also sure I read somewhere about a study that had been done on men with low sperm count and it said that more sex (or just ejaculation) can increase sperm count. Not sure if this is true or not.

Good luck. Hope you get your BFP soon. I'd recommend getting some pre-seed as well

 

[lisap2008]

My DH's count is around 18-20 million and we got pregnant twice BDing every 3 days. his morphology is good though, in men with low morphology every over day is best.