So we sat down — Hannah and our fertility naturopath, Jacinta — and recorded the conversation we always seem to have in our clinic meetings. The practical stuff. The less obvious stuff. The things we wish every patient knew before they started, or earlier into the process than they usually hear it.
Here are the five things your fertility naturopath wants you to know.
1. Small, sustainable changes will always beat the big overhaul.
There’s something seductive about the clean-slate approach. New year, new you, gym at 5am, no alcohol, a completely overhauled diet starting Monday. And then it unravels. Not because you failed — but because that’s what happens when you try to change everything at once.
What actually works is smaller. One habit at a time. Maybe it’s eating breakfast before your first coffee. Maybe it’s starting to track your cycle properly. Maybe it’s swapping your lubricant for one that’s actually fertility-friendly. These feel small, but they compound — and because they’re sustainable, they stay.
There’s also the urgency question. Fertility journeys often come with a ticking clock, real or perceived, and that creates pressure to do everything immediately. But the changes we’re asking patients to make aren’t just for a six-week treatment window. They’re for life. Getting there steadily is getting there properly.
2. The basics are basic for a reason.
You can’t out-supplement a bad diet or a disrupted sleep cycle. No amount of ubiquinol makes up for consistently poor nutrition or a cortisol pattern that’s completely out of rhythm. The foundations matter — and building good ones before adding in any supplementation or IVF support gives everything else a better chance of working.
“Eating well” is one of those phrases that sounds simple but lands differently for every person. It’s not a universal list. What your diet needs to look like depends on your appetite, your schedule, your gut health, what your pantry actually contains. Getting that right is one of the first things we work through in a New Leaf consultation — not because we’re going to be prescriptive about it, but because understanding what’s actually going on is where personalised care starts.
Sleep, light exposure, time in nature, moments of genuine joy — these aren’t soft add-ons. They regulate your hormones, your cortisol, your melatonin. Getting morning light, having darkness when you sleep, finding even a small pocket of time where your brain isn’t absorbing information — these things matter in ways that are easy to overlook when you’re focused on the clinical picture.
3. The less obvious things make a crucial difference.
Fertility specialists are excellent at what they do. But they’re looking through a specialist lens — which is exactly as it should be. What a holistic assessment brings is width. Someone asking the questions that wouldn’t come up in a standard fertility workup.
Periodontal disease, for example. The research on its impact on fertility outcomes and placental health is significant — and it’s not something that comes up unless someone connects the dots. The vaginal microbiome is another one. Dysbiosis there can affect implantation, and it’s often missed until someone looks for it.
The therapeutic relationship itself is part of this. Feeling genuinely seen and understood — having someone be curious about your whole health picture, not just your cycle data — is healing in its own right. It changes the experience of the journey, and that matters too.
4. Male fertility matters. Full stop.
It’s 50-50. Always has been, always will be. The baby doesn’t happen without sperm meeting egg, and yet for too long, fertility investigations have defaulted to focusing on the female partner while the male side of the equation gets assessed much later — if at all.
New guidelines are changing this, and it’s overdue. GPs are now being encouraged to investigate male fertility from the very beginning of a fertility workup, not as an afterthought. We see the difference this makes in clinic. When significant sperm issues are identified early, treatment can happen in parallel — rather than 12 months down the track after everything else has been exhausted.
If you’re on a fertility journey as a couple, your partner’s sperm health belongs in the conversation from day one. A naturopath can support that side of things too — antioxidants, lifestyle, diet, and addressing any underlying health issues that affect sperm quality. It’s not separate work. It’s the same work.
5. You don't have to be perfect to get pregnant.
This one might be the most important.
People conceive without ticking every box. They always have. And the mental load of believing you have to be perfect — that one wrong food choice, one missed supplement, one glass of wine at your birthday dinner is the thing standing between you and a baby — is its own kind of harm.
What you can change, change. Do it steadily and sustainably. But hold it lightly. The two-in-the-morning spiral where your brain convinces you that eating a salad is why it hasn’t happened yet? That’s not useful information. That’s anxiety talking.
Be gentle with yourself. Genuinely. It’s not soft advice — it’s the foundation that makes everything else easier to sustain.
Watch the full conversation with Hannah and Jacinta on YouTube — they go deeper into each of these, share real case examples, and it’s a good one.
Ready to work with Jacinta? She offers a free webinar through New Leaf — watch it [here] — or book a consultation directly at new-leaf.com.au. We’re fully online and available across Australia.
One thing at a time. That’s where the magic happens.
