Monday, March 1, 2010

Guest Blogger: Trying_to_Conceive.com

Tania from Trying-To-Conceive.com contacted me and wanted to write an article for my readers about recent technology in TTC:

Technology is Not Only Helping You get Pregnant: But Raises Your Child Too

"Are you familiar with the story about iPhone, there was a couple who was struggling to conceive for more than four years, the woman was even considering IVF treatment? After downloading and using an iPhone application for about two months, the couple’s dream came true and the woman became pregnant. The application in question works by entering the woman’s body temperature and then calculates the female’s ovulation days which are highlighted in pink, and she receives notification when it is the best time to have intercourse, thus increasing the chances of conception.

There is nothing new about female fertility cycle applications or ovulation calendars, and with some minor html and php experience, the calendars are actually quite easy to make. The basic data user has to enter in the beginning date of last menstrual cycle, the length of menstrual cycle, and the length of a woman’s luteal phase. Usually, ovulation calendars use default values (28-days for the menstrual cycle, which is also the statistical average for healthy menstrual cycles; and default value of 14-days for a healthy luteal phase), but the user must enter her own data in order to get personalized predictions.

There is a trick, however: the woman needs to measure her basal body temperature in order to know the length of her luteal phase; therefore, absolute automation is not possible. With the information given above, it is very easy to calculate ovulation days (the next ovulation date) and the best time for intercourse, if the goal is to conceive a baby. The formula is outlined as follows: “number of days of menstrual cycle – number of days of luteal phase = ovulation day”, which is how ovulation calendars work.

At this point, it is important to realize applications like these are not a solution for women who have irregular menstrual cycles or for those that have a shorter than average luteal phase. Women in these cases are advised to seek help from fertility specialists and should not rely on technology alone. However, for those women who have entered the journey of trying to conceive a baby and have a healthy menstrual cycle, an application like this can be a very beneficial option. For those couples trying to conceive, it is worth checking out these types of applications in order to improve the odds of conception and pregnancy.

Additionally, last year was quite revolutionary; the Baby Cry Translator was launched by Biloop Technologic (and later by iPhone). Baby Cry Translator is an application that helps new moms and dads detect why the baby is crying. The application works by identifying five emotional stages of stress or need; hunger, stress, fatigue, annoyance and boredom. Spanish researches note there is a great amount of studies supporting the notion that babies who are responded to consistently and appropriately will cry less and develop stronger social and cognitive skills. The application translated baby’s cry into emotional needs within 10-seconds and then provided parents a set of tips to help calm the child. The application works regardless cultural or lingual barriers, and the company claims it is more than 95% accurate, which helps many parents take the guess work out of why their newborn is crying."

Thank you Tania for the great information about the different technology that is out there. What do you think of Tania's article?

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