Cold Feet, Cold Uterus; Warm Feet, Warm Uterus

Have you ever heard the saying, “Cold Feet, Cold Uterus?” I have! I struggled with a TCM diagnosis of Cold Uterus when I was trying to conceive. All my acupuncturists said the same thing: you need a warm uterus for successful implantation, and Warm Feet = Warm Uterus.

After two years of infertility, miscarriage, and stress, I decided I was going to do ALL THE THINGS and give getting pregnant my best shot.  One of the many things I decided to do was always keep my feet warm, as the acupuncturists had advised!

This meant even though it was summer I never wore flip-flops, I always wore socks to bed, and my husband would tuck a heating pad around my feet at night.  I also did nightly foot soaks.

Although I don’t really know which of the 79 things I did to get pregnant worked, I had been keeping my feet warm for about two and a half months when I got pregnant! Years later, I did it again a second time. 

In this post, I’m going to talk about why it’s important to keep your feet warm when trying to conceive and then give you the four easy ways I did it!

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Why is it important to keep feet warm for fertility, according to Chinese Medicine?

The short answer is it is important because they are connected to your womb, and if your feet are cold, then you womb is cold, and you are not getting pregnant.  This comes from Eastern Medicine, aka, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  

It is important for everyone trying to get pregnant, but most important for our body for those of us diagnosed with a “cold uterus.”  This is usually thought of as a combination of kidney yang deficiency and blood stasis (both of which I had).

Some symptoms of having a “cold uterus” are a slow rising or early declining basal body temperature, indicating that the warming hormone- progesterone, isn’t doing exactly what it should.  You might also have cold hands and feet, clots during your period, and need to pee at night.

You want your womb to be a lush, warm jungle of nourishment for your baby.  It isn’t just that you need it warm for an embryo to implant and grow, but you need warmth for proper blood circulation in the uterus.

So you want to legitimately keep the temperature of your uterus warm to ensure your uterine lining is lush for implantation and that a newly snuggled-in embryo will be properly nourished.

Warm Feet = Warm Uterus

Oh, right. So, here’s the yang thing- in Chinese Medicine for women’s health, the temperature of your feet is related to the temperature of your womb.  Keeping warm feet keeps all of the energy meridians in your legs warm.  

These meridians bring the energy up to your uterus and the entire pelvis area.  If your feet are cold, your uterus is cold.  If your feet are warm, your uterus is warm.  So, let’s warm up those feet!

How I Kept My Feet Warm When Trying to Conceive to Avoid a Cold Uterus

Never, ever, ever wear flip-flops as a shoe.  

I always keep my tootsies covered, even in the summer.  I can’t tell you how often I used to wear flip-flops or open-toe sandals during the summer.  Then, I would drive in an air-conditioned car or go to an air-conditioned building and my feet would become ICE.  

I was freezing my uterus.  Now, I either wear socks and shoes. If I have to dress up, I wear a closed-toe shoe with a small hidden footie sock (like these ones on Amazon).

In the evenings, I would do a hot foot soak for about 15 minutes.  

These tips were recommended by my Chinese medicine acupuncturist.  She suggested I sit with my feet soaking in the hot water, and imagine all the cold leaving the bottom half of my body and going up to cool off my head and my heart (which were “hot” from anxiety).  

She also suggested I imagine the heat from my head and heart coming down to my womb, legs, and feet.  I didn’t use a plastic foot tub as I worried about the toxins in the plastic leaching out into the hot water and then into me.  

So I either used my actual tub or had my husband haul a big glass bowl we had down to the couch.  There are some excellent non-toxic options on Amazon if you are looking to invest: a lovely Cedar Wood Foot Basin Tub (I’m putting this on my wish list RIGHT NOW), and a much cheaper porcelain bowl that will make you feel like you’re in the 1800s.  

You can make the foot soak fancy with ginger, essential oils, or epsom salts, but I usually just did plain hot water. Make sure you are filtering your water of fertility-harming toxins- see my full post on this topic here! Then read, relax, and enjoy the hot water. Self-Care is so important when TTC!

I wore crazy warm socks to bed.

You know, the unattractive, fuzzy, fleece kinds. If it was winter, I wore these socks called Heat Holders that claim to be “The Warmest Thermal Socks.”

My mother had given us each a pair one Christmas and I stole my husband’s and alternated between ours. For good fertility juju I recommend a pink or green variety :-). 

Kept a heat pack on for warm feet at night.

Every night at bedtime, my wonderful husband would microwave a heat pack for me and tuck it around my tootsies.  

I can’t find the one we use online, but here is one like it on Amazon. I also use mine on my womb during my period.

Keeping the Uterus Warm for Implantation

Keeping your feet warm to avoid the Cold Feet Cold Uterus conundrum is a great first step. But there are so many other things you can do to increase the chances of implantation when trying to conceive or after an embryo transfer.

And, don’t forget to do ALL the things when you get your period, including using a heating pad on your uterus.

If you need help finding an acupuncturist, check out my guide here to finding a great acupuncturist for fertility.

Well, there you have it!  What do you do to keep your tootsies warm while trying to conceive?