• Use effective birth control if you do not want to be pregnant.
• Take a daily multivitamin that contains 400 mcg of Folic Acid.
• Maintain a normal weight.
• Do not smoke.
• Do not consume alcohol unless you are using effective birth control consistently.
• Do not use drugs.
• See a health care practitioner to be tested for for sexually transmitted infections.
• Talk with your health care practitioner to make sure that your vaccinations are up to date.
• If you take prescription medications, talk to your health care practitioner about birth control methods that are safest for you.
• If you have a chronic illness such as diabetes or asthma, speak to your doctor about effective birth control methods or how your illness might effect a pregnancy.

Preconception Health for Professionals

• Health Watch 78 - How Healthy Are Colorado Women of Reproductive Age? An Evaluation of Preconception Risk and Protective Factors, February 2011
• Health Watch 75 - Smoking Before, During and After Pregnancy: Colorado Trends, May 2010
• Health Watch 69 - The Association of Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Adverse Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes, February 2009

Preconception care for women is a series of interventions to identify biomedical, behavioral and social risks that, if implemented when a woman is not pregnant, can improve a woman’s health but that also have the potential to improve the health of future children.
     - Preconception and Interconception guideline and tools
     - Contraception guideline and clinic tools

Preconception care for men are interventions for men that are important for improving family planning and pregnancy outcomes, enhancing reproductive health and health behaviors, and preparing men for fatherhood.  Preconception care for men offers an opportunity for disease prevention and health promotion.

Preconception Health Training

Before and Beyond Preconception Training Modules

How Healthy Are Colorado Women of Reproductive Age? - Webinar aired February 2011

Guideline for Preconception and Interconception Care - Webinar aired January 2011