Three years ago Richard Johnson was told he would probably never have children. "It was pretty devestating, to be told that before I had even turned thirty," the 31-year-old IT security engineer says. "I had done a sperm test and it came back from the lab with 'suspected infertility' written on it." Doctors suggested IVF, but after five failed attempts, Richard and his wife Mona, 33, had virtually lost all hope.

But, on October 2, 2002, the couple became the proud parents of beautiful baby daughter Ashley. A miracle of modern science? Not quite. But, where two-and-a-half years of IVF didn't help, a more holistic approach did, courtesy of Sydney clinic The Jocelyn Centre.

"I was sceptical, but the results speak for themselves," Richard says of the strict four-month detoxification program that saw his sperm count rocket from virtually zero into the higher than normal range.

During that time, Richard and Mona weren't allowed many things. Trying to conceive was out. So too were alcohol, coffee, sugar and dairy products. But they could have truckloads of organic fruit and vegetables, herbal concoctions and vitamins.

"At first I called it tree-hugging hippy crap," Richard says. "You have to put in the hard yards, but you do adapt and get used to it."

And at the end of four months, after their very first conception attempt, Richard and Mona struck gold. "I couldn't believe it," Mona, a primary school teacher says. "I did the pregnancy test four times."

According to the medical director of Sydney IVF, Professor Richard Jansen, about one in 10 couples will not have conceived after a year of trying. And while 20,000 of them seek help at IVF clinics around Australia every year, a much smaller number will opt for a more "natural" approach.

Francesca Naish, naturopath, herbalist, hypnotherapist, author and founder of the Jocelyn Centre, says studies show that the program of "preconception health care" used at her centre has a 75 to 80 per cent success rate.

"We consider that if someone is infertile, there's a reason for that associated with their general reproductive health, and if they are going to be successful, that problem should be attended to before conception takes place," Francesca says.

Professor Richard Jansen, medical director, Sydney IVF, says the success of their program is largely age-dependent. "Up to the (womens) age of 34, there is a 53 per cent chance of taking home a baby, based on figures from 1998," Prof Jansen says. "After the age of 34, it falls rapidly, and is virtually zero by the age of 43."

The oldest mum to come out of the Jocelyn Centre was 47. Similarly, naturopath Catherine Chan-Bongaards, who runs a natural fertility clinic from Ourimbah on NSW's Central Coast, says the oldest first-time mum they helped to conceive was 48.

Cessnock couple Allison and Alan Smith tried IVF unsuccessfully for more than two years before seeking help from Chan-Bongaards. Within six months, Allison fell pregnant. "We were just blown away," Allison says. "And on June 21, 2002, we had a little girl, Mackenzie Rose."

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