IVF (in vitro fertilization) is one of the most popular types of Assisted Reproductive Technologies. During IVF, eggs are retrieved of a woman’s ovaries through surgery, fertilized with sperm in a lab, and then transferred back into the uterus.
If you wish to try IVF, you might want to know all about the treatment. What are the odds that IVF will work? Can anything be done to make IVF work better? These questions are sure to be revolving in your head.
Thankfully, there are some studies that may be especially helpful for people who want to become parents. Keep reading this article to learn more about how to make an IVF cycle work, especially on the first try.
Tips for Successful IVF
If you wish to achieve success on your first IVF cycle, here are some tips you can follow to increase your chances.
Maintain a healthy weight
Being too fat or too thin can affect your IVF success rate. Being overweight can also make it more difficult to examine your ovaries and makes egg retrieval more complicated.
Changes in diet plans and adopting a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in helping you maintain a healthy body. You can also seek professional help from a nutritionist or fitness coach to help with your weight loss ivf journey.
Optimize sperm health
The health and quality of the sperm play as much an important role in IVF success as the quality of the egg. Maintaining a healthy body, using multivitamins, and wearing boxers over briefs are some ways to improve sperm quality.
Men can also be started on medications to assist in increasing sperm quantity and quality, which can have a positive impact on the success of IVF. In some situations, sperm aspirated directly from the testicle rather than ejaculate may also be useful. Consulting a male infertility specialist for any anomalies in sperm analysis can help point out the problems that should be rectified.
Partner with an excellent doctor and embryology laboratory
When looking for your fertility doctor, look for someone who makes you feel at ease and connected. Your doctor will accompany you on this emotional journey, and it is critical that they are empathetic to your problems and supportive.
Asking for referrals from friends and family who know you best can help you choose a fertility expert with whom you feel comfortable, but do your homework as well.
It might be tough to evaluate reliability in the age of online reviews. “Be wary of online reviews; they are frequently completed by a select group of patients who had an extreme experience for one reason or another and may not be universally applicable.”
Reduce your stress
Signing up for IVF is stressful for both the man and the woman. Stress can directly affect how eggs in the ovary get fertilized. You can deal with this with acupuncture and yoga.
Quit smoking and alcohol
Smoking and alcohol can have a drastic effect on IVF success rates. Both of these can have a big effect on how likely you are to get pregnant after an IVF cycle. During your whole pregnancy, it is strongly recommended that you don’t smoke, drink, or use any kind of pesticide.
Look into taking supplements
Besides diet and exercise, your doctor may also tell you to take vitamins and minerals to help with IVF success. Folic acid, vitamins A, C, B, and E, and minerals like selenium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and folic acid all help the baby grow faster in the womb.
Instructions for Successful IVF for Men
There are also some ways for men to increase their fertility and help with IVF success. For an IVF process to work, the man’s sperm needs to be of good quality. Men shouldn’t do things like cycling or take hot or steamy baths because they can warm up the testicles.
Doctors may also advise the men to avoid stress and take supplements of vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E, zinc, selenium, and manganese. Getting regular exercise will also help them keep their BMI at the right level and lower stress levels.
IVF Success Rates by Age
The younger the couple is, the higher the chances of having a successful IVF treatment. This is because the quality of the sperm and egg decreases as a person’s age increases.
In India, the average success rate of IVF treatments is somewhere between 75-90%. Although it is a bit complicated to calculate, here is an approximate estimation of the percentage of successful IVF treatments based on a woman’s age.
Women younger than 35 – 80-95%
35-37 years – 70%
38-40 years – 60%
40-42 years – 40%
Over 43 years – 20%
Does ICSI Improve 1st-Time IVF Success
IVF can be done in two ways: traditional IVF and ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection).
In traditional IVF, the mature eggs are placed among several sperm for fertilization. If the sperm cannot fertilize the eggs on their own, ICSI, where a single, healthy sperm is injected into the egg’s cytoplasm, can be done to fertilize the eggs.
Traditional IVF is less complicated and less expensive than ICSI, but there is a higher chance that the egg won’t get fertilized. In other words, the sperm may not necessarily fertilize the eggs.
This is especially the case with couples with male-factor infertility. In such cases, ICSI is recommended to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.
Conclusion
In addition to doing all of the above things to improve your chances of IVF success, you must also trust your IVF doctor. After the treatment, the doctor may tell you to rest for two to three days. If you want your first IVF to work, you need to do what your doctor tells you to do.
FAQs
The average success rate of IVF in the first cycle for women under the age of 35 is around 50-60%. However, the percentage drops as the women ages. So, it is better to do IVF when you are younger for maximum chances of success.
Here are some tips you can follow to increase your chances of IVF success.
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Avoid smoking, alcohol, and drugs
- Be stress free
- Take some supplements prescribed by your fertility doctor
- Get active and do some exercise
- Maintain a balanced diet
There are a few other options after failed IVF that you may want to explore, including natural pregnancy after failed IVF, preimplantation genetic screening, IVF with donor eggs, and gestational surrogacy.
