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Infertility Support and Discussion
IVF and child health
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Anonymous
| Does anyone know what the low down is on this topic? I have a DS with mild special needs and would need to do IVF for another child. I would be going for natural cycle IVF if that makes any difference to this question. TIA! |
Anonymous
| a little confused by your question - are you trying to screen for genetic defects to avoid a particular known syndrome? |
Anonymous
| I believe the OP is referring to the health issues that IVF babies can potentially be born with. Yes, there were some studies done in this regard, but I believe the risk was not that high to be concerned about. Just Google and you will be able to get more information. |
Anonymous
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I found this article on MSNBC, which might be helpful: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3076781/
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Anonymous
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No difference of congenital defects between IVF babies and spontaneously conceived babies.
Been plenty of years (over 30) of epidemiological data to figure that out... |
Anonymous
| OP here. Yes, I was referring to potential health complications for the child due to either the fertility drugs, culture medium, etc etc. We have enough on our plate with our mild SN child and would not be able to do justice do another one with needs. I know that no one can tell me anything with certainty but I wondered what the research has shown to date about IVF kids. Thanks to those who have responded to far. |
Anonymous
This is simply not true. While the risk is still low, there is a substantially higher risk of a variety of defects in IVF babies. http://www.webmd.boots.com/news/20100614/ivf-and-icsi-increases-risk-of-malformations |
Anonymous
| My understanding from reading some of the studies is that the increase in issues (hate the word, "defects") for babies conceived from IVF may have more to do with the reasons for infertility than the ivf procedures themselves... |
Anonymous
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Agree with 15:05. The "defects" are not a result of the IVF process.
If you're concerned about a special needs child, then you could request PGD to be performed on your embryos prior to transferring them. That would screen out for certain genetic diseases. |
Anonymous
| PGD does not rule out all problems or increase your success with IVF. |
Anonymous
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Right, that's why I said "certain" genetic diseases.
You make a good point though that PGD will not increase overall success with IVF. In fact, it may hurt your chances of success somewhat because it will subject the embryo to an extra procedure, and fragile embryos may not be able to handle it. |
Anonymous
The evidence is not yet clear on whether the higher risk of issues is due to the parents' compromised genetic material or IVF processes themselves. More research is needed. |
Anonymous
| The best thing you can do if you are worried about the effects of IVF on your future child is to ask for a signle embryo transfer (which is what you'll get with natural cycle IVF). The small possible increased risks due to IVF pale in comparison to the increased risks associated with twins. I say this as someone who is now pregnant with twins after my first 3 IVFs (all single embryo transfers) failed and I decided to transfer 2 embryos for my last "hail mary" cycle. Nature has a funny sense of humor sometimes... |
Anonymous
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"The evidence is not yet clear on whether the higher risk of issues is due to the parents' compromised genetic material or IVF processes themselves. More research is needed."
Agreed -I believe recent large-scale studies show overall that IVF kids have double the chance of genetic and other problems, but that the chance is still very low (like 2% vs. 1%). If you use ICSI, there are definite problems associated with that, although rare (and the very worst syndroms are very rare (like 1/60000). Although most studies say ICSI isn't associated with learning problems, I believe IVF/ICSI kids tend to be more delayed during their first year (but later catch up). However, ISCI has only been used for 15 years, and has only been used fairly regularly for less than 10 years, so long term effects are unclear and there certainly is less know about it than IVF. And if you have mulitples, the risks are even greater, both compared to an IVF/ICSI child and a child conceived without ART. |
Anonymous
| PP, why do you think IVF babies are delayed in the first year - it sounds like you've observed it yourself. Will you elaborate please? I worry as well about what the chemicals are doing to the most vulnerable embryonic state. I'm talking about the chemicals in the culture medium and also about the processes of freezing and thawing. Then there is the sperm injection. It makes my head spin to think about all this and how little is known. I desperately want a child though but like OP I am terrified of child with problems that I have caused. |