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Infertility Support and Discussion
IVF and child health
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Anonymous
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"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?"
Actually, it is ICSI babies that I've read are delayed - no first hand experience, I just found some studies when I was researching ICSI. |
Anonymous
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I spent A LOT of time researching the health effects of ICSI and talking to doctors about it. it seems like it's hard to figure out whether there is a danger to ICSI itself or if the men who need ICSI are just more likely to pass on problems (birth defects, learning disabilities) to their kids. the REs I spoke to thought it was more like due to the fathers and not ICSI itself, but they obviously have an interest in saying that.
I do know that when I asked Dr D if I could do natural cycle without ICSI, he said absolutely not. He literally said to me "because I am the doctor, that's why." |
Anonymous
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I think the issues here are clear. If you are opting for IVF to get pregnant...or, I guess if I am clearer about it, if you MUST have IVF to get pregnant, the small potential increases in birth defects are really negligible. The goal is to have a baby.
There are so many confounding factors to any statistics related to IVF...for example, women who are older opt to do IVF to increase their chances of conceiving. But, because they are older, they have a greater chance of conceiving a child with some sort of genetic disorder. The same is true for male factor infertility and ICSI. Some studies state there are differences in congenital 'issues', some state that there are no differences. But, if you want a baby, and you have to go the medical intervention route, then I think most take their chances. |
Anonymous
| I'm currently pregnant with my second IVF/ICSI baby and I no longer worry about the long term health risks. My first was born healthy as a result of this remarkable medical intervention and I'm grateful for the RE's that insist on doing everything necessary to help couples conceive. |
Anonymous
| PP, it's not a clear cut issue. After all, RE make their living off infertile people's desire to procreate. I hope all IVF kids are fine. But the truth is that we won't know until they are older whether they have learning disabilities, asthma, and a myriad other things. And if they have anything we won't know their conception had anything to do with it. |
Anonymous
| But what is the alternative if you need to do IVF to get pregnant? We could have adopted instead, but then you have the risks that come from your child not having had the benefits of the pre-natal nutrition and health care that you can provide (and this is true of domestic or international adoption). Plus, it is much harder to breastfeed, which has benefits as well. |
Anonymous
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Seriously, I think the risks of the IVF process itself are minimal. I don't think that the medium in which the embryos are cultured will hurt the embryo. Yes, the people that are using IVF are older and for that reason, might have children who are more predisposed to certain problems, including Down's. However, I have a good friend with 2 children with Down's Syndrome -- all conceived naturally, when she was age 22 and 24, respectively. There just aren't any guarantees in life.
I also used to work at Fairfax Hospital, and I helped gather files for a study that looked at babies whose mothers were addicted to crack and various other illegal drugs. Many of those babies were put up for adoption because the mother was unable to take care of them. I tend to think that the risks of learning disabilities and other problems are greater for these (adopted) children after ingesting drugs for 9 months through their mother. Of course, not all babies who are put up for adoption had a drug-addicted mother...but the point is, you never know what you're going to get. There is a very high percentage of kids today who are diagnosed with learning disabilities... much higher than could possibly be attributed to IVF babies. I think that further study will show that the IVF process does not cause undue risk of increased problems to an IVF-conceived child. |
Anonymous
| OP. There are tradeoffs everywhere. Sigh. I know and admire wonderful families built through adoption. I don't feel like I can do it myself, which probably speaks volumes about me as a person. (Not positively). I would prefer to have a biological child. I read Everything Conceivable. Some of the research into the impacts of reproductive technology is just at the tip of the iceberg. Bigger sigh. |
Anonymous
| I have 3 kids as a result of using IVF. So far so good in regards to their development. As others have said - there are no guarantees as the the health of your child whether you use IVF or go the "natural" route to conceive your kids. If you'd rather not open yourself up to the risk of potentially having another child who could have special needs - don't waste the time and energy going through IVF. It's an exhausting process and most of the people that go through it are just trying to have a baby - perfect or not. |
Anonymous
| hi |
Anonymous
| We have three children IVF/ICIS ages 7,6 and 3. So far the 7 and 6 year old have learning disabilities BUT not many people know what that means! It means you must have an average to above average IQ you just learn different then the way the teacher is taught to teach.....not so bad in my books!! Also, our 7 year old does have health issues with his esophagus, hard to know if any of these things are related to IVF or not....would we send them back or wish we never did IVF/ICIS NEVER!!!! Our three year old is still to young to know if he has any "issues" yet or not but you never know what you will get anyway. We are thankful to science and wonderful docs for all three of our children....do it again in a heartbeat.....very emotional, exhusting, and expensive but soooo worth it. |
Anonymous
| Just to respond to the person who said people who do IVF are older.....really????? I was 27 when we did it and I think that is pretty young!! I don't know anyone who did IVF older then 33 and I know a lot of people who did it. Please do not say things you don't know what you are talking about, it gives us a bad rap and the people the right to talk. Have you done IVF? I don't care how much "research" you have done, you know nothing till you have walked in our shoes, for real!! I did so much research before I did it was so much different until it really happend. |
Anonymous
| PP - you and your friends are the exception. The majority of IVF cases are 35+ (I am one of them) because it does become harder to conceive when you get older. Just look at the SG stats page: 63% of cycles were 35+. |
Anonymous
I'm sorry but your definition of a learning disability isn't correct. This is my field and I test and dx children everyday. To qualify for a learning disability based on the discrepancy model (which most schools here follow) a child must have a 15 point spilt between his/her IQ and achievement scores (achievement scores being lower by 15 points than IQ). That said the child could have any level of IQ (below ave, low, ave, etc) it is not children with only ave or above average IQ. |
Anonymous
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Our son is 3.5 years old now and was born healthy back in May of 2007 via IVF. He originally had a twin that didn't make it past 8 weeks. However my son was born at 10.6 lbs and very healthy.
My only concern is his talking. At 3.5 he is clearly behind where I would like him as far as talking but when you ask him to do something he completely understands you. I've been told by my mon and my mother-in-law that my wife and I both talked later as well. So why it does worry me it's probably nothing. His pediatrician says he should be fine. Do you research and pick an IVF clinic that has sucess and good luck. |