Conception After 40

As more couples and individuals decide to have children later in life, it’s becoming apparent that IVF is the most effective way to achieve pregnancy after 40. A recent study determined that the methods that IVF doctors generally use- starting with the least invasive process first- may not be most effective for older women.

For example, in women over 40, the success rate of using fertility drugs with intrauterine insemination (IUI) is generally less than 5 percent per cycle, according to ASRM, whereas success rates with IVF are around 23%. For women over 44, this number decreases drastically. Each clinic has a different protocol, and this can be discussed extensively with your fertility counselor once you choose a clinic.

Mini-IVF is a newer option that was first developed by the Kato Ladies Clinic in Japan and then perfected and popularized by St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis, and is often recommended for women over 38. It takes advantage of the woman’s own natural FSH elevation with an ingeniously simple protocol that strives for smaller numbers of better quality eggs. Instead of massive doses of expensive hormones to try to blast out a few poor quality eggs, it more naturally teases out of even older ovaries their best quality eggs with a carefully devised protocol of minimal stimulation. This all adds up to better success rates in even the most challenging cases, and at far less cost and aggravation for the patient.

A gestational carrier is also an option for women who cannot carry a pregnancy to term for medical reasons or due to problems with the uterus. With a gestational carrier, the intended mother’s eggs, or donor eggs are fertilized by the male partner’s sperm or donor sperm, and the resulting embryo is placed in the uterus of the gestational carrier. The gestational carrier is not related to the child genetically and gives the baby to you and your partner at birth.