Breaking the taboos and stereotypes around IVF

In Indian society, when people face fertility challenges, they choose to stay silent. Couples dealing with fertility problems do not seek help when trying to get pregnant. The effects of societal pressure, family members’ lack of understanding, and feelings of uncertainty and despair may be overwhelming.

People expect to have children at some stage of their life. When this doesn’t happen, some people go through a sense of failure, embarrassment, and humiliation. There is a huge stigma attached to being childless, especially in India. Because of this, couples don’t seek fertility treatments. It is so unfair that people think they can’t speak about it. It’s not hard to see that these are ordinary people who want to have a family.

In a society where infertility is still seen as a taboo, people are not aware of fertility treatments. Medical science has done wonders in the past few decades. It acknowledges the practical problem to come up with different treatments—one of such wonders is IVF treatment.

IVF is the most effective form of assisted reproductive technology. It is a complex set of procedures used to aid in the conception of a child or help with pregnancy. In this procedure, mature eggs are extracted (retrieved) from the ovaries and fertilised in a laboratory with sperm. The fertilised egg (embryo) is then implanted in the uterus.
Since IVF is an advanced assisted reproductive technology, people are still not completely aware of the treatment or the procedures involved in it. Even if people think about getting the treatment, some taboos and stereotypes around the treatment stop them from consulting a doctor. Here are some of the taboos. Let us break them for you so that they don’t come between you and your dream of parenthood.

Babies are born with congenital disabilities: IVF babies do not have a greater chance of developmental delays or serious birth defects as compared to other babies. Due to a severe male factor, couples who need ICSI for egg fertilisation may have a higher risk of birth defects. If ICSI is needed for some conditions, the risk may be increased, but this is more likely due to sperm quality than IVF.
IVF pregnancies result in C-section: Getting pregnant is a natural process. It doesn’t matter how you get pregnant, be it through natural conception or IVF. Pregnancy through IVF is just like a natural pregnancy. The only difference is the mode of conception, but the rest of the journey from conception to delivery is the same in both cases.
IVF results in multiple babies: It is a gross misconception that IVF increases the chances of multiple pregnancies. On the contrary, it is the only fertility treatment that allows you to monitor how many embryos are implanted. Although it is common to implant multiple embryos during IVF to increase pregnancy chances, some patients prefer single embryo transfer. Each of the healthy embryos is carefully picked and transferred to the uterus in this procedure.
IVF is only meant for young people: Age does play a significant factor to increase the success rate of IVF treatment, but it’s a misconception that IVF is meant for only young people. Most of the patients coming to IVF specialists belong to the age range of 30-40. Also, it’s never too late to try.
Your weight will fail the treatment: There is no definitive proof that overweight women cannot have a successful IVF cycle. It is true, however, that obese or underweight women have lower IVF implantation and success rates. As a result, the IVF expert advises achieving a healthy BMI before starting the treatment.

People are often unaware of IVF treatment, resulting in misunderstandings and misinformation. Genetic counselling can help you overcome your doubts and achieve a positive result. If you are someone who is dealing with infertility, come to Seeds of Innocence. We have a team of internationally trained experts dedicated to providing the best results to childless couples. Our centres are equipped with in-house genetic labs. We have delivered 12000+ babies with a success rate of 78%.