When to try IVF for second baby?

[KittyK]

Hi everyone!

Some of you may remember me from our first three attempts to get our daughter (she is 7 months now). She was an ICSI/FET bubba and doing well!

I just wondered what your opinions were for how long to wait to start IVF after having hour first IVF baby? We have two frosties in the freezer (the yearly cost to keep them frozen will be due in July).

I originally wanted my babies close together as me and my little sister are only 13 months apart and we've always been close. But I wanted to know what anyone on here has decided or what they would do?

I should add in our attempts to have our baby girl we discovered our eggs and sperm didn't want to 'talk to' each other when we tried normal IVF (hence the ICSI) and I also do not have periods and do not respond to drugs like clomid.

[gemma36]

Our little girl turned 2 last month and just recently we have been thinking about trying for baby number 2. We have one embryo in the freezer so we only have one chance. Our daughter was a donor egg as my eggs our basically rubbish. The one we have in the freezer is from the same donor and fertilised at same time.

[lianm8]

My little girl turned 1 on Friday and I am currently just over 7 weeks pregnant with baby number 2 from a fresh cycle. We were like you and wanted our children close together xxxx

[Missy_22]

I don’t think there is any time on it. Just go for it especially as you have to pay in July xxx good luck to you xxx

[Lynnr54]

I would say that there aren’t really any special considerations with IVF babies that you wouldn’t have with naturally conceived babies apart from the fact it may take you longer to conceive so if you have a deadline by which you must have your second then start early.

For me, financial constraints were the biggest barrier to how long I had to wait to try again (saving for mat leave plus the cost of having 2 at Nursery so wanting to make sure that my LO would get the 30 free hrs before the second one starts Nursery), but I also knew that due to our local school situation I want to move house before the deadline to apply for my LO to go to school (Jan 2020). But to move house I need to have had my second period of mat leave complete first. To cut a long story short what this meant is that I had quite a short window for my second attempt at IVF to work. The wait for a second attempt was a bit longer than I had anticipated, even going private and in the end I only had 1 attempt in our perfect window. Unfortunately that resulted in a Chemical Pregnancy and then my second attempt failed completely. Just waiting now to start my third attempt with our final frostie from our first round. Unfortunately, (lottery win excepting) if I want to take the full mat leave with no.2 I won’t now be able to move house before I have to apply for school for my LO so I do wish I’d started trying earlier than I did.

Sorry, bit of a ramble there, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that you need to take into account what matters to you when thinking about timings for no 2. My consultant says that if you’ve had 1 successful pregnancy through IVF then you have a 50% better chance if a new cycle being successful than someone who hasn’t, so hopefully it works for you first time! Good luck!

[lala85]

Good Morning,

My husband and I are in a similar position our little one is just short of 7 months and we are now in a happy family of 3 routine but are also ready / considering trying again, I often think about is it too soon etc our little one was also ICSI and I also wondered if we are “pushing our luck” thinking that we could be gifted another amazing bubba, but we have decided to try again at 9 months as I would love our little one to have a sibling

I hope it works out for you,

XxX

[Spongy]

Hi, well I went back for a FET when my little boy was 8 months fully expecting to need several goes. It worked first time and we have a 17 month age gap. My little girl is now 3months.

Having two under two is hard, I’m not going to lie but it’s also amazing and I hope they will be close and it will get easier as they get older. The main thing for me is that for us the IVF journey is over. We aren’t going back to try for anymore so I finally feel like I can move on with life. Whilst waiting to try again, I always felt like there was a cloud hanging over me as I knew I wanted two children.

There are pros and cons to waiting I’m sure but for me my mental health has improved ten fold as I can now close this chapter of my life and move on with my children.

I hope this is of some help,

X

[SnottyCow]

We waited a year because I wanted to breastfeed my son. On one hand I didn’t want to wait but breastfeeding worked so well for us I thought it would be a shame to stop earlier than I wanted. If you’re not breastfeeding though, I’d say whenever you’re ready. They’d probably recommend 6 months, I had a C-section.

One thing it’d say about infertility is that it’s unpredictable so time is of the essence. The younger your eggs are the better and you never know how straight forward it’s going to be. I had to have my protocol changed because I wasn’t responding to drugs the same way. It took a few attempts for them to figure that out which cost time. In the end we had around 8 failed attempts and around 4 egg collections cancelled. It’s taken us 3 year to conceive our twins, our son is now 4. The IVF for my son was fairly straight forward in comparison.

Then again it might work first time so you’ll have to be ready. Best of luck x

[Dreams1982]

We tried again when my little one was about8 mths old but I really struggled in the tww not to pick up and do things with him. Unfortunately I ended up miscarrying at 6 weeks but we are considering trying again in the summer.

It's really personal choice on whether you are ready for another baby and I'm sure you will pick the right time for you xx

[Emilykingston]

I think you should consider your needs first. If you think you can manage two babies then go for it. They will need all your attention. The will also bring more financial requirements. Also, I guess since you have to pay in July, then you should avail the opportunity before the due date. Make sure your husband is on the same page. If everything is sorted then go for it. My both babies have a difference of 15 months. It was difficult but I did manage.

[emmab178]

My daughter is 4 months tomorrow and I have one frostie from the same batch. I recently spoke to the clinic but it’s basically on your circumstances. She said think about the ‘what if’ it fails. If you would go for a fresh round then the sooner the better. If age is on your side maybe trying naturally for a few months is something To consider as your fertility may have reset from the pregnancy.

Financial considerations, ie have you seen the costs of nurseries!

You might also want to check your mat policy. Mine states a certain time period between births for the enhanced pay (the sh!ts).

Ours is probably coming out of the freezer in jan to give a two year gap if it’s successful. If it doesn’t work we have our little girl and we are not going for further cycles.