Embryos struggling after day 3 - is it sperm related?

[TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Hi friends

I have heard from of a few people that the reason our embryos may be struggling to reach blastocyst on day 5 could be because of a sperm issue as apparently the sperm takes over at day 3? Is this right? Does anyone know anymore about this?

We have “text book” embryos at day 3/4 but even though most seem to continue to develop, they don’t reach blastocyst.

In a total of 3 cycles we have collected 37 eggs and only ever had 1 blastocyst.

Can anyone relate and should my lovely OH take any additional supplements? He is only taking Well Man Conception at the moment.

Xx

[Lucyhannah1]

I’m not sure if it is to do with poor quality sperm as my other half had an okay sperm count but low morphology and motility.

He was on wellman, cut back on alcohol and I also made him eat a handful of walnuts every day leading up to egg collection 😂 it did improve slightly but wasn’t great and we still managed to get 8 blastocysts out of 22 eggs collected.

Good luck xx

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to Lucyhannah1]

That’s an incredible improvement. 8 blastocysts!!! I hope we can improve our chances somehow. I feel so lost xx

[Lucyhannah1 in reply to TTCWithCHSweetheart]

Fingers crossed for you!!’ I really felt deflated when I saw the morphology I’m pretty sure it was on 0% or something and motility was under 30 percent.

Wishing you all the best of luck xx

[leo1980]

Hi there. I have heard that should embryos fail to develop beyond day 3/4. It could be attributed to sperm issues. From fertilisation to day 3 the egg is in charge 😉 by day 4 the spent takes over. You don’t say how old you both are. Hubby and I turned 4O. We have only 1% normal morphology (ie shape). We recently did a DNA fragmentation test and it happens that 32% of his sperm have very high DNA damage. Might be worth trying that? PM and I will tell you where we had our test done. Because it can range from £250 to £550 and I don’t want you to waste money. Nutritionist at our clinic - it’s free at our clinic suggested some solgar antioxidants, you could try proceed or condesal. He takes something with lypocene in it (or you can get hubby to eat a spoonful of red tomato purée - you know that one in a tube from the supermarket. She also insists on a good quality multivitamin so the brand we use for us is called muli-essentials. With the fragmentation stuff we are seeing a urologist in a couple of weeks to see what we can do to sort out the fragmentation issue. The different with this and sperm analysis is one looks at shape and volume and the other looks inside the actual sperm. Other things to try might be accupunture for him. No baby for us yet but this was all the advice I accumulated from research, ladies on here and speaking to my consultant - I like my doctor very much - he is quite popular but I even had a second opinion to cover all basis! Felt dead guilty about cheating on my consultant but it had to be done.. message if you need anything else. 🤞 for you

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to leo1980]

Thank you so much this is incredibly helpful. It’s so hard trying to second guess everything isn’t it.

We’re both 30, been together since we were 15 and been trying for what feels like forever. I will DM you. Thank you!! Xx

[Hope76]

I have asked my Clinic this in the past. They say the exact opposite that it’s most likely down to egg quality. We have mainly had 3 day transfers, only once did we have a blastocyst in 6 years of IVF. I was so excited about it and it failed. I have however got pregnant 3 times with 3 day transfers.

My only advice would be for you both to take ubiquinol or coq10 if you are not already taking. During my last cycle I took it for a few months. My partner took it for one month & we got our first top grade embryo x

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to Hope76]

Thank you hun. I appreciate the advice. It’s so confusing isn’t it. So much conflicting advice and the dreaded “unknown” tag!

We asked for a day 3 transfer this time but were told we made a blastocyst last time so we should go to day 5. They offered to check it at day 3 but at that point I wanted to take their advice so wanted to leave them undisturbed.

I am taking CoQ10 600mg a day. I haven’t tried ubiquinol. Might give that a go. How much did your husband take if you don’t mind me asking? Xx

[MarchieH]

I’ve also been told the same, that it is the egg quality rather than the sperm from Day. 3. We have the same issue.

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to MarchieH]

See I’ve heard both ways and it’s so hard not knowing. Are you classed as unexplained too? X

[Ladypii]

Hello.

Sorry you’re not getting the numbers of embryos , it’s horrible to see them drop off like that. We had a similar issue and I also understand it to be as a result of the sperm. I would highly recommend you take a sperm dna frag test as this might give you the answers. My husband took Fertilisan M, a German brand but the best known supplement on the market. Welman isn’t really sufficient and is not usually recommended by clinicians. We both took Ubiquinol and this was recommended by our urologist (well known in the ivf world).

There are also many life style changes my husband made such as no tight underwear, no baths or steam rooms etc. Keeping his phone well away from his testicles (as this is scientifically proven to eliminate a percentage of sperm) and diet foods that increase quality of sperm such as organic foods, watercress, Brazil nuts etc. We also stayed well away from BPA infected products/water, obviously no alcohol or smoking or riding a bike or sitting down at a desk for too long ( as they both overheat the testicles and hence damage sperm). It was tough going for 4 months but it was totally worth it in the end.

Of course there are plenty of men who do the opposite of all those things and still conceive, but we were starting from poor quality sperm in incredibly low numbers, most men with perfect sperm can afford to lose a few million with these lifestyle habits.

Xxx

[TTCWithCHSweetheart in reply to Ladypii]

Hi Ladypii this is super helpful thank you so much. We looked more into the wellman conception that the husbands been taking it it actually has so little in it that it seems pointless to be taking.

We plan to buy all new supplements this weekend and get started.

I already take CoQ10 and pregnacare max but I think il try Ubiquinol for both of us too.

Lots of life changes to put into place. We’re pretty healthy but can always try harder. It’s always worth the extra effort!! Xx