Intended Parents

How Many Embryos Should You Freeze?

Freezing embryos is a way to preserve fertility if other avenues to try and become pregnant have been unsuccessful.

Knowing how many embryos to freeze can help maximize the chance of IVF success, allowing for flexibility in case the first transfer isn’t successful.

If you’re considering surrogacy, learn more about how many embryos you’ll need for your surrogacy journey or get in touch with us online.

This article will take a look at the factors that influence the decision of how many embryos to freeze, how freezing more embryos can improve chances of success and the costs that come with embryo cryopreservation.

How Many Embryos Do I Need to Freeze?

The exact number of embryos to freeze can vary depending on the clinic and your circumstances, but the recommendation of freezing three to five high-quality embryos has been cited by organizations such as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

That three to five embryo recommendation, however, can change based on factors such as:

Egg quality and quantity typically decline with age, which can affect the viability of embryos. Freezing more embryos at a younger age ensures that there are options available in the future, even if fertility decreases over time.

Fertility clinics could suggest freezing more embryos for older patients or those with specific fertility challenges to improve the chances of success.

Conditions like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or low ovarian reserve can impact how many eggs are retrieved and fertilized. Freezing more embryos can help balance out these factors, increasing the chances of successful IVF cycles.

Higher-quality embryos have a better chance of surviving the thawing process and leading to a pregnancy. If multiple high-quality embryos are available, fewer may need to be frozen. But freezing more embryos can increase the chances of having viable options for future transfers.

How the ovaries respond to fertility medication can affect the number of eggs retrieved. A strong response may produce more eggs, leading to more embryos, while a weaker response might require freezing as many embryos as possible from a single cycle.

Couples who know they want to grow their family in the future may choose to freeze more embryos, ensuring they have the option for future pregnancies. This allows for more flexibility and planning.

If you are having trouble creating embryos, contact us online. We can connect you with reputable donor embryo programs.

Does Freezing More Embryos Guarantee Success? [Quality Over Quantity]

The more embryos that are frozen, the better as it gives you multiple opportunities in the event that the first transfer doesn’t result in implantation. If you don’t have any more embryos on hand, time will need to be taken to create or adopt more.

But even though the number of embryos you freeze can help increase your chances of success, the quality of those embryos is more important.

When the embryos are created, they’re graded to determine which ones are most likely to grow when implanted. Embryo freezing success rates from this fertility clinic say:

Higher quality embryos are associated with a 79% live birth rate with good quality at 64%. Poor quality embryos are associated with a low birth rate of 28%.
If you decide to have your embryos frozen below the age of 35, your chances of higher quality embryos increase. If you choose to freeze your embryos above the age of 35, the chances of low-quality embryos increase.

How Many Eggs Should I Freeze at 35?

A study conducted in 2020 recommended the number of eggs to freeze based on an age range to attain an optimal live birth rate. For the age range of 35-37, it was recommended to freeze seven eggs for a 50% live birth rate, eight for 60% and 10 for 70%.

How Using a Surrogate Can Increase Chances of Success

Depending on why you can’t carry a pregnancy, such as embryo quality, using a surrogate can help increase your chances of success because they will carry your or your donor’s embryos.

Using a surrogate is ideal if you have viable embryos but have had repeated implantation failure or difficulty carrying a pregnancy.

What Is the Cost of Freezing Embryos?

The cost to freeze and store however many embryos you freeze can be $14,000-$20,000.

The cost of freezing embryos goes beyond the vitrfication process itself. It involves the same expenses as IVF and includes:

Medications for ovarian stimulation
Egg retrieval
Fertilization
Cryopreservation
Genetic testing (if you want)
Frozen embryo storage

Your clinic’s pricing, insurance coverage and the number of egg retrieval cycles needed all factor into the total cost.

IVF cycles can fail because of infertility, the quality of the embryos and more. If IVF hasn’t been successful for you and you want to know your options moving forward with those frozen embryos, contact us online to learn more about your paths to growing your family.