Day 2 transfer

[MissHoney85]

I was wondering if anyone else had experience of a clinic that does transfers on Day 2 or Day 5 rather than Day 3 or Day 5? This is what my clinic does but Day 3 seems to be very much the norm. I'm sure they have their reasons, just curious! I had my Day 2 update on my eggs today but it seems pretty early to tell anything and a long time to wait until Day 5!

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

I had egg collection on Saturday and discussed with the clinic all the transfer day options. My clinic said day 2 transfers were very much the norm until a few years ago - it was the only transfer option available. The science being that many embryos do better in a natural uterine environment compared to an artificial laboratory one.

It was only when techniques and procedures moved on to be able to culture embryos to day 3 and then day 5 that these then became the standard as the science suggests that embryos which make day 5 are better quality and have a higher chance of being successful. And it helps the clinic then decide the best ones to transfer.

That being said many "cheaper" clinics don't have the experience/equipment to culture to day 5 so still only offer day 2

My clinic will do day 2 only if you've got maybe 1 embryo which is poor quality and they don't think it will make day 5 in the lab and risking ending up with nothing

[MissHoney85]

Interesting, thank you. My clinic does offer Day 5 too, which is what I will (hopefully) have on Saturday. Just seems weird that they do Day 2 as the earlier alternative where everyone else does Day 3. I would have thought Day 3 embryos would be easier to assess than Day 2 and allow them to make a more informed judgement about when to transfer. I guess maybe it just fits better with their schedule. I will ask them on Saturday!

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

The extra day to day 3 just gives the embryologist more information about which one to transfer as they don't tend to start grading them until day 3 so if you've got several embryos fertilised on day 1 better to do day 3 when clear differences in quality will be visible - if you only get the one or over a certain age I've read that day 2 is generally preferred over day 3

[MissHoney85]

Yes this is my understanding too, hence wondering why my clinic assesses embryos and decides whether to transfer on Day 2 rather than Day 3. I think they only do transfers on certain days of the week or something.