Children conceived via IVF just as healthy as peers

Children conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are as healthy as naturally conceived peer. Found that IVF children were healthy physically, mentally and emotionally by the time, they reached school age.

David Amor said the results should provide peace of mind for parents of IVF children as the number of births from sperm donor conception has doubled in Victoria since 2010.

"Women and couples who are choosing donors put a lot of thought and effort selecting them." "The IVF services put a lot of effort into recruiting donors. The information the recipient gets about the donor is fairly minimal," he added.

"Given IVF is undergoing a bit of a renaissance in terms of the demand, these findings should be reassuring for parents." For this study, the mothers of 224 Victorian IVF children asked to fill out a survey on the health and well-being of their kids as well as themselves, results that donor-conceived children had more special health needs than naturally conceived children but IVF children generally had a healthier family life.

Amor said that the parents of IVF children being more protective of their own kids could explain both of those results.