Infertility

We offer patients as many children as they want, but we prefer them one at a time." For most of the last 24 years since the first so-called "test-tube baby" was born in the U.S.

through IVF, doctors have put two, three, or even more embryos into the uterus in hopes of producing one healthy baby.

However, with multiple transfers come a heightened chance of multiple births, which dramatically increase risks of prematurity, low birth weight, disability, and death for the infants, and risks of preeclampsia, diabetes, placental problems, caesarean section and other delivery complications for the mother.

"When you've struggled for years to conceive, it's easy to become enamored with the notion of having twins or even triplets," Stillman said.

"But the average couple doesn't fully appreciate the complications that are magnified by multiple births.

We take it as our responsibility to their family to educate them, make recommendations to them, and then give them the choice." In 2004, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) - a professional organization that sets policies for Read more...