What is Social Egg Freezing and How Can it Help Me?

While falling pregnant may seem like a natural part of life, it’s not always as simple as it seems. Fortunately, the science regarding fertility has evolved over the years. This has empowered millions of women, helping them to get pregnant and parent children.

For more than 30 years, egg freezing has been one way for women to preserve their fertility potential. Sometimes this is done for health reasons – particularly for women who are undergoing cancer treatment – and sometimes it is done for social reasons.

Social egg freezing is a kind of insurance policy for women who do not have a partner or aren’t ready to have a child for other social reasons. Most common for women in their 30s, social freezing allows women to preserve their fertility potential until they are ready to have children.

When Should I Consider Social Egg Freezing?

Making the decision to freeze your eggs is deeply personal and ultimately it’s a choice that only you can make. However, if you are in your mid-30s and are not ready to have children, you may wish to consider this option.

37 years old is the current recommended age for this procedure. Egg freezing is usually most cost-effective at this stage of life because of the quality and quantity of your eggs. While you can wait longer than this, your chance of successfully conceiving, carrying and delivering a baby will be dramatically decreased.

Reasons to Consider Social Egg Freezing

There are many social factors that prompt women to want to freeze their eggs. Consider booking an appointment if you are thinking about freezing your eggs for any social reason, including the following:

• You want to raise a child with a partner and you have not found a spouse that shares these desires
• A long-term relationship that you thought would lead to parenthood has broken down
• You (and your partner) are focusing on your career and want to begin on parenting in a few years
• You (and/or your partner) have to travel a lot for work and want to focus on parenting when both parents can be more present in the child’s life.

The motivations behind freezing eggs are complex and they don’t represent the best parenting approach for every family. Being in one of the situations mentioned above doesn’t mean that deciding not to get pregnant is the best option. It simply means that freezing your eggs is a pathway you may wish to consider.

A Final Word on Egg Freezing

While freezing eggs is one option that women can take, it does not guarantee that you will become a parent later in life. Fertility is complicated, ever-changing and it is important to remember this when making decisions.

Ultimately, a woman’s age when her eggs are frozen and the amount stored are the most important factors. These factors signify your chance of eventually falling pregnant and giving birth through the use of frozen eggs.

To find out more about how you can manage your circumstances, book an appointment with Dr Polyakov, an IVF and fertility specialist in Melbourne.