Study suggests couples need better antenatal care following fertility treatment

Couples who have successfully conceived following fertility treatment need additional antenatal care and support, new research has found. Two per cent of all births in the UK are a result of fertility treatments such as IVF. An increasing body of evidence suggests the needs of these parents are often not adequately addressed, leaving them feeling abandoned in some cases. In the first study of its kind, Dr Lydia French and colleagues from the University of Bristol ed women and their partners to find out about their experiences of antenatal care following successful fertility treatment. Research, published today [1 September] in the British Journal of General Practice , indicates that early pregnancy is a particularly anxious time for these couples because of the possibility of pregnancy loss, and because they struggle to adjust and plan for parenthood. Couples reported gaps in their care, in terms of the time gap between being discharged from secondary care and being seen in primary care, and in terms of the difference between the intense monitoring they had received in the fertility clinic and the regular, but less frequent care they received from their practice midwife. Women also reported that they experienced difficulties in articulating their feelings of low mood to both peers and practitioners, and felt unable to complain because they thought they should be 'grateful' for being pregnant.