3 or 5 day transfer

[nshapland]

Does anyone know the advantages/disadvantages of a 3 vs 5 day transfer. One of my drs wants to wait until day 5; his associate told me that if there aren't many eggs, they'll do 3 days.
But I just read on here there are usually more to freeze if a day 3 transfer is done.
I'm 40 and I don't think I will have that many embroyos...

[trae913]

I am 37 years old, I had my retrieval on 12-8-2010 out of 12 eggs retrieved, 10 fertilzed and only 3 have made it to day 6. Those 3 were frozen today and the cells have been sent to GSN for PGD testing due to my history of unsuccessful natural pregnancies. I was told my egg quality was BB for all 3 of the eggs, assuming and with all fingers crossed those 3 eggs will not be genetically bad I will have at least 2 transferred back. Has anyone been through this situation or a similar situation and has anyone had BB embryos transferred back and had a successfull pregnancy?

[jakl726]

i also think this depends on the clinic and the doctor.  both my sister and i at one point only had 3 to transfer and my doctor insisted on day 3 and hers insisted on day 5 (i'm in NH and she in CA).  both our transfers were BFN :( .
my doctor said it is best to place them back in your body (their natural environment) as soon as possible hence they do day 3.  my sister's doctor on the other hand claims, if the embryo doesn't survive up to day 5, it may not survive in you anyways.  BUT, given we both didn't result to pregnancy, i think the jury is still out... day 3 vs day 5 and i think it really boils down to probably the technique of the lab and luck.  i didn't mention quality of the embryo b/c my sister and i had one very good embryo in the group during transfer.
i think happynifer is right though, most will freeze at day 5.  freezing and thawing is harsh to the embryo and the embryo will likely survive the harsh process if they've already survived up to day 5.
hope  this helps.

[happynifer]

they put them back as soon as it can be determined which ones are the best ones.
Embies do better in the womb than in the lab.
if you have a large number to choose from, they do day 5 transfers to help decide which ones are the most perfect.
i had a 3 day transfer of 2 (i only had 3) and the third one did not make it to freezing.
As far as freezing, most labs will only freeze blastocysts, so what day you transfer is does not affect how many make it out long enough to freeze.
i am currently 22 weeks 2 days pregnant with 1 baby girl