Saliva on the 'specimen'

I have had 3 unsuccessful IUI's and am curious if how I am getting my husband's 'specimen' is effecting the procedure. If saliva gets mixed in does it have a negative effect?
I will be having a 4th IUI this weekend and really want to make sure that we are doing our best to increase / not to effect results.

[Tryingforbaby2]

I have no idea if this can affect the specimen or not since they do wash it and spin it down but to be safe I would definnitely ask your Dr's office.

[usuk]

My instructions were always that it had to be obtained manually only. And no lotion, etc as well. Not so easy but I guess it has some effect. Good luck.

[Pumbaa23]

From what I have read & also heard on other forums, saliva isn't good for sperm. I think it kills them but not sure to what extent. To be on the safe side, I would suggest not getting saliva "in the mix". Good- luck!

[Lemenna]

Saliva is a big no-no while trying to conceive as it can kill the sperm.  Possibly you could get one of the collection condoms and do it through that?  

[Deje75]

thanks everyone. We got the sperm manually but I did find out (from the results after the washing) that it really didint effect the count). My last IUI it was low and so was it this time. Crossing my fingers that it still was enough to work.....was only 5.

[Tryingforbaby2]

Have you tried fertilaid for your dh's count? It helped my dh count and morphology.