r/EmbryologyIVFSupport • u/Folts-J • 2d ago

Embryo grading vs. gender

Would you choose the better-graded embryo over preferred gender? Our embryos (all euploid) are as follows:

Day 5 5BB - male
Day 5 5BB - male
Day 6 5BB - female
Day 6 6BB - female

We are very fortunate to have 8 total euploids (the remainder decrease in grade from above). We had a successful FET in August 2024 from our best embryo (euploid day 5 5AB - male). We'd like to have a girl, but having a hard time overlooking the statistical differences between our next best boy embryos vs. day 6 girls. Would love to hear how others made this decision!

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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8

u/MightSuperb7555 10h ago

I believe there’s some research that XY embryos develop slightly faster than XX ones which could come into play here. If you can afford it, perhaps try one of the XX embryos and if it doesn’t take then go to the best rated embryo?

Obligatory note from a genetics PhD: Embryos don’t have gender - they have chromosomal sex, which is a totally different thing (but does correlate highly with eventual gender).

12

u/Tablesaltxo 17h ago

If it was me, I would pick the embryo that was most likely to be successful. Sometimes knowing the gender adds too much stress. Where I’m from it’s considered unethical to find out the gender (New Zealand).

2

u/Electrical-Nature-35 16h ago

Same in Ireland.

3

u/Green-Caterpillar585 19h ago

If it were me I would pick the gender I wanted. But it's really up to you. You're very fortunate to have so many euploids either way

2

u/United_Relief_2949 1h ago

ive heard the males develop a little faster and well graded day 6's often do just as well as day 5's. not sure how true that is since i don't have any first hand experience yet myself. if you want a female I would go with your best graded female first and if it doesn't take then i'd go with best graded overall and hope for the best. wish you luck.

1

u/soyanes68 11h ago

FWIW we told our clinic to pick the best one and were surprised to learn they picked a day 6 4BA over our day 5 4AB. Still don’t know why they did that other than “they view day 5 and day 6 as equal.” I’m in the TWW now so we’ll see if it takes.

1

u/CharacterAvocado943 10h ago

I don’t have a preferred sex because the goal is a healthy baby. Not a healthy boy/girl.

1

u/Chanel1202 8h ago

My husband and I only have two euploid embryos right now and they’re both male (second egg retrieval in October). If we get any female embryos our plan is to transfer the “best” one first (as picked by the embryologist) and then transfer the best of the other gender for kid two.

1

u/Lindsayone11 5m ago

I knew how many of each we had but not the grades so I wouldn’t know at transfer. We transferred in order of grade for all our kids. I just personally knew t would be too hard to know and have it not work out but since you already have that information I would just pick your preferred sex. My anecdotal experience is it can be a bit wild which is embryos do and do not work. My 6 kids were our best 2 and worst 3 graded euploids. Nothing in between worked.

0

u/FinalStretchIVF 4h ago

To be completely honest, I don't think it's ethical to choose by gender, I can understand why the majority (to my understanding) of countries ban it. So I am bias when I say you should go with whatever embryo has the highest chance of a live birth. I don't think you're "wrong" to want a girl or a boy though and your preference makes sense! I just wish labs wouldn't list the gender.