Our patients often ask whether they should lie down after an IUI or embryo transfer and take it easy for the rest of the day. It has been scientifically proven by a Dutch study: staying in bed after treatment does not improve the pregnancy rate!

The Dutch study was carried out with 498 fertility patients. 244 women were asked to lie down for 15 minutes after the insemination or embryo transfer. The remaining 254 were told to get up immediately afterwards and go about their normal everyday life. In the ‘resting group’ of women, a pregnancy rate of 32.2 per cent was found, while the women who left the clinic immediately after the procedure had a better pregnancy rate of 40 per cent. In addition, there was no difference between the groups in terms of miscarriage and live birth rates.

In summary, this study confirms that bed rest after insemination or embryo transfer does not have a positive effect on the pregnancy rate.