One Embryo as Good as Two in Second IVF Attempt

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But only 2.3 percent of those in the first group had multiple births, compared to 27.5 percent in the second group. Those in the first group were also much less likely to have babies born before 37 weeks of gestation, 11.8 percent vs. 25.5 percent for the two-embryo group.

So why not always implant one embryo and then another if necessary? Because it can be more expensive to try multiple times instead of boosting the odds at the start, and "the stress and disappointment of a failed cycle is hard to put a value on," noted Dr. Laurel Stadtmauer, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Va.

The economic wrinkle is a real one. In Sweden, Gibbons explained, IVF is covered by national insurance. That's not the case in the United States.

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"For American couples," he said, "putting two embryos back has a higher pregnancy rate, and twins mean that they can have their family all at once and don't have to pay for a second child."

More information

Learn more about in-vitro fertilization from the American Pregnancy Association.

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