My doc. does both. He does the day three transfers for younger patients and also when the eggs fertilize and mature at a normal rate also, when there is a small number of fertilized eggs. He does day 5 transfers for older patients and when the eggs have not fertilized and matured as well as he would like and wants to give them more time.

Yeah, I have been reading and I guess there are pros and cons to both. I am 30 so I don't know if that is a factor in his decision. He told DH and I he prefers Day 5 b/c he can better tell which embryos have the best chance of implanting.

Yep, I think your right - there are pros and cons to each procedure . . .

My clinic does both. For our first transfer it was suppose to be a day 5, but out of the 7 cultured, only 1 embryo made it to day 5. They all made it to day 3, but 5 of them stopped there, one stopped at day 4 and the day 5 was not very good quality. So for any future IVF, including my FET we will be doing a day 3 transfer. Apparently my babies just don't like the lab!!!

Courtney, thanks for the info. Even though it was explained to me be my RE, that article helps me to explain it to family better.

My dr did day 3 with me. I had 4 good eggs on day 3, so they put a 7-cell and an 8-cell back into me, the other 2 were 2 10-cells (which are a little bit too developed for day 3). The 10-cells made it in the lap on day 6 to the blastocyte stage (over 152-cell), but were bad quality that they couldn't even freeze them.
So the question is: if we would have waited until day 5 for all the eggs to go to the blastocyte stage, would they have been good enough to be implanted or do I have a bigger chance now with the transfer on day 3?

That's why you need a good doctor who has a lot of experience,who knows your body and good faith!

My RE does both day 3 and 5 transfers also. He's general criteria for blastocyst transfer is age, and # eggs that fertilize. If > 7 then transfer blastocyst and < 7 day 3. I'm currently waiting/hoping for a blastocyst transfer(Sat). The things I have been able to read vary greatly some say blastocyst is TO long, and others say that it gives the greatest chance for successful pregnancy. My RE says that blastocyst gives greatest chance of pregnancy, but that there is also a chance that none would live to be blastocyst.

My Re does 3 day for me, b/c DH has low/slow sperm and he doesn't think they could have made it to blast in the lab on there own...Which is totally what happend...none of them made it (besides the 1 or 2 transfered that took and the 5 we froze at 1 celled). But none of the other 6 made it to Blast...I'm glad we did a 3day. But if your sperm and egg are good quality then yours will probably make it :)

Thank you everyone! I appreciate your input and support. Baby dust to all!

We did 2 blasts on Day 5. We had success. 5 Days are better as they have more cells. Our center does both 3 day and 5 day. Unfortunately, I lost the pregnancy.

My doc would only do 5 day blast transfers with max of 2 embies. This last time I stressed that I was at the end of my rope and wanted 3 transferred, and he still said no way.