Things your aunty told you about IVF. Checked.

Neither. IVF is used at any age when the diagnosis calls for it.

Blocked or damaged tubes, a significant sperm problem, low egg reserve and some cases of unexplained infertility can all point to IVF, whether she is 27 or 40. Age changes the likely result, not whether IVF is the right treatment. And IVF is not a way around age: it works with the eggs you have and cannot make new ones. The right question is not "Are we old enough for IVF?" but "What do our tests show?"

Sometimes, but many couples need more than one cycle, and no honest clinic promises a baby.

The chance in any one cycle depends mainly on the woman's age, her egg reserve, the sperm and the diagnosis. A first cycle that gave good embryos carries a very different outlook from one where few eggs were collected. That is why the doctor should explain what each cycle showed, not just whether it worked. Frozen embryos from one egg collection can give more than one transfer.

No. Studies following children born after IVF into their teens are reassuring.

Large studies from the UK and Australia have compared children born after IVF with other children, on growth, heart and lung health, and quality of life, and found them much the same. The bigger risk in IVF is twins, because twin pregnancies are more likely to come early. That risk comes from transferring more than one embryo, and it can be avoided.

No. Bed rest does not improve the chance of pregnancy.

Studies that compared resting in bed with getting up straight after embryo transfer found no benefit from rest. There is no good evidence that lying down helps after IUI either, and after sex, position does not decide whether you conceive. You can walk, go to work, travel by car and eat normally. Your doctor will tell you if anything in your own case needs care.

No. The injections help eggs from that month's group grow; they do not take eggs from future years.

Each month a group of eggs starts to grow, and the body usually lets only one mature while the rest are lost. IVF injections rescue more of that month's group. They do not reach into the eggs held back for later months, so they do not bring menopause forward. Low egg reserve before IVF is a separate question, and an AMH test helps answer it.

Unlikely. Worry before treatment has not been shown to lower the chance of pregnancy with IVF.

A review of studies covering thousands of women found no link between distress before treatment and whether IVF worked. "Just relax" is unkind advice, because it tells a woman her feelings are the problem. Stress during fertility treatment is real, and it deserves support for its own sake, not because it decides the result.