Discover our mobile application: the Robin app
Robin, Brussels IVF's smartphone application, supports you during your fertility treatment.
Reproductive medicine offers several options for fulfilling your desire to have children. A pathway with assisted reproductive technologies is intensively supervised, on the medical, legal, financial and psychosocial level. During your journey, you will be assisted by fertility doctors, psychologists, and midwives. There are various options and choices to be made as part of your treatment with donor material. Our aim is to provide you with sufficient information before you start treatment.
Taking steps towards single or LGBTQ+ parenthood?
All families are unique and can take different forms. We can help you fulfil your desire to have a child. Because not every family is the same, each application requires a personalised approach and guidance. We counsel single mums, gay couples, lesbian couples, and any combinations of these parenting forms, who want to become parents as part of our ‘co-parenting’ approach. We also oversee fertility sparing procedures for people wishing to have children in the case of gender-affirmation surgery.
Good to know
Brussels IVF has its own tissue bank
Brussels IVF has the necessary quality labels and permits to have its own oocyte and sperm bank. We rely on a network of oocyte and sperm donors for this. We also work with several sperm banks across Europe to reduce waiting times for parents who rely on donor sperm to conceive.
For whom?
We currently offer assistance to:
- single women who want to have a child
- lesbian couples
- gay couples
- in the case of a co-parenting request
- for persons with the desire to have children, before or after gender-affirmation surgery (transgenders).
From application to treatment: a roadmap
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Submitting your application for treatment and first contact
Contact Brussels IVF through our Contact Center (+32 2 477 66 99 or info@brusselsivf.be). It is vital that you provide as much information as possible about your personal situation and application so that we can schedule the right appointments for you from the outset.
During this call, our Contact Center employee will also give you more information about the timing and stages of your pathway.
We ask you to fill in a questionnaire before scheduling an appointment for you in the following cases:
- As a single woman who wants to have a child
- In case of surrogacy
- In case of co-parenting
If you have already had tests done elsewhere or have undergone fertility treatment, please provide this information and the test results digitally in advance by e-mail to info@brusselsivf.be or bring your file with you for your first doctor’s appointment. That way, your doctor has access to all the available medical information during your appointment.
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Introductory meetings
All the prospective parents will attend consultations at our centre. If you wish to start treatment with the help of a known donor or a gestational carrier, this person will also have to attend the meeting and answer questions about their motives. During these consultations (psychologist, doctor, counsellor), all the parties involved will receive the necessary information. We also discuss your expectations, needs, and questions.
The psychologist and/or counsellor will support you with the psychological, financial and practical aspects and help you make an informed choice about your future and that of the future child. A fertility specialist maps your fertility to find out which treatments are possible.
The donor’s fertility will also be assessed if you are using donor oocytes or donor sperm. We also check that he/she does not suffer from any serious hereditary and/or infectious diseases.
In the case of pathways with high-tech surrogacy, we also screen the gestational carrier. We do this to estimate and maximise the chances of a healthy pregnancy, a healthy child, and the good health of the gestational carrier.
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Confirmation of treatment
After your application and the initial intakes at our centre, a multidisciplinary team from Brussels IVF evaluates your application.
The procedure is more complex if there is currently no legal framework in Belgium for your pathway as prospective parents (e.g., co-parenthood with more than two parents or using surrogacy). We advise our patients to seek the assistance of a specialised lawyer and/or notary.
Prospective parents are always informed about whether their case gets the green light. If treatment cannot be started, you will always be informed of the reasons for this decision.
For the sake of medical confidentiality, prospective parents never receive information about the health status of a known donor or gestational carrier - and vice versa. If this information is at the root of any refusal, the parties involved are responsible for informing each other about this, if they wish to do so.
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Start of treatment
After your treatment has been confirmed, the doctor will draw up a specific treatment plan with you based on the previous examinations and intakes. (Read more about the possible treatments below)
We then schedule an appointment with a midwife-counsellor, who will review your treatment with you: the practical aspects, medication, procedures... They also discuss the cost of treatment and possible reimbursement with you. During this appointment, you fill out the necessary consent forms and contracts together.
You must collect the prescribed medication for your fertility treatment from Brussels IVF at the start of your treatment (IVF medication centre, route 985).
During treatment, the menstrual cycle of the woman undergoing treatment is monitored through blood tests and ultrasounds. Your first point of contact for further instructions and information is our Daily Monitoring team. They will call you or send you instructions through the Robin app.
We check whether the treatment was successful (pregnancy test) with a blood test. This is done approximately 14 days after insemination or 12 days after embryo transfer.
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Follow-up
After successful fertility treatment, we monitor your pregnancy for 7 weeks. If the pregnancy is progressing as it should, a heartbeat can be observed on the ultrasound around the 6th or 7th week of pregnancy. If this is the case, your own gynaecologist will take over at this stage and monitor you for the duration of your pregnancy.
Although your gynaecologist monitors your pregnancy and takes care of any pre- and postnatal tests, we are interested in hearing how your pregnancy and the birth of your baby went. You will therefore be sent two questionnaires by email from followupbrusselsivf@uzbrussel.be. Individual follow-up is very important to us, and for our future patients. This is part of the scientific research that we conduct on an ongoing basis into pregnancies and children born from fertility treatment. In so doing, we aim to continuously improve the quality of our treatments and identify the effects of certain changes (e.g., in stimulation medication).
After a successful fertility treatment with surrogacy or as part of a co-parenting project, we also offer an additional psychological follow-up in addition to the general follow-up. This is done through in-person and telephone consultations during the pregnancy (at around 7 weeks, 14 weeks, 22 weeks, and 34 weeks) and after delivery.
If you have chosen to work with a surrogate, you inform Brussels IVF yourself about the further progress and finalisation of the adoption procedure.
Five common questions about LGBTQ+ or single parenthood answered
Why does my application need to be approved?
It may feel unfair and even quite exasperating that an application for treatment needs to be approved. However, as a fertility centre, we are responsible for the general wellbeing and health of the future child as well as those of the prospective parents we treat. Obviously we don’t have a crystal ball. However, we do examine every application based on the current details that you provide and the guidelines laid down in the ethical framework of UZ Brussel. Currently, various medical, social, psychological, legal or societal protective and risk factors or concerns are known, based on scientific research and clinical experience. All these aspects are taken into account in any application for fertility treatment. If, as a centre, after thorough evaluation and multidisciplinary consultation, we find that there are more risk factors than protective factors, we unfortunately cannot start treatment. You will always be informed of the reasons for our decision not to start treatment. This approach complies with the Belgian Act on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, which provides for the possibility of refusing a treatment request based on the conscience clause. If you had already received the green light at another centre or underwent treatment there, this unfortunately is not a guarantee that you will be able to start treatment at our centre. Our own Brussels IVF team always examines and oversees each application individually and without bias.
Psychologe Eveline Buyse
How much does the treatment cost?
If you are affiliated with a Belgian mutual health insurance fund and if you are under 43 years of age, you are entitled to (partial) reimbursement for six cycles of artificial insemination (IUI) and six cycles of IVF/ICSI. In the case of IVF or ICSI, stimulation and oocyte retrieval with fertilisation in the lab are always considered as one cycle. If multiple embryos are available, the transfer of a frozen embryo offers additional opportunities within the same treatment cycle. As a patient with Belgian mutual health insurance who is entitled to reimbursement by RIZIV/INAMI, you still pay for part of your ART treatment yourself. This includes copayments for consultations, examinations, and procedures. Without entitlement to this reimbursement, patients pay full price for their treatment: follow-up, consultations, admission, laboratory fees and medication. The exact amount depends on your individual treatment. The use of donor material is never reimbursed. Use of any anonymous donor material is always at your own expense. You sign an agreement in advance for the purchase and acceptance of the donor sperm or oocytes. A pathway involving high-tech surrogacy and/or a known donor may not involve any commercial transactions. This means that the donor or gestational carrier may not earn any money, nor should he or she incur any expenses as part of the process. The prospective parent(s) pay for the treatment of the gestational carrier and/or the examinations and treatment of the donor to obtain the sperm or oocytes. Does your pathway include a psychological consultation? Please note that most health insurance funds provide additional reimbursement for this. You are responsible for requesting the necessary documents from your mutual health insurance fund for this purpose so that the psychologist at our centre can complete the application for reimbursement. Depending on your pathway, you will also be charged administrative fees for the screening and intake interviews.
How long does my pathway take?
The time of a pathway varies according to several factors. At this stage, we feel that it is our responsibility to remind you that proper follow-up also takes time. When you first fill in a questionnaire, we aim to process it within three months of receipt so that the necessary appointments can be scheduled. When using (anonymous) donor material, you may have to wait a while before a match is available. This ranges from about three months to a year. At the start of your treatment, you will be given a more precise timeline and indications based on your situation and the current offering.
How do I deal with the pace of a pathway and the waiting periods?
From experience, we know that you will have mulled over your decision for quite some time before taking the step to contact our centre. Parenthood is a life-changing decision that also involves a lifelong commitment. This is something you should definitely think about. After you have made the decision to embark on a fertility journey, you will have to exercise patience again. There is a waiting period to receive feedback on the questionnaire, before we can schedule a consultation, before donor oocytes and/or sperm become available, and so on. As soon as the effective treatment starts, the process gains momentum. Some people find this new pace overwhelming. This is because the pathway and timing are largely determined by the female cycle, a natural process that is very difficult to control and not very predictable. People often require several treatment cycles to get pregnant. The only right pace is the pace you choose for yourself. There are a lot of factors (personal, practical, relational, financial) that influence your experience of the pace of your journey and the waiting periods. Despite your great desire to have a child, parenthood, and the fact that you felt that you were ready to become a mum or dad months ago, it may be useful now and then to take a step back and give yourself a period of rest during this fertility rollercoaster. This advice mainly stems from our concern for your personal and relational well-being and your mental and physical health. A pause can often be a source of new energy and resilience, which may benefit in the longer term during your pathway. Do you want to discuss this? A team of psychologists who are affiliated with our centre is on hand to help.
What is the legal framework for donor material in Belgium?
Currently, Belgian legislation on Assisted Reproductive Technologies provides that the donor and acceptor remain anonymous and unknown to each other as a rule. An anonymous donor donates tissue to the tissue bank of Brussels IVF, at UZ Brussel. This involves medical and psychological screening of the donor and the tissue. We also cooperate with several sperm banks across Europe, that provide the same legal screening. This is all part of our endeavour to limit waiting times for prospective parents who rely on donor sperm. Donation is always strictly anonymous. Even the staff of our tissue bank only work with encrypted data and do not know the donor’s identity. In other countries, laws on anonymity may be different. In some cases, the child can request specific information about his/her sperm donor from the international sperm bank through a DNA test as soon as they turn 18. This donor, however, remains completely anonymous for our centre and for the prospective parents, in accordance with Belgian regulations. Purchasing donor sperm from a foreign anonymous donor (optional DNA test at age 18) is more expensive than a conventional anonymous donor because of the increased follow-up by the foreign bank and the higher purchase price for our centre. You always know which type of donor will be used for your treatment. We sign an agreement to this end before you start treatment. When using anonymous donor oocytes and/or donor sperm, the counsellor will complete a phenotype card with you. This lists your external features, and possibly those of your partner. Matching with the donor is done in the lab on that basis. The extent to which matching is possible is entirely subject to availability. Blood group and rhesus factor play an important role in our selection. Under Belgian law, each donor can donate to six families. Once a Belgian or international donor has fathered children in six families, we block them in our sperm bank. Currently, however, there is no national (nor European or international) register to check this. We thus can only rely on the information of our centre. Known donation is also permitted in Belgium under the current legislation. Prospective parents can suggest their own candidate donor. Donation for commercial reasons is forbidden in Belgium. Prospective parents pay for the tests and donations that the donor performs as part of their treatment to conceive. The known donor must meet the same legal requirements as an anonymous donor. More information can be found through the treatment with donor material.