IVF has developed a rich set of traditions over its nearly five decades of existence, ranging from patient-community rituals and religious requirements to clinical practices that have evolved with the science. Some are rooted in faith, others in superstition, and a few in medical advice that got creatively reinterpreted along the way. Here’s a look at the traditions that surround IVF treatments and where they actually come from.
Lucky Socks, Pineapple Cores, and French Fries
IVF patient communities, especially online forums, have developed a colorful set of rituals that get passed from one person to the next. The most widespread include eating pineapple core after embryo transfer, wearing lucky or colorful socks to appointments, and grabbing McDonald’s french fries after egg retrieval.
The pineapple tradition has a kernel of logic behind it. Pineapple cores contain bromelain, an enzyme that aids digestion and is thought to have anti-inflammatory properties. The leap from “anti-inflammatory” to “helps embryo implantation” is not supported by clinical evidence, but pineapple has become such a fixture in the IVF world that it shows up on greeting cards and support group logos. Pomegranate juice is another popular choice, based on the belief that it promotes blood flow to the uterus.
The McDonald’s french fries tradition has a more traceable origin. Doctors sometimes recommend salty foods to patients who develop ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a potential complication of the egg retrieval process. That medical advice morphed into a community-wide ritual of eating fries (specifically McDonald’s, for reasons no one can fully explain) after retrieval or transfer. As one Mayo Clinic physician put it, laughing about it with patients: “It was a good marketing campaign. Does it hurt? No. But I don’t think there’s a difference in our embryo transfer outcome from that.”
Lucky socks won’t change your uterus’s behavior, but fertility specialists acknowledge that having a comforting ritual for each appointment can shift your mindset into a more positive space during an emotionally grueling process. That psychological benefit is real, even if the socks themselves aren’t doing anything biological.
Religious Requirements in the IVF Lab
For many patients, IVF traditions aren’t optional rituals but binding religious obligations that shape which procedures are permitted and how they’re carried out.
Islamic Law and Lineage Protection
Islamic jurisprudence permits IVF but within strict boundaries. The procedure is only allowed for married couples using their own eggs and sperm while the marriage is legally intact. Donor sperm, donor eggs, donor embryos, and surrogacy are all prohibited. These rules stem from one of Islam’s five higher objectives: protecting lineage. A child has the right to know the identity of both biological parents, and the legal structures around marriage and inheritance depend on clear family relationships.
The restrictions extend even to frozen genetic material. A husband’s frozen sperm cannot be used after divorce or after his death, because either event terminates the marriage contract. If donated reproductive tissue is used despite the prohibition, most Muslim jurists consider the husband (not the sperm donor) to be the child’s legal father, and the birth mother (not the egg donor) to be the child’s mother. The Fiqh Council of North America reaffirmed these prohibitions as recently as 2018, extending them to donation of ovarian tissue and testicles because they contain genetic material that could create lineage complications.
Jewish Law and Lab Supervision
In observant Jewish communities, a religious observer called a mashgiach or mashgicha may be present in the IVF laboratory to supervise the process from egg retrieval through embryo transfer. The observer’s role is to ensure that the correct sperm and eggs are paired together, safeguarding the child’s lineage according to Jewish law. Some fertility clinics, including RMA of New York, partner with Jewish organizations to accommodate rabbinical supervision within the lab. This isn’t a symbolic gesture. It’s a formal chain-of-custody tradition with religious authority behind it.
The Bed Rest Tradition
In the early years of IVF, patients were kept lying flat for hours, sometimes an entire day, after embryo transfer. The logic was that staying horizontal would prevent uterine contractions from pushing the embryo out of place. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, this was one of the most widely practiced empiric traditions in IVF history.
It has since been debunked. Multiple studies found that prolonged bed rest after transfer does not improve pregnancy or live birth rates. Most clinics today ask patients to rest briefly, sometimes just 10 to 15 minutes, before going home and resuming normal activity. Despite the evidence, some patients still feel compelled to stay in bed for days after transfer, a testament to how deeply early clinical traditions can embed themselves in patient culture.
Acupuncture Around Embryo Transfer
Using acupuncture alongside IVF cycles has become one of the most popular integrative medicine traditions in fertility care. A large meta-analysis pooling 42 clinical trials and over 7,400 participants found that acupuncture was associated with modestly higher pregnancy rates compared to sham acupuncture or no treatment. It also helped with pain management during procedures and reduced anxiety levels.
The picture isn’t entirely straightforward, though. The same analysis found a significantly higher early miscarriage rate in the acupuncture groups. Side effects were mostly mild, limited to local reactions at needle sites in the eight trials that tracked them. Many patients pursue acupuncture less for the statistical edge and more for the stress relief during a process that can feel physically and emotionally relentless.
Dietary Traditions Before a Cycle
Dietary changes before an IVF cycle have become a tradition in their own right. Mediterranean-style eating, rich in vegetables, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, is the most commonly recommended pattern in fertility nutrition. More recently, researchers have explored whether a ketogenic diet (very low carbohydrate, around 50 grams per day) can improve outcomes for patients with polycystic ovary syndrome who had previously failed IVF.
In one study, patients with PCOS followed a ketogenic diet for roughly 14 weeks before attempting another cycle. They lost an average of about 8 kilograms and significantly reduced their insulin resistance. The diet didn’t change the number or quality of eggs retrieved, but implantation rates jumped dramatically, from 0% in their prior cycles to over 83%, and live birth rates rose to nearly 67%. This is a small, specific population, not a universal recommendation, but it illustrates how pre-cycle dietary traditions are increasingly backed by data for certain groups.
The Legal Status of Frozen Embryos
How a society classifies frozen embryos reflects deep cultural and legal traditions that vary dramatically from place to place. U.S. courts have landed on at least three different frameworks. Some have treated embryos as property, applying the same legal logic used when two people dispute ownership of a stored item. Others have recognized embryos as persons with legal rights. The most influential ruling, in the landmark case Davis v. Davis, rejected both extremes and created a middle category: embryos “occupy an interim category that entitles them to special respect because of their potential for human life.”
Louisiana stands alone among U.S. states in classifying embryos as juridical persons with specific legal rights. This means embryos there cannot be intentionally destroyed, which has practical consequences for how IVF is practiced in the state. Patients in Louisiana face different choices about what to do with unused embryos than patients elsewhere, and clinics may fertilize fewer eggs at a time to avoid creating embryos that can’t legally be discarded. These legal traditions directly shape the patient experience in ways that vary by zip code.