"Have you heard about at-home insemination before last month? Maybe, maybe not, but thanks to Frida and their unfiltered and unapologetic explainers on how their at-home insemination products work, a lot more people are talking about this fertility method. Their recent reels on how to use their at-home insemination kits have collectively garnered millions of views on Instagram and TikTok in the last three weeks.
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This isn’t the first time the brand made waves for their refreshingly honest approach to showcasing the “messy” realities of motherhood. Remember their commercial about postpartum recovery that was banned from The Oscars for being “too graphic”? Plus, items like the NoseFrida “snot sucker” and the labor and delivery + postpartum prep recovery kit helped parents and moms deal with some of those messy realities, solidifying the brand as a go-to for moms and moms-to-be. And while Frida isn’t the first brand to launch an at-home insemination kit, it is the first people are talking so much about.
Fertility journeys can look so different for every person trying to conceive. Factors like cost and accessibility to in-clinic procedures may be out of reach for some, and at-home kits can offer a more accessible way to get pregnant. So, how does intravaginal insemination (IVI), more commonly referred to as at-home insemination, work? What are the risks associated with trying this method? Can you actually get pregnant this way? Here’s everything you need to know about at-home insemination with the help of three experts.
Dr. Jacqueline Gutmann, MD, FACOG
Dr. Gutmann received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine, and completed her residency and fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. She currently serves on the medical advisory board of the American Fertility Association (AFA) and works as a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist with RMA of Philadelphia.
Dr. Serin Seckin, MD
Dr. Seckin is a native of New York City. She completed her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai- Mount Sinai West and St. Luke’s where she received multiple teaching awards and was elected chief resident. Her clinical and research interests include: fertility preservation, ovarian aging, and the impact of endometriosis on fertility.
Janene Oleaga, ESQ
Janene Oleaga is family formation attorney and reproductive rights advocate assisting LGBTQ individuals and couples navigating infertility grow their families through surrogacy, gamete donation, embryo donation, and adoption.
Who might use at-home insemination kits?
“At-home insemination can be an option for individuals or couples who are looking to conceive using donor or partner sperm without medical assistance,” says Dr. Jacqueline Gutmann, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist with RMA of Philadelphia. She notes that there are many instances where someone might elect to try at-home insemination.
A heterosexual couple might turn to this method if sex is painful or uncomfortable, or a woman wanting to become a single mom by choice might try it. Same-sex couples who need a sperm donor might also turn to at-home insemination. The procedure may be appealing to others as it’s done in the comfort of your own home versus in a medical setting.
Performing an at-home insemination may also be less expensive than traditional fertility treatments like intrauterine insemination (IUI), where a doctor delivers sperm directly to the uterus. You’ll usually pay anywhere between a few hundred dollars and several thousand dollars for one round of IUI depending on your insurance, says Dr. Gutmann, and there are often other out-of-pocket costs like lab tests, ultrasounds, and medications as well. In comparison, a round of at-home insemination may cost as little as $5-$10, depending on what equipment and type of sperm donor you use.
Dr. Gutmann says at-home insemination is “appealing for its convenience, lower costs, and privacy” but stresses that “seeking guidance from a healthcare provider or fertility specialist is paramount” for anyone considering this route.
How does at-home insemination work?
To get pregnant, sperm must fertilize an egg. This can happen through sexual intercourse or through assisted reproductive tactics like IVF. “At-home insemination involves depositing sperm into the vagina, which is similar to the natural process of penile-vaginal intercourse,” says Dr. Serin Seckin, Board Certified OB-GYN and Fertility Specialist at Generation Next Fertility.
Instead of penile penetration, though, at-home insemination relies on a woman filling a sterile syringe with semen, inserting it like she would a tampon, and releasing the semen into her vagina. Dr. Seckin said it’s important to get the syringe as close to the cervix as possible (as demonstrated in the Frida videos), as this mimics traditional intercourse the closest. She said, “Feeling the syringe against the top area of the vagina, called the fornix, surrounding the cervix can be a good indicator” that the syringe is in the right place, but said that someone might not always feel the semen being released.
At-home insemination, like natural pregnancies, also relies on timing the sperm deposit with ovulation. This is the time, usually around day 14 of a menstrual cycle, when an egg gets released from an ovary.
Dr. Seckin says tracking your ovulation is important so that you can time your at-home insemination when your luteinizing hormone (LH) is surging. When your LH surges, she explained, ovulation typically occurs within 24 to 36 hours after that. “Timing the insemination around this surge maximizes chances of success because any sperm that’s deposited at that time should still be there around the time when ovulation occurs,” she explains.
Some online forums suggest using a menstrual cup to try to help keep the sperm close to the cervix after releasing it and to stay lying down for 15-20 minutes afterward, but Dr. Seckin says this isn’t necessary. “Studies show that staying laying down after having intercourse doesn’t change the chances of success, and it’s completely normal if some of the sample comes out after standing up,” she says.
What do you need to try at-home insemination?
To try at-home insemination, you’ll need a sterile syringe and collection cup for the semen, confirmation that your LH level is surging, and a sperm sample.
There are several at-home insemination kits available, like the ones from Mosie Baby, PherDal Fertility Science, and Frida. They range in price from $49.99 to $199 and include sterile syringes and collection cups. In late 2023, Mosie Baby’s kit was the first to receive approval from the FDA, and PherDal’s kit received approval in early 2024.
“While these kits may be more user-friendly, they don’t necessarily provide any additional benefit over a simple sterile syringe,” reminds Dr. Seckin, so if the kits aren’t in your budget, you can use a sterile syringe from a drugstore.
Shop At-Home Insemination Kits
Sperm and At-Home Insemination
The sperm you use can be fresh or frozen. If it’s fresh, it’s recommended to deposit the sperm within one hour of it being ejaculated. If it’s frozen, you’ll want to make sure you follow the instructions to dethaw it and will want to make sure you don’t get any water in the sample. There are pros and cons to both.
”Fresh sperm offers the advantage of higher motility, which can increase the chances of successful fertilization,” says Dr. Gutmann, but “requires precise coordination of ovulation and donor availability, which can be challenging.”
On the other hand, frozen sperm can be thawed when you’re ready to use it, but Dr. Gutmann cautions that “the freezing and thawing process can reduce sperm motility, lowering the chances of pregnancy with a vaginal insemination.” Any sperm from a sperm bank will also have already been screened for STDs and gone through extensive genetic testing, which are both positives.
What are the risks of doing at-home insemination?
Dr. Seckin points to two main risks related to doing at-home insemination. You should make sure that your sperm donor has been tested for STDs to avoid potential health issues for the mom. If you’re using a known donor (friend or partner as an example) and aren’t going through a sperm bank where the sperm will be genetically screened, you may want to consider having your sperm donor screened so that you’ll know if there will be any genetic incompatibilities for a potential embryo.
A larger risk for doing at-home insemination is the legal implications. Janene Oleaga is a family formation and reproductive rights attorney who has worked with over 500 clients to help them become parents through third-party assisted reproduction. She says that it’s important for people using at-home insemination to make sure they have a sperm donation contract in place that clearly “addresses the rights and obligations of each party along with who will be a legal parent and who will be a donor.”
If you’re using a sperm bank, you will already have legal rights to the sperm, but if you’re using a known donor and don’t have a legal contract in place, “the donor could claim that they were not in fact a donor and intended to be a legal parent of any resulting child,” she says. That could obviously have devastating consequences for a family, so even if you are best friends with your donor, it’s still best to have a contract in place. Oleaga also says it’s important for both of the intended parents to plan ahead for how they’ll confirm their parental rights as well.
Does at-home insemination work?
Yes, doing at-home insemination can lead to pregnancy, although Dr. Gutmann cautions that “success rates can vary widely” and that, typically, success rates for getting pregnant via IUI are higher. She says success rates for at-home insemination typically range anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent per cycle compared to 10 percent to 20 percent per cycle for IUI.
“Success rates for at-home insemination typically range anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent per cycle.”
Whether you’ll get pregnant or not via at-home insemination “[depends] on various factors such as sperm quality, timing of insemination, whether it is a frozen sample, and overall fertility health of the individuals involved.”
Don’t get discouraged if you try at-home insemination and don’t come away pregnant the first time, either. Dr. Gutmann cautions that five cycles are typically needed for women to get pregnant doing at-home insemination.
Dr. Seckin adds, “If you’ve tried at-home insemination a few times without success, it might be worth considering seeing a fertility specialist as they could offer more effective options and support.”
At-home insemination is a relatively low-risk, low-cost option for couples or individuals trying to get pregnant. If you’re curious about learning more, schedule an appointment with your doctor to discuss whether attempting it is a good option for you.
Elliott Harrell
Elliott is a mom of two little girls and is based in Raleigh, NC. She spends her days running a sales team and doing laundry and her nights writing about the things that she loves. She’s passionate about all things motherhood and women’s health. When she’s not working, writing or parenting you can find her trying a new restaurant in town or working on her latest needlepoint project.