For some couples struggling with infertility, the idea of having twins or triplets with the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be appealing. But multiple pregnancies are risky—mothers are more likely to suffer medical complications such as gestational diabetes, and babies are often born preterm.

In the UK, 24% of all IVF pregnancies involve twins or triplets. A group of concerned doctors, nurses and patient groups have banded with the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to develop a national strategy to reduce multiple pregnancies from IVF to ten percent within three years. On 26 June, they unveiled plans for a series of professional workshops, the launch of an informational website and a new set of best-practice guidelines.

IVF increases the chance of a multiple pregnancy because doctors often transfer more than one embryo to the uterus at a time. Fertility experts need to identify the women at greatest risk for multiple pregnancies—typically healthy women under the age of 37— and provide them with single rather than multiple embryo transfers, explains Rachel Cutting, an embryologist on the executive committee of the Association of Clinical Embryologists in Britain.