There is new evidence that use of IVF (In-vitro fertilisation) is causing women to naturally conceive later in life.  

It's been 27 years since the birth of Australia's first IVF baby Candice Reed. And since then, the procedure has given hope to thousands of women unable to conceive.

25% of women who undergo IVF, will fall pregnant for a 2nd or 3rd time naturally, within two years of giving birth via IVF.

Professor Michael Chapman is director of IVF Australia appeared on Sunrise to explainhow IVF "substantially" enhances enhances a woman's chances of getting pregnant. "It seems 25% of women who have been successful with IVF - over the next two years - will fall pregnant spontaneously," he said. "This equals about one or two percent of women per month.

"There are women whose tubes are blocked and men who are not performing at 100% ad those ones will certainly have a chance of conceiving in the future. There is another group - called unexplained fertility - where everything appears on a simple test, where they appear to be normal, but they don't get pregnant and IVF can substantially bring forward their odds of getting pregnant."

"There are physical reasons why women don't get pregnant. It is a medical problem but there is the random chance that fertility is. Even at your best, performing at 30 years of age, 15% per month is the maximum chance of getting pregnant. It is the roll of the dice. You can roll the dice how many times and not get the six. That is one of the issues in fertility.

Professor Chapman says the number is increasing because more people are going through IVF, and because once you've had one baby, the pressure/stress to get pregnant disappears, putting the body in a better state to be able to conceive.

He also says many people have fertility problems, they're not infertile altogether. A similar percentage (20%) of couples will fall pregnant before they go through IVF - basically some couples need more time to conceive than others.

So what considerations does the Professor have for couples considering IVF? 

"That IVF is the best thing for them," he says confidently. "For a woman who is not making an egg, tablets may do the job. Insemination may do the job. There are steps. Good investigation, finding out what the problems are and dealing with them and probably 30% or 40% don't need [full] IVF." 

For some people, waiting for one or 2 years is not appropriate - for those who choose it, IVF has a success rate between 40-70% per month ,depending on the number of courses.

More info

IVF Australia