This guide covers the route to solo motherhood: deciding, choosing a donor and a clinic, treatment, pregnancy and the first year. Start at the step you are on.
IUI · IVF · ICSI · Donor Sperm · Donor Eggs · Double Donation: treatment routes covered in this guide
Start with a fertility MOT: AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone), AFC (antral follicle count), and baseline bloods. These tests show where you stand and help you decide between IUI (simpler, less costly) and IVF (more intensive, higher success rates). AMH can be tested on any day; the AFC scan is timed to the start of your cycle. Set a budget ceiling and a stopping point before you start.
IUI uses donor sperm inserted directly into the uterus during ovulation. It's less invasive. IUI typically costs about a quarter of an IVF cycle, plus donor sperm; success rates are around a third of IVF's (HFEA). IVF involves stimulating your ovaries, retrieving eggs, fertilising them in the lab, and transferring an embryo. For women under 35 with good fertility markers, IUI is often a sensible first step.
In the UK, HFEA law requires that donors are traceable: your child can access identifying information at 18. You can use a UK sperm bank, or an overseas bank whose donors meet UK rules; your clinic will tell you which banks it accepts. Profiles typically include physical traits, health history, and a personal statement.
Every UK fertility clinic must be HFEA-licensed. Compare clinics on HFEA-reported success rates for your age bracket, whether they routinely treat single patients, pricing transparency, and waiting times. Our comparison tool lets you do this side by side. In 2022, 18% of single patients and 16% of female same-sex couples aged 18 to 39 had NHS funding for their first IVF cycle, against 52% of opposite-sex couples in the same age group (HFEA, Family Formations 2022). Check your own ICB or health board's policy before assuming you will pay privately.
Depending on your route, you'll either have a monitored natural or stimulated IUI cycle, or begin IVF stimulation injections. Most clinics assign you a dedicated nurse coordinator. Treatment cycles typically run 2–4 weeks from start to result.
If you want the option of a second child, you can create and freeze embryos across several egg collections before your first transfer. This is sometimes called 'batch IVF'. Ask your clinic for the cost of each extra collection and of storage before deciding.
Tell your midwife you had fertility treatment. Decide early who will come to scans and who will be your birth partner: a friend, a family member or a doula.
A Cambridge study (Golombok and colleagues, 2016) compared 51 solo-mother families with 52 two-parent families, all with children aged 4 to 9 conceived by donor insemination, and found no differences in child adjustment. Our guide on talking to your child about their donor covers what to say and when.
Swipe to explore all 8 steps →
Mental health: counselling and support during treatment.
Families who took this route, and what it was really like.
Real stories told elsewhere. The summaries are ours: follow the link to read each one in full.
March 2024
A single mother explains why she used the same donor for her second child as her first, and reflects on raising two donor-conceived siblings alone with help from friends, family and the network.
Read the full story(opens Donor Conception Network in a new tab)April 2024
After years of trying different routes as a single woman, including clinics and adoption, Kati turned to donor IVF in Spain at 45, which led to her daughter.
Read the full story(opens Donor Conception Network in a new tab)March 2020
A woman describes choosing solo parenthood in her late thirties. Conceiving took nearly two years, a missed miscarriage, big savings and treatment abroad with donor sperm and egg.
Read the full story(opens Stylist in a new tab)What IVF really costs
The headline IVF price on a clinic's website covers the core cycle. Drugs, donor sperm or eggs, tests, ICSI and storage are usually charged on top. This guide lists each line, with the price ranges we found on published UK price lists, so you can build a budget before you begin. The worked example uses donor sperm; the last section shows which lines change for other families.
Read GuideHow to choose a sperm donor
Choosing a sperm donor is one of the most personal decisions in donor conception. This guide covers the legal framework in the UK, what information is available about donors, what vials cost, and how to approach the decision.
Read ChecklistQuestions to ask at your first consultation
A first fertility consultation is often 30 to 60 minutes and covers a lot of ground quickly. Going in with prepared questions means you leave with the information you need. This checklist covers what is worth asking; pick the questions that fit your situation.
Read ExplainerDonor conception and legal parenthood explained
This explainer covers the legal principles behind donor conception in the UK: who is a legal parent, what position the donor is in, what your child can find out and when, and what changes if you use a surrogate. It applies to solo parents, couples of any kind and two dads or solo dads.
Read GuideIUI vs IVF vs donor eggs: which is right for you?
The three main treatment routes (IUI, IVF and donor egg IVF) differ in success rates, cost and physical demands. The right starting point depends on the age and ovarian reserve of whoever provides the eggs, on whether the sperm is a partner's or a donor's, and, for two women, on whether one of you will carry an embryo made from the other's eggs (reciprocal IVF). This guide sets out the options in plain terms.
Read GuideTalking to your child about donor conception
Children who learn about their donor conception early, from their parents, in age-appropriate language, do better than those who find out later or from someone else. This guide gives language and a framework for these conversations at different ages. It applies whether you are a solo parent, two mums, two dads using an egg donor and a surrogate, or a couple using donor sperm or eggs.
ReadFilter our comparison tool for donor sperm and IUI or IVF, then compare success rates for your age group alongside cost and waiting times. Ask each clinic whether it routinely treats single patients.
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