The Natural Fertility Community

Does anyone happen to know how long it takes for the swimmers to reach the egg when it's in the fallopian tube? Is the time different if you have an IUI? And from the time of fertilization, how long does it take the egg to make it's way through the tube and implant?
Thanks for indulging my questions!!

In all of the reading up on the subject the consensus is around 3 days. Another 3 days to travel to the uterus.

Factors for sperm survival include- health, motility, morphology of the sperm (they need to be very healthy to reach the fallopian tube), healthy cervical mucous and timing (if the sperm reaches the fallopian tube before the egg is released they may have to wait for the egg, this is rare).

These answers are just from research I have done on my own. I am not a medical doctor and these are just averages. I am not sure if your chances of sperm survival are different for IUI. I do think you have the advantage of being inseminated during your peak time.

i would like to make a correction..

actually, i believe it only takes a few hours for sperm to make it to the fallopian tubes. actual fertilization depends more on when you ovulate. sperm can live up to 5 days in the fallopian tube, waiting for the egg to be ovulated. once the egg is released from the ovary, it only lives about 24h. it is rare for sperm to be able to wait 5 days for the egg, it requires really healthy cervical fluid; usually 3 days is more of an average.

so, if you were doing a IUI that was timed with ovulation, the sperm would most likely meet the egg within 24h.

as for implantation, it usually takes the fertilized egg anywhere between 4 and 10 days to implant in the uterus. 6-7 days is the average.