7 books for children conceived through egg donation
Books are a great way to introduce your child(ren) to egg donation and start the conversation about how they came to be. We have found five books for children conceived through egg donation. Hopefully, they can assist you in talking to your child about being donor-conceived.
Studies have shown that children conceived through sperm or egg donation benefit from knowing about their heritage during their upbringing. It may be difficult for you to find the right place and time to share the story of how your child came to be, but with help from a book it may become easier, as your job then is to read the story with your child and answer any questions they might have.
Besides the five books about egg donation, we have also recommended a guide for future parents of donor-conceived children and a book written by a donor-conceived person focussing on her upbringing.
Our Story
Our Story is a series of books written for donor-conceived children in different family constellations. The books are aimed at children from 2-6 years and are written from the child’s perspective. They give a simple explanation of how a baby is made with help but without a detailed explanation of the treatment method. You can choose between close to 40 different versions, depending on your family structure and the help you have received (sperm donation, egg donation, double donation, and/or surrogacy). In the following, you can read a bit more about some of the books about egg donation. Read on or follow the link to see all the books written in the Our Story series.
Our Story: Egg Donation in Mum and Dad Families
This book contains information about egg donation in families where the woman experienced fertility issues with her reproductive system and needed donor eggs to fulfill her dream of a child.
Our Story: Egg donation in mum and dad families through surrogacy
Surrogacy can be hard to explain to a child. But through lovely illustrations and simple words, this book describes how a donor offered an egg and a surrogate offered a tummy, so that mum and dad could have the child they were dreaming of. The book may make it easier for you to explain why you had to use a surrogate to have a child.
A tiny itsy bitsy gift of life
This book revolves around a family of four rabbits with two parents and a pair of twins conceived with the help of an egg donor. By using rabbits, it makes the story easy to understand and the illustrations relatable for children. This book is relevant for all families who have used an egg donor, but if you are so lucky to be expecting or having given birth to twins through fertility treatment with donor eggs, you may find the book A tiny itsy bitsy gift of life particularly interesting and helpful.
The Pea That Was Me: An Egg Donation Story
Fertility treatment with donor eggs is a complicated process, which makes it rather difficult to explain to children. One book that can help simplify the process is The Pea That Was Me: An Egg Donation Story. Through colorful illustrations, the book uses the perspective of a charming little pea that needs eggs, sperm, and a tummy to grow in to illustrate how egg donation works. Hopefully, by understanding the basics of egg donation and the struggles you experienced during treatment, it becomes easier for your child to understand how they came to be.
I Dreamed of You: the story of an egg donor baby
Lori Metz wrote the book I Dreamed of You: the story of an egg donor baby based on her many years of experience as a social worker. During her career, she met many couples trying to find the right balance and comfort in their fertility treatment, and she used her experience to create a caring and nurturing book about egg donation. Hopefully, the book enables you to start an important conversation with your child.
Phoebe's Family: A Story About Egg Donation
This book revolves around Phoebe and how her parents struggled to fulfill their dream of a child. Phoebe's Family: A Story About Egg Donation is written in a language appropriate for children between the ages of 5 to 10 and illustrates the struggles parents of donor-conceived children go through on their journey toward parenthood. Every donor-conceived child who reads the book will feel lucky to be a part of their family.
Other books relevant for parents of donor-conceived children
Besides the five children’s books we have recommended above, we also want to recommend a few books for the parents of donor-conceived children. These books will not help you explain egg donation to your child, but rather give you an understanding and comfort in hearing other people’s stories. Read the book recommendations below.
Let’s Talk about Egg Donation: Real Stories from Real People
The first recommendation for parents of donor-conceived children is the book Let’s Talk about Egg Donation written by Marna Gatlin. The book consists of real stories from real people who have been through fertility treatment with donor eggs as a step on their journey toward parenthood. Fertility treatment can hurt your mental and physical health and sometimes it helps to read stories from other people who went through the same thing as yourself. The book also contains stories about the challenges of raising a donor-conceived child.
Donor Child – A child of love
How donor-conceived people feel about the story of how they came to be differs a lot from one person to another. Some are confused and angry about their parents’ decision, while others never really think about it. It can be hard to understand the emotions if you are not donor-conceived yourself. Therefore, we recommend reading stories from donor-conceived people to help you understand how your child may feel.
Emma Grønbæk, who is now a Donor Child Consultant at Cryos, has written the book Donor Child – A Child of Love focussing on her upbringing as a donor-conceived child. In the book, Emma explains how her parents told her about her story early in her upbringing and what it meant for her emotions regarding donor conception.
If you are a parent through egg donation or planning to become one, you may be interested in exploring more blog posts about egg donation. You can also click on the button to see the available egg donors.