UPDATED: December 10, 2025

How to cope with the holidays when you’re dealing with infertility? Infertility is stressful no matter what time of the year, but during the holidays it can be even more challenging. However, there are tips to help you cope.

  • Attend holiday parties but be selective about accepting invitations.
  • Visit and spend time with family and friends.
  • Take breaks when needed.
  • Celebrate by spending time doing things you like.
  • Share your feelings and decide in advance how you will handle difficult questions.
  • Lend a helping hand to others in need.
  • Stay tuned into your partner’s needs by setting time aside for one another.

Attending Holiday Parties

DO: Be selective about accepting invitations to parties and holiday celebrations, especially the ones at which you know there will be a lot of children or pregnant women.

DON’T: Feel guilty about not participating in all the traditional family events. Focus on supporting yourself and your partner.

Plan your escape

DO: Give yourself breaks when needed. Have your partner there to help navigate difficult moments and allow yourself to step away for a few minutes.

DON’T: Feel pressured to stay in a situation that feels overwhelming. It is okay to take a break.

Visiting Family and Friends

DO: Plan to spend time with couples or friends who don’t have children if family festivities are too much to bear this year. Arrive just in time for the holiday dinner if you find it painful to be around your young nieces, nephews, and cousins.

DON’T: Rely completely on family traditions to fulfill your present needs.

Celebrations

DO: Spend time doing things you like best.

  • Prepare a spectacular meal, take long walks, go horseback riding or jogging, or curl up by a fire with a good novel.
  • Plan a special trip just for you and your partner.
  • Begin your own family traditions with your partner.

DON’T: Pretend that there’s nothing wrong and carry on with “business as usual.”

Sharing Your Feelings

DO: Decide in advance how you will handle difficult and insensitive questions.

  • You may even want to rehearse your answers. (You can decide to be honest with friends and relatives as to why you can’t join certain celebrations and traditions which are just too painful right now.)
  • Express your appreciation to friends and relatives who have given you their love and support.

DON’T: Be caught off guard by unexpected or embarrassing questions about your plans for having a family. Plan your responses, but don’t feel that you have to disclose all the details of your situation either!

Lending a Helping Hand

DO: Try to help others in need. Visit the elderly, volunteer, or support holiday programs. Cheering up other victims of the holiday blues has a rejuvenating effect.

DON’T: Close yourself off to positive feelings and new experiences. You may find that you have a special ability to make others feel good.

Staying Tuned-in to Your Partner’s Needs

DO: Set aside time to share your feelings with each other.

  • Allow yourself to feel sad, deprived, or depressed. Talk to each other about your feelings.
  • Participate in activities that bring meaning to you at this time; create the joy intended in celebrating the holiday for its own sake.

DON’T: Get caught up in the whirlwind of the holidays and forget about each other. You need each other’s comfort more than ever.

Final Thoughts

The holidays can be challenging when dealing with infertility, but you are not alone. Be gentle with yourself, lean on those who support you, and focus on what brings you peace this season.

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Staci Swiderski, CEO and owner of Family Source Consultants, has been a prominent leader in reproductive medicine for over two decades. Through her strategic vision and dedication, she has developed Family Source Consultants into a globally recognized agency specializing in comprehensive egg donation and gestational surrogacy services. Under Staci’s leadership, the agency has become a trusted partner for intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors worldwide, known for its rigorous standards, compassionate support, and commitment to excellence in third-party reproduction.

Her professional insight is uniquely informed by her own family-building experiences. As an intended parent, Staci welcomed her son via gestational surrogacy in 2005, and as a known egg donor, she assisted an infertile couple in expanding their family. These experiences lend a rare depth to her leadership and have fueled her ongoing dedication to ethical, empathetic, and professional support within the field of reproductive medicine.