Being child-free

After unsuccessful fertility treatment, you may come to accept that you won’t have a child. You might feel like you ran out of time, money or energy to keep trying to have a child. Not being able to have a child may cause a range of emotions, including:

sadness or emptiness
a sense of grief or loss
relief, contentment or happiness
empowerment, if you made the choice.

In some cases, people say they feel child-free rather than childless. Accepting that you won’t have a child and learning to enjoy the benefits of being child-free – more time to follow other aspects of your life, focus on your relationship, advance your career or afford a different lifestyle – can take time. Many people have happy and fulfilling lives without children, or gain satisfaction from other types of nurturing.

Your feelings may change over time, and may depend on if you have a partner and how they feel. If you want support, a counsellor, social worker or psychologist can talk to you about being child-free and help you deal with challenging situations (for example, if your partner feels differently to you).

Not everyone wants to be a parent and this may not change over time.

I learnt that you can Iive a fulfilled life without children.

— Duncan

This information was last reviewed in May 2018. View who reviewed this content.

We thank the reviewers of this booklet: Dr Yasmin Jayasinghe, Paediatric Gynaecologist, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Co-chair Fertility Preservation Taskforce, Melbourne, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, VIC; Dr Peter Downie, Head, Paediatric Haematology-Oncology and Director, Children’s Cancer Centre, Monash Children’s Hospital, and Director, Victorian Paediatric Integrated Cancer Service, VIC; Carmen Heathcote, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland; Aaron Lewis, Consumer; Pampa Ray, Consumer; Dr Sally Reid, Gynaecologist, Fertility SA and Advanced Gynaecological Surgery Centre, Visiting Consultant, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Clinical Senior Lecturer, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health, The University of Adelaide, SA; A/Prof Kate Stern, Head, Fertility Preservation Service, The Royal Women’s Hospital and Melbourne IVF and Head, Endocrine/Metabolic Clinic, Royal Women’s Hospital, and Co-chair, AYA cancer fertility preservation guidance working group, VIC.

Fertility and Cancer was developed as part of a research study into the experience of fertility after cancer led by Prof Jane Ussher at the Centre for Health Research, Western Sydney University. For a list of the other chief and partner investigators, see cancercouncil.com.au. We acknowledge the input of Dr Amanda Hordern and Prof Jane Ussher, who collaborated on the original draft. We thank CanTeen Australia and the American Cancer Society for permission to draw on their resources. We also thank the cancer survivors who took part in the Western Sydney University research project on fertility and cancer, and whose accounts have been quoted in this booklet.

View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.