snowflake baby

English

Noun

snowflake baby (plural snowflake babies)

1. (medicine, reproductive medicine) A baby that is born following the transfer of a surplus embryo produced during the in vitro fertilization of one woman to the womb of another woman who was not a cell donor.
   • 2007, Katherine Stone, Caroline's Journal, page 24:

     Once Caroline and Jeffrey gave their consent--or Caroline gave it for them--the eleventh embryo could become the snowflake baby it was meant to be.

   • 2009, Jason Holt (editor), The Daily Show and Philosophy - Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake News, page 125:

     Brownback's presentation included a series of following the development of a child, the result of a discarded embryo, a so-called snowflake baby.

   • 2010, Lawrence S.B. Goldstein, Meg Schneider, Stem Cells For Dummies, page 272:

     The first snowflake baby was born in the late 1990s, but even with the President's public push, only a couple hundred snowflake children have been born in the United States during the past 10 years

   • 2012, Gene Edward Veith Jr., Mary J. Moerbe, Family Vocation - God's Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood, page 114:

     It is possible to implant one of these embryos in the womb of a woman, letting her bear the child. This is called having a "snowflake" baby.

See also

• snowflake child