Mum's picture of IVF baby surrounded by syringes goes viral

The photo of the new baby girl has prompted messages of support and emotion from other parents around the world

This picture was posted to the Sher Institute's Facebook page, with the comment: "the true definition of love that went into making this gorgeous new baby girl" (Sher Institutes' photo on Facebook)

A mother has posted a picture of a baby girl lying asleep in the middle of hundred of syringes to illustrate the physical and emotional turmoil experienced by people who go through IVF.

The image was posted to Facebook by the Sher Institute, one the largest fertility clinics in the US, after the child's mother, Angela, finally succeeded in becoming pregnant after more than a year-and-a-half of cycles.

On the Facebook post that accompanied the picture, the Sher Institutes wrote:

"Wow, what a picture. Thank you to [...] Angela, who shows the true definition of love that went into making this gorgeous new baby girl."

It has since been shared more than 3,000 times as parents around the globe have shared their stories of trying to conceive a baby biologically related to them.

According to Angela's doctor, Molina Dayal, the picture does not even show all the fertility treatment drugs used to conceive. These drugs are used to stimulate the ovaries to develop mature eggs ready for fertilisation, with the type of drug used depends on the fertility problem in question.

Angela told ABC News her advice to other parents trying to conceive to "hang in there".

"The needles were the easy part. It was the emotional struggle, the ups and downs, that really took a toll," she told the news channel. "I'm single and waited a long time for a husband to come. And then by that time it was difficult to get pregnant."

Other parents on the site shared their own stories of support.

"My IVF babies are now 11. So blessed to be their mom," said one woman beside a photo of her triplet daughters.

Another said of Angela's picture: "Didn't even tell my husband what this was, just handed him the phone. I saw tears form in his eyes as he probably also went through the memories of countless nights, over our four year journey, that he gave me shots."

The first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was conceived in a dish at a Cambridgeshire fertility clinic 37 years ago and five million babies around the world have been born through IVF since.