According to research by Social forces, the right age to get pregnant for women in the US is generally in the late 20s or early 30s. This age range is actually ideal for you and your partner to give birth to a healthy baby and also doesn’t have any significant effects on the health of the mother.
But having said that, age is just one factor that should determine whether you should become pregnant or not. Financial and emotional readiness is also something that you should consider. Let us first understand how age affects fertility.
Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have – about 2 million of them, and this number gradually declines as they progress through age.
By the time they hit the number 37, the eggs have already reduced to 25,000; by the age of 51, it is 1000. This might sound like many eggs, but the quality of your eggs also declines significantly as you go down your age.
Your chances of getting pregnant significantly decline as you get older. After 3 months of trying, the odds of conceiving during your next cycle are as follows:
- 18 percent by the age of 25
- 16 percent by the age of 30
- 12 percent by the age of 35
- 7 percent by the age of 40
Other factors that may affect your conception include
- Smoking
- Cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy
- Pelvic infection
Having a baby in the 40s in the US has become increasingly common, according to research by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report also mentions that the rate of first-time births among women between the age of 40 to 44 has more than doubled in the time period 2009 to 2019.
Here is a chart explaining the birth rate, which explains that the birth rate of women has decreased for younger women and increased for older women.
Now Let us see what are the benefits of having a baby late:
- Career and Financial Stability
Having a baby in your 40s will make you more stable career-wise, as you might already have spent good 12-15 years of your life on your career. This gives you and your partner ample time to have enough savings to ensure that you have enough savings to secure the future of your child in terms of education.
Studies have shown that children of older mothers stay in the education system longer and do better at tests as compared to their peers born to young mothers.
- Health benefits such as longer life span
Some people say that having a baby later may affect your energy level later in your life when you plan to get your kids married. But studies have proven otherwise. Studies have shown that people who became parents in their 40s usually tend to live a longer, happier life. The effect of improved outcomes related to socioeconomic status likely affects the health of offspring and the parent throughout their lives.
In fact, a study published in 2015 Menopause suggests that women who have children after the age of 33 are twice as likely to live to age 95 compared to women who have had their last child before the age of 30.
- Reduced cognitive decline
Cambridge dictionary defines Cognitive as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. Usually, with age, this ability tends to wear out, and it’s important to understand what types of changes in cognition are expected as a part of normal aging.
Parents having conceived in their 40s tend to have a reduced cognitive decline, or the cognitive decline gets delayed. The reason behind this is that your child keeps you active even in your late 60s as compared to your peers who have conceived prior to turning 30.
- Children getting better grades as compared to their peers
Studies have shown that children with older parents tend to get better grades as compared to children with younger parents. This can be due to the socio-economic factors that we discussed earlier. The dropout ratio from the education system is seemingly less for these children, and they tend to do very well in college as well.
- Children have a reduced risk of injury
Parents’ love is such that it cannot be compared with anything else in the whole world. When the child gets injured, only the parent knows the pain that they suffer, and no one else knows it better. Studies have pointed out that a child’s risk of experiencing an unintentional injury that requires medical intervention drastically declines with an increase in maternal age.
According to a study by British Medical Journal found that at the age of 3, a child’s risk of unintentional injury declined from 36.6 percent for moms aged 20 to 28.6 percent for moms aged 40.
Cons of having a baby late:
- Chances of having a high-risk pregnancy
Women who tend to delay their motherhood and have their 1st child in their 40s tend to have a high-risk pregnancy.
Consider this, in modern times lifestyle diseases tend to creep up into our life way earlier than our parents or grandparents. Diseases like High blood sugar, High Blood pressure, and heart-related problems have started affecting people as early as in their 30s.
All these diseases might affect the pregnancy and result in a high-risk pregnancy. It is always advisable to visit your nearest doctor first before planning pregnancy and get all these tests done to ensure that there are no miscarriages.
- Less likely to have a normal delivery
Vaginal delivery may be less likely in your 40s. This is primarily due to the fertility treatments that increase the risk of premature deliveries. If your baby is delivered vaginally, the process may be more challenging for older women and may result in stillbirths.
Its always advisable to talk to your doctor and plan accordingly. You need to have a backup plan to ensure that your child is healthy. Talk to your partner if you are planning for a vaginal birth and understand what help will you need to ensure that this goes smoothly.
- Less likely to conceive naturally
The chances of conceiving naturally decline rapidly as women age beyond the age of 35.
Your chances of getting pregnant significantly decline as you get older. After 3 months of trying, the odds of conceiving during your next cycle are as follows:
- 18 percent by the age of 25
- 16 percent by the age of 30
- 12 percent by the age of 35
- 7 percent by the age of 40
You may have to go for treatments like IUI and IVF to ensure that you conceive. Discuss with your doctor what are best possible options that you can undertake and ensure that you conceive.
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