At What Age Can a Woman Safely Have a Baby
In Your 20s
When Siobhan Bennett was pregnant with her two daughters during her mid 20s, she had an like shooting fish in a barrel time of it, and she figured things would exist the same when she was expecting her son at age 45. "No ane sat me down to say, 'Wait, your trunk'southward twenty years older at present,'" says Bennett of Allentown, Pennsylvania. "I was far more fatigued this last time around -- the difference was nighttime and twenty-four hours."
When you decide to have a babe is largely a part of where you are in life. Did you lot find a partner early or late? Are you lot planning a big family or a modest 1? Each age makes for a different experience. Although every woman is unique, the physical and emotional aspects of pregnancy are at to the lowest degree partly influenced by how quondam you lot are. Here'south what you can await.
- Is At that place a Perfect Age to Take a Baby?
In Your 20s: Primed for Pregnancy
From a purely physical standpoint, this is the prime fourth dimension for getting pregnant -- and the earlier you are in your 20s, the faster yous may conceive. The irregular cycles common in your teenage years have evened out, and then ovulation is more predictable. Plus, your eggs (you're born with all yous'll accept) are fresh and healthy, making them expert candidates for fertilization, says Geeta K. Swamy, Medico, an ob-gyn at Duke University Medical Center.
Not but is information technology easiest to get pregnant in your 20s, it's too easier to be significant. "Commonly, a younger body can best handle the additional load on the bones, back, and muscles during pregnancy," says Cosmas J.G. van de Ven, Md, who specializes in loftier-chance obstetrics at the Academy of Michigan Medical Schoolhouse in Ann Arbor. Your joints accept been subjected to minimal wear and tear, and you're probable in the peak condition of your adult life, possibly years away from medical bug that may arise with increasing age.
And if you're young, chances are your own parents are, as well -- meaning more than hands-on help for yous and more fun times for your children. "Not but tin younger grandparents help with childcare, but it'due south wonderful when, in years ahead, they're nevertheless able to nourish school functions or even keep on field trips," says Diane Chiliad. Sanford, PhD, coauthor of the Postpartum Survival Guide (New Harbinger).
The risk of pregnancy-related complications is generally depression in your 20s, with a notable exception: preeclampsia, or pregnancy-induced hypertension. Preeclampsia is less related to age, however, than the fact that this status usually occurs with a first pregnancy -- and most expectant women in their 20s are first-time moms, says Robert H. Drupe, MD, an ob-gyn at UMass Memorial Medical Eye in Worcester. You may also run a greater gamble of a low birth weight baby if you've continued bad health habits from your teen years, such every bit smoking, poor nutrition, and risky sex that leads to sexually transmitted diseases.
While the physical factors of pregnancy generally favor a 20-something, that doesn't necessarily hateful this is the decade to take a babe -- specially if you're feeling your mode into a career or a marriage. "You may not have had plenty time to fulfill your own needs, such as professional person success or spending fourth dimension alone with your partner," says Paula Ford-Martin, author of The Everything Pregnancy Book (Adams Media).
What you lack in life experience, however, you may brand upwards for in enthusiasm about impending motherhood. "A woman in her 20s may not spend then much time overthinking the pregnancy," says Sanford. "She may be more than upbeat and less broken-hearted about having a baby, taking the classes, and becoming a mom." And just a few years may brand a large difference in your emotional preparedness. "There was no way I felt mature plenty to take a baby at 21, fifty-fifty though I knew I wanted a family," says Heather Toto, who recently became a first-time mom at 28. "But by this time, I've been working for a few years -- I'm a heart-school teacher -- and my husband and I are more than financially secure. Now the time is right."
In Your 30s: Gaining Maturity vs. Waning Fertility
Many women who've rounded the bend of 30 may feel they've made dandy strides professionally and personally, making them more than emotionally prepared for pregnancy. "For me, being in my 30s became all about having a family," says Mary Lindewirth of Gillette, New Jersey. "I had a groovy job, my husband and I were fixing upward a house that we had bought, and we took wonderful vacations -- but I knew that if we didn't have kids nosotros'd look dorsum someday and wonder what we had actually achieved."
The grab: While you lot were gaining life experience, your eggs continued to mature too -- and now they're showing their age. The average woman is born with one-half a one thousand thousand available eggs, simply those virtually sensitive to ripening are released first, leaving you lot with the slower specimens as you lot get older. So fifty-fifty if you lot conceived at the go-go last decade, don't wait the same speedy results now. Y'all'll probably be trying for another three to 6 months, says Dr. Berry, even if you're in great shape and accept no medical problems that affect fertility (such as endometriosis or uterine fibroids).
Waning fertility is about noticeable after the mid 30s, as Lindewirth can attest. "I was 35 when I conceived my first son, and it didn't take that long -- just four months," she says. "I wanted to have another baby as soon as possible subsequently, only it didn't happen. I gave myself until 40 to conceive, and I just made it at age 39."
Once you get pregnant, withal, you'll probable find that if you're fit and healthy, you may enjoy the energy usually associated with a younger woman. "Your physical well-being during pregnancy depends more on who you are than how quondam you are," says Dr. Drupe. Exist aware, though, that this is the decade when chronic atmospheric condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure, which complicate pregnancy, showtime get evident, says Dr. Swamy. This is especially truthful if you've packed on pounds with the passing years, since obesity increases the run a risk of many medical issues.
As well, even if y'all're in decent shape, starting at age 35, you have an increasing adventure for pregnancy-specific conditions including gestational diabetes. In fact, age 35 marks the official start for "high risk" pregnancy. Why the scary-sounding cutoff? Considering at 35, the odds of your having a baby with a chromosomal trouble such as Down syndrome (in which a baby is built-in with an actress chromosome) are most equal to the risk of miscarriage from amniocentesis, a diagnostic test for chromosomal defects that examines amniotic fluid. (The fluid is removed through a needle inserted in the mother's abdomen.) "However, that risk [most i in 295] is actually still quite small -- information technology's just that information technology'due south higher compared with the risk of a 25-year-old," says Dr. van de Ven.
In addition, the risk of sure atmospheric condition, such every bit placenta previa, in which the placenta grows almost the neck and causes bleeding, increases with the number of previous pregnancies or cesarean sections, which is why it'due south well-nigh common among older women, notes Dr. Drupe.
Kathleen Van Gorden Morse of Fiddling Compton, Rhode Isle, mulled over all her options when she became pregnant at 35. "Although I had friends my age who went straight to amnio, I wanted to start with a safer selection, and then I chose a type of ultrasound that looks at the infant's cervix," says Van Gorden Morse. Known equally nuchal translucency, this high-resolution ultrasound measures the skin fold at the back of the fetus' neck. "If it'south larger than normal, it indicates a potential chromosomal defect," says Michelle Sang, MD, an ob-gyn in Portland, Oregon.
- A Preconception Checklist
In Your 40s: Older, Yep, simply Also Much Wiser
There'due south no getting effectually it: From a medical standpoint, this is the toughest decade for pregnancy. By now, yous've run through your highest-quality eggs, making conception slower than ever. "You're left with those eggs that accept not only taken the longest to respond to the body's cues for release, but they as well don't role well during fertilization," says Dr. Drupe. This further raises the risk of chromosomal abnormalities and miscarriage. Meanwhile, your menstrual cycle may grow increasingly irregular well earlier menopause, which also compromises fertility. (And otherwise wellness-conscious women in this age group may be dull to seek out prenatal care -- they often presume the skipped period that signals pregnancy is the first sign of menopause. "When my doctor gave me the news, he said, 'Yous're going through a change, but not the change you think,'" recalls Bennett.)
Interestingly, while it'southward now hardest to get pregnant, this is as well when you're most likely to conduct multiples -- itself a high-gamble pregnancy -- even without medical intervention. "It may be that shifting hormone levels during menopause stimulate the release of more than one egg at ovulation -- like a natural fertility drug," says Dr. Berry.
Standard blood piece of work (the blastoff-fetoprotein or AFP, also known every bit triple or quad screening) that estimates the risk of chromosomal defects such equally Down's syndrome is unremarkably considered a waste of time and money, says Dr. Swamy. Screening will invariably reveal risk, which now accelerates more rapidly, from near ane in 86 at age 40 to ane in 21 at historic period 45. Women at 40-plus who opt for testing unremarkably go directly to the definitive tests -- amnio or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which involves removing a flake of tissue from the placenta and carries about a one percent chance of miscarriage. (CVS is also bachelor for younger women, only many decide against it because, for them, the procedure's miscarriage chance nonetheless outweighs the Downwardly's take chances.)
Pregnancy may exacerbate chronic conditions equally well every bit early signs of aging, such as stiff, sore joints; varicose veins may too get worse. "Information technology's all magnified with pregnancy," says Dr. Sang. A slower metabolism may have profound effects, too: "I ate the same just gained twice every bit much weight with my son as I had with my earlier pregnancies, and the greater load sapped a lot more of my energy," says Bennett. Despite this, she headed up a major arts festival until the mean solar day she went into labor.
Doctors may exist quick to tick off the concrete downsides of later on pregnancy, just a list of other pluses balances the scales. You have greater financial stability, for starters, which may enable you to focus more on maternity. Life feel may have made you more patient and flexible. "First-time maternity tin seriously rattle long-established routines, only a adult female in her 40s knows more most life's ups and downs and can better have shake-ups in footstep," says Sanford.
And you've probable proved yourself professionally -- you may now be more than content to stay home, or more than confident about melding motherhood and a career. "Yous're more savvy, and not as afraid to step upwardly to the plate and negotiate your terms for employment," says Ford-Martin. "Older mothers will ask for family-friendly workplace arrangements similar telecommuting, flextime, and chore sharing."
That cocky-confidence may also comport itself into the doctor's part, where you're more inclined to speak up about your preferences regarding labor and delivery. "Women who are a chip older tend to be more than agile in their pregnancy and overall healthcare," says Dr. Swamy. "They may ask their ob-gyn more than questions almost things we consider to be standard practice, such as prenatal labs, diabetes testing, and ultrasounds."
Finally, says Bennett, she's learned coping strategies over the years that have served her well in her second round as a mom of a newborn -- including an afternoon teatime and taking one day a calendar week when she leaves the baby with other family unit members. "One day I saw three movies in a row," she says. "At present I know that it's of import to indulge myself, and I think it makes me a ameliorate female parent."
Rachelle Vander Schaaf is a writer in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and a mother of two.
Originally published in American Baby mag, Feb 2004.
All content here, including advice from doctors and other health professionals, should be considered opinion only. Always seek the straight advice of your ain doctor in connection with any questions or issues you may have regarding your ain health or the wellness of others.
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Source: https://www.parents.com/getting-pregnant/age/timing/conceiving-in-your-20s-30s-40s/
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