Age is Just a Number

How old is too old?

It is a very personal decision.

Many of us delay childbearing while we finish our educations, develop our careers, and hope to find the right partner in life. While our socioeconomic status rises, our biological clock tics away. It is not impossible, nor ill-advised to have children into your 30's or 40's. It is important, however, to understand some of the medical risks you might be taking.

THE BAD NEWS:

Fertility takes a sharp dip after age 35: There's less than a 30% chance of becoming pregnant each cycle if the woman has a partner the same age, and less than 20% if her partner is five years older. (While men's fertility is less affected by age, it significantly declines by the late 30s.)

After age 40, the window of opportunity to become pregnant without assisted means closes quickly: A 40-year-old's chance of conceiving is 5% per month.

At 30, a woman's likelihood of giving birth to a baby who has Down syndrome is 1 in 1,000; by age 35, it's 1 in 400.

At age 40, a woman who has conceived with her own eggs has a one-in-100 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome; at age 45, a one-in-30 chance.

Women over 35 are twice as likely as those in their 20s to develop high blood pressure and diabetes for the first time during pregnancy.

Mothers who were 30 or older had higher rates of pregnancy and delivery complications, including a prolonged second stage of labor and more fetal distress.

Over-35 moms have a 40% chance of delivering by cesarean section -- nearly triple the C-section rate for twenty something moms.

First-time mothers over 40 are 60% more likely to develop high blood pressure and four times more likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy than moms in their 20s.

First-time moms over 40 were up to eight times as likely as women in their 20s to have placenta previa.

The risk of miscarriage to be more than 50% by age 42 and about 75% after 45.

THE GOOD NEWS:

Women over 30 are the most likely to breastfeed, according to the March of Dimes, and breastfed babies generally have a higher IQ and greater protection from ailments such as ear infections, asthma, and diabetes.

Women who delay childbirth until their late 20s and early 30s tend to live longer and have healthier infants than those who begin having babies earlier in life.

Women who delay childbearing until their 30s often have a financial edge over younger moms.

Twins and triplets who were born to older mothers were just as healthy as -- or healthier than -- those born to younger moms.

Fertility treatments are making it possible for more women in their 40s and older to bear a child. In the mid-1980s, only a few hundred babies were born per year through assisted reproductive technologies (ART). By 1999, that number had skyrocketed to more than 30,000, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Birmingham, AL.

While late motherhood appears to increase the risk for some health problems and labor and delivery complications for the over-40 mother, it does not appear to affect neonatal outcomes.

I say go for it, just understand your risks. Talk to your physician BEFORE you start trying so you can minimize your risks and not waste any precious time. Like anything worthwhile in life, this takes work too - but the rewards far outweigh the risks.