There's more to consider about pregnancy past your mid-30s. Older women are more likely to miscarry or have a stillbirth. They have a greater chance of developing gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and of delivering a baby who is very small.
By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline happens faster once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely.
Your Chances of Getting Pregnant: Early 30s (30 to 34)
Your odds of conceiving are still high—up to an 86% success rate for couples that try for a full year. The only major change is that your chances of miscarriage by age 30 have risen to 20%.
Best biological times to have a baby
Typically, the 20s mark a time of high fertility for both males and females. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, females experience a slight reduction in fertility in their early 30s, and this will decrease significantly between the ages of 35 and 45.
Women who become pregnant in their 30s and early 40s can have safe, healthy pregnancies, says Ellie Ragsdale, MD, director of fetal intervention at UH Cleveland Medical Center. But they do face a higher risk of some problems.
If you're 35 years old or older and pregnant, you're considered to be of advanced maternal age, or AMA. This can put your pregnancy in the high-risk category for a number of reasons, including an increased risk of complications for you and your baby.
Pregnancy Risks in Advanced Maternal Age
Your chance of miscarriage is increased, along with an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and having a child that is preterm. You are also at risk for conceiving a child who has a chromosomal abnormality, such as Down's syndrome.
Down syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels. The risk increases with the mother's age (1 in 1250 for a 25 year old mother to 1 in 1000 at age 31, 1 in 400 at age 35, and about 1 in 100 at age 40). However, 80% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women under age 35 years.
One study found that for couples having regular unprotected sex: around 7 out of 10 women aged 30 will conceive within one year. around 6 out of 10 women aged 35 will conceive within one year.
Women with more eggs are more likely to conceive, which is why younger women often have an easier time getting pregnant. That being said, women over 30 do still have viable eggs, so conception is entirely possible. They may, however, need a little medicinal help to speed the process along.
Peak male fertility is around 25-29 years old. Sperm quality begins to decline at 30. At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume. Older men can also take longer to conceive a child.
The chances of miscarriage and having children with abnormalities and down syndrome are very high in women conceiving after 35 years of age. The chances of multiple births also are higher in late pregnancies.
And then there's your health. 20-somethings have a lower chance of miscarrying and of conditions like gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and high blood pressure. But when it comes to your health later in life, waiting until your 30s to give birth is better.
A gap of 3 years or more greatly reduces the chances of sibling rivalry. By this time the older child is secure in him or herself and quite independent. In addition, the mother's body is fully recovered from the challenges of pregnancy and birth of the first child.
The risk of chromosomal abnormality increases with maternal age. The chance of having a child affected by Down syndrome increases from about 1 in 1,250 for a woman who conceives at age 25, to about 1 in 100 for a woman who conceives at age 40.
Current supplementation policies designed to prevent neural tube defects may incidentally prevent Down's syndrome, provided a sufficiently high dose of folic acid is used.
A pregnancy that begins after age 35 is classified as a high-risk pregnancy because the risk of complications is higher, not inevitable. Many of the problems that occur with pregnancies after age 35 are related to health conditions that occur more often as you age.
Some express concern that child-free adults will regret the decision not to have children, especially later in life. But Watling Neal explained “we found no evidence that older child-free adults experience any more life regret than older parents.
A 2012 study of 21,000 childless couples undergoing fertility treatment found that over a nine-year period, the ones who eventually had a child–biologically or through adoption–had a risk of death from any cause one-fourth that of those who remained childless.
Research shows that there is a “happiness bump” that parents experience right after a baby is born. But that tends to dissipate over the course of a year, Glass says. After that point in time, the levels of happiness of parents and non-parents gradually diverge, with non-parents generally growing happier over time.
As men age, their risk of fathering a child with Down syndrome may increase—the older the man, the more likely that the process of spermatogenesis, or sperm production will go awry, leading to sperm that contain errors like an extra chromosome.
Down syndrome, which arises from a chromosome defect, is likely to have a direct link with the increase in stress levels seen in couples during the time of conception, say Surekha Ramachandran, founder of Down Syndrome Federation of India, who has been studying about the same ever since her daughter was diagnosed with ...