Anks for You responsesWow,even I Am Surprised by This..

The article doesn't mention anything about birth control and how that may affect the reproductive system with long term usage. I am not saying that age doesn't affect it, but I know so many women that are having and had children into their 40's. If you use fertility treatments we have seen women in their 60's have babies. I wonder if genetics have anything to do with it as well.
I had my daughter at 35 and my sister had her last child at 42. My father was born to parents that were in their late 40's back in 1944. All are healthy babies with the exception of my dad, he was a preemie born about a month or so early and had heart problems.

I was surprised by the fact that more women DIDN'T realize their eggs are aging and they are less able to get pregnant as they age. Significantly less able.

I mean, considering the epidemic of women who are using fertility treatments these days... did it not occur to anyone that it's in part because women are waiting later and later to get married and then waiting even longer to have kids?

There were too many sexist jokes about a woman's biological clock ticking away... that was actually based in some reality, folks! There's a reason why in history women were considered old maids/spinsters at 25 or 30. They were less likely to be able to get pregnant and provide sons.

I just really don't get how this concept is so foreign to so many women...

That said, I'm not bashing anyone for waiting or putting their careers/education first. That's a personal choice that I would never try to judge.

I totally agree that most women don't REALLY know this information the way the article spells it out. Trust me, spend any time in a fertility clinic and you quickly notice that many have discovered it's true. I just turned 37 and was quoted a 33% chance of having a baby (not necessarily getting pregnant) through one IVF treatment. This is why it takes older women multiple tries at IVF, often, to have a child. Most people think IVF means you will have one for sure, but it doesn't. Nothing science can do can reverse the aging process and the chromosomes of eggs and embryos.

I think the attitude many have of waiting to have kids is definitely tied to the 40+ celebrity culture making it look easy. I also think it's because we all "know someone who" had a baby in their 40s with no trouble conceiving, a surprise baby in their 40s, got pregnant with IVF at the first attempt at age 42, the list goes on. So we end up thinking, If so and so can do it... I just think most women need to realize that, while this does happen, it's not the norm or the majority. Waiting is not a good idea!

I know when I grew up you were totally given the impression that you could wait. You were encouraged to pursue your career and hold off until your late 30s. That is what I did (39 when I started trying and 40 when I became pregnant). I wouldn't change a thing, but I was definitely pretty lucky. The benefit to waiting was that I was far enough along in my career that I have been able to negotiate flexibility into my working schedule. The drawback has been that I am unable to have a second child. Oh well, I have made my peace with it now.

While the media has been a little better about relaying the idea that you can't push off your fertility forever, there are still mixed messages everywhere. I think the biggest sin are the celebrities who appear to get so easily pregnant at 40, 45, 50 even, but don't share the fertility struggles they must have gone through or the fact that they probably spent big $$ and used donor eggs. Most of us don't have those types of resources.

I'm so glad you posted this link. It's sad, but true, that many of us have bought in to the idea that we can postpone bearing children till after 35 and still be fine. Thanks for keeping MamaSource members informed that our eggs age whether or not we believe we are aging. Children are such a blessing and we must not take the ability to have them for granted. Just in case anyone is wondering, pregnancy after 35 is MUCH HARDER on your body than mid twenties or early thirties and risk of adverse outcomes are much higher. Our bodies are trying to tell us not to wait too long. Nurse Midwife Mom of 3

I am blessed to have had 2 healthy girls in my 20s and im still baking my first boy at age 30.

We started trying to conceive when I turned 32.
Four years later and finally with the help of a fertility specialist (IVF with ICSI - pregnant on the first try) we had our son when I was 36.
Our specialist said if we wanted another we'd have to start right after we had our first and that the eggs are a whole lot less viable the closer you get to 40, but it varies a bit from person to person.
My pregnancy had no difficulties.

I know plenty of moms that have waited to conceive and I can definitely see the benefits of waiting. However, I can't say none of those women didn't know their chances were slimmer as they aged. Most women really think they have a 60% chance of conceiving every month over the age of 40??! Crazy! I will say I was surprised that the chance was only 20% after the age of 30. I did not know it was so low. Very interesting article!

It depends on the person. My sister was only 30 and struggled with infertility. It was a heartwrenching process. She felt betrayed by her body because she was still young...so what's going on? She thought she'd never have her son.

I didn't have those issues, but I still took more than a year to have a successful pregnancy (I lost the first one - again, something common that not everyone will tell you). I was fully aware that a year was normal for my age because I talked to my OB.

I am not surprised to find that older women are coming up against biology. I guess I'm surprised that people are surprised. I don't think a woman should necessarily forget children altogether, but know your limitations. Talk to your doctor about what your goals are, your health, etc. Know your own personal situation.

That said, don't rush a baby because you hear a tick tock. Having a child in a bad situation is not a good thing, either.

You stop when it's your personal end-point. DH did not want to try IVF so had it gotten to that point, we would have looked at adoption.

It's interesting because I think people assume the "modern medicine" can fix all things and that simply isn't true. Our bodies have time clocks that we can try and circumvent, but there are some things (per my OBGYN) that are truly up to chance. Concieving a child is one of those things.

I feel better, stronger and more secure in my early 30's than I did a decade ago, but as we started "trying" for our second child my doctor reminded me that I wasn't 25 anymore and that it may take longer. For that reason, my husband and I decided to start trying immediately rather than waiting another year. We know that it is harder for a woman to concieve as she ages, especially if it is a first pregnancy.

Sometimes we need a "reality check" and this type of article is just that. If you want children, start trying before you think you are ready. I have many friends who waited for various reasons... and here's what my parents told us after we got married....

If you wait until you have enough money, a big enough house, enough seniority at work, enough in your retirement fund, traveled the world and bought all of the things you think you need, you will never have children. Don't wait for those things to line-up. Have the kiddos then line the rest up.

I'm with Amanda F. It is biology and science. Nothing new... I wonder if these same ladies that aren't aware that waiting can make it exponentially more difficult to get pregnant are equally unaware that if they DO become pregnant that the RISKS (not just for mom, but for abnormalities with the baby) also increases... It doesn't take much reading to learn that a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever produce. So those eggs just get older and older along with the woman. Increasing the odds of there being degeneration in the quality of the egg(s).
I mean, it isn't that difficult to graps. Just watch how the odds of Down's Syndrome (just as an example) increase with the mother's age:
(Taken from aafp.org)
" The risk of having a child with Down syndrome is 1/1,300 for a 25-year-old woman; at age 35, the risk increases to 1/365. At age 45, the risk of a having a child with Down syndrome increases to 1/30."

It's not news that maternal age (which translates to age of the eggs) increases the incidence of "defects" in the baby. Sure there are celebrities out there having babies at 50. But we don't ever get the entire complete story on that, do we? I wonder if they were implanted with fertilized eggs that have been "checked" by the doctor, or perhaps not even their own eggs? And I wonder how many 'treatments' they had to undergo before they were successful in becoming pregnant and sustaining it?

It is sad to me when women choose to wait so long because of a career. If they choose not to have children at all, I am sad for them too, but it is a different kind of sad. Or if they want kids and aren't able to conceive earlier (either problems conceiving or late in finding the right person to have children with). But when women decide that they can wait until they are 35 or 40 to start trying to have a child simply because it is more convenient to their career, then I am astounded that they didn't consider the potential consequences of having waited.. because they are very real.

Having worked for male infertility doctors and knowing my husband and I
wanted a big family, we chose not to prevent pregnancy. Married August,
pregnant Oct. I was lucky. Actually as it turned out vey fertile. We did not
want to take the chance of waiting and then having problems. Were very
happy with our decision and now have 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

My husband and I spent the first few years that our relationship became serious with the "if it happens, it happens" attitude, and then, after 6 years when it didn't "happen" we decided it was time to look into what was going on. At that time I was 32. We spent 2 years trying body temp measuring, ovulation predictors, Clomid, and several other tests and whatnot. We were finally referred to a fertility center that would do something (the first two we went to kept telling us it would happen...". After another round of testing we found out we had a 1/300,000 shot of it happening on our own. We went though IVF and were blessed with our son when I was 34. We decided to try again just before he was a year old, as I knew I could be running out of time, in case it didn't work. We were blessed with our daughter when I was 36.

I knew I was never going to have an easy time getting pregnant. I had problems with endometriosis and other issues starting when I was 14... but I never thought it would be as hard as it was. I wish I had started the process earlier, I always hoped to be a young-ish mom, I just kept holding out hope. That being said, I wouldn't change anything, as I have two beautiful babies who mean the world to us and our family.

Oh, yeah, pregnancy is harder the older the body gets. I met my husband later in life--got married at the age of 30--and wanted children. Had my first and only when I was 32 years old--had high blood pressure through the entire pregnancy as well as pre-eclampsia (baby came 3 weeks early--after I was bedridden in the hospital for two weeks. And baby had some issues in the first six months of life, then had to cope with ear tubes, adenoids, tonsils...etc.). We had no trouble getting pregnant--it was almost right away--but we definitely had to be digilent about my care.

I have a friend who got married in her late 30s who wanted a baby, but they couldn't get pregnant. Tried for five or seven years. Then when they quit trying--they got pregnant. She had her baby when she was 41 years old. He is her only. Another friend of mine met her husband late in life and was pretty adamant about not wanting children. She either changed her mind--or they had an oops. She had her little girl when she was 38 years old.

There are pluses to having children when you're older, but I think you have a lot more stamina when you have your children in your twenties.

Unfortunately, not everyone meets their special someone during that period of their lives. The older you are when you meet someone and decide to have a family, the more realistic you need to be that you might have waited too long and you might not be able to have a child. All this talk about infertility help for older moms to have babies--there is now evidence that infertility help/intervention might not be all that great for the child.

Yes, I definitely think women have been sold a bill of goods that states don't worry, you can have children whenever you want. Um, no, actually, that's not true. And even if you are able to get pregnant when you're older, that doesn't mean you pregnancy is going to be without problems, or that the child won't have issues/problems. Career women who put off having children until later so they can have a career when they're younger should especially, seriously, ponder this issue.

I would like a few more stats. One on how many of these women who waited did it purely by choice. I'm part of the older mom set as are many many friends and acquaintences and none of us - except for one - pushed off having children until later on purpose. We just didn't meet the person we were going to marry until later. And then once we did, we got going right away. The other statistic I'd like to see is how many women under age 42 really can't get pregnant even with IVF etc. Maybe it's higher than I think but my misconception then may be the media's fault. Like people have said, movie stars are constantly having children older so it looks easy. Of my friends and associates, none have not been able to have children. Some had help but ultimately it worked out for more than one child each. I even got pregnant while using a condom at age 38! It was a one time thing too vs we were really active with condoms all the time. And a friend got accidently pregnant around age 40. So while I think every woman for the most part is aware her clock is ticking, pushing off children is probably not really their first choice vs circumstance and they see movie stars and tons of friends having kids older which seem to defy the statistics and perhaps leads to unrealistic expectations.

I'm sure it depends on your body, but I do believe that there are many people who think that they will somehow have EVERYTHING in line before they can have kids. My sister is one of them. She believes that they will just magically have all the finances and all their ducks in a row before they will try and get pregnant and what I don't think most people realize is how long some people try and then also how many people can't for different reasons.

I have had a number of friends who tell me about their struggles to get pregnant and I am always surprised because we were blessed to not have to worry about that.

While I am not advocating getting pregnant and not thinking about 'all the ducks' :) I just know that there are always ducks that get out of line! :)

I really have a hard time believing this. I mean, fertility goes down by 1 to 3% every year until you are about 30 to 35 and then starts to drop by 3 to 5% every year. Most women start at 90% fertility (meaning that if you have sex every day that month you have 90% chance of conceiving a child that make it to term) and it only goes down from there. This is something that was covered in our health class when were were in high school! What were you doing in high school health class? It was boring, sure but really, it isn't like it wasn't taught or the information wasn't out there!

FWIW: I read an article some years ago (don't have link) that described a study done with animals (not domesticated). The animals were fed a cooked food diet. The first generation of these animals were sickly, the second generation had fertility issues.

I'm sure diet plays a role -- raw foods are best. I don't follow a vegetarian diet; just thought this study was interesting.

If I had known this when I was in my 20s, early 30s, I might've skipped a lot of processed food since I did end up having fertility issues.

I'm not sure how women do not know this. I somehow knew that 30 year olds were less fertile than 20s and that fertility continued to decline with age. And I had no interest in having a child, so that information just came from day to day living/media exposure, not any sort of research.

yes it can be harder, but its also the chemistry between you and your partner.

I had my first at 26y. My 2nd at 32y.
My mom had her first at 26y and her 4th at 41y
My grandma had her first at 28y and her 4th at 47y (surprise!).
My relative had her 1st at 23y and her 3rd at 43y
A relative had been told that she couldn't have kids. Adopted 1st. Had her 2nd at 37y (didn't know she was pregnant!) and a 3rd at 40y
My friend had her 1st at 25y, tried for a 2nd. no go. got divorced, started dating and got pregnant on preventative!

Thank you for this article. I have recently been trying to plan a conversation with my husband about having baby #2. I know he wants to "plan" number two for when we''re more financially ready. #1 is already 3.5 yrs old and I am 31 years old. I was going to go online to find data about when most fertility starts to decline. Well here ya gave me the answer! I appreciate it!

To answer your question - no we would not likely pay for IVF or other treatments if I can't get pregnant with number 2. We'd probably just stick with one kiddo. I am not sure how a woman decides when her time is running out. I feel that way right now - that I'm running out of time. If we don't have number two in the next few years, I just don't really want to have to deal with all of pregnancy, infancy, lack of sleep, nursing, etc at age 40.

Time magazine posted an article on this late '02 after debating whether or not they should have based on modern beliefs about having kids. I did IF treatments and started at 26.5 to get pregnant. Other stuff going on there, but obviously I'm not against them. I don't care if people are older when they're having kids. However, it blows my mind that we're brainwashing ourselves to believe that 40 is the new 20. It's NOT. It's 40.