Introduction:
In this post we tell you about Childbearing Age: When Should You Have A Baby?
- Whether you’re thinking of having kids today or becoming a parent in the future many are aware that fertility declines as you age so when should you have kids, and is there anything you can do to beat your biological clock?
- A woman’s first period is generally around age 12 or 13 but most ovaries don’t start releasing eggs until a few years after this in fact, a woman’s peak fertility isn’t actually until her early or mid-20s. unlike males who are constantly producing new sperm females have a finite number of eggs, but don’t worry by puberty you have around 300 thousand way more than the 300 to 400 you will release in your lifetime.
Trying To Conceive for One Year
- However popular statistics show that after trying to conceive for one year a thirty-year-old woman has a 25% chance of not conceiving a live birth this increases to a 44 percent chance at 35, and a 66 percent chance at 40 years old. but most of this data comes from a 2004 terminal looking at French birth records from 1670 to 1830.
- it’s safe to say that a lot has changed in the lives and health of women since before the age of electricity, antibiotics, and reliable food supply.
- It also doesn’t account for the amount of sex couples were having and the fact that sex drive tapers off as your age.
Modern Studies
- Modern studies present a more optimistic look with the percentage of women unable to conceive within a year of unprotected intercourse at 13 to 14 percent for women aged 27 to 34 and 18 percent for women aged 35 to 39. still showing declining fertility but much better odds than the historical data suggests.
- Another study found that among 38 and 39-year-olds who had been pregnant before 80 percent were able to become pregnant naturally within six months.
U.S.A Pregnancy
This points to another flaw in the studies nearly half of all pregnancies in America are unintended. this means highly fertile women are more likely to become pregnant accidentally when they’re younger, while those purposefully trying to have kids for the first time in their late-30s are already disproportionately less fertile regardless of age creating an overestimate for the effect of biological aging.
Older EGGS
- However, older eggs may not fertilize normally and there is an increase in chromosomal abnormalities with age.
- A woman who is 30 has a 1 in 800 Chance of having a baby with Down syndrome, but the probability goes up to one in 100 when she’s 40. granted, that’s still only a 1% chance.
Male Fertility
Many assumed male fertility is limitless with some famous examples like Charlie Chaplin having kids up into his 70s. and while men do continually make new sperm, the more cell divides the higher probability of genetic mutations. By the time a man reaches 50, the cells that created his sperm have gone through over 800 rounds of division and replication.
Older Father Vs Younger Men
- As a result, older fathers carry an increased risk of children with schizophrenia, autism, cancer a form of dwarfism, neurofibromatosis, and even skull and facial abnormalities
- on top of this even among young men in the Western world, sperm counts have dropped over 50% in the last 40 years the impact and importance of this are yet to be determined though.
- There’s more to raising children than biology anecdotal accounts point to younger parents having more energy but older parents having more maturity and financial stability. of course, more income does not mean better parents but research has shown that higher family income is linked to higher SAT scores.
Low to Middle-Income Countries
- Not to mention in low to middle-income countries the risk of death per birth for women between 15 to 19 years old is 28% higher than for women 20 to 24 years old.
- studies have also found that in some sub-Saharan African countries, up to 25 percent of girls and young women drop out of school because of unintended pregnancies.
Preserving Eggs
- preserving young female eggs by cryogenically freezing them has also become more common but isn’t a guarantee with increasing age still affecting pregnancy success rates and researchers finding that the freezing process degrades the quality of the eggs.
- Additionally, this isn’t a viable option for most women, as the cost of freezing alone is ten thousand dollars, and one round of in-vitro fertilization can cost upwards of $12,000.
Conclusion:
- overall yes conceiving a baby becomes more difficult as both men and women age, but it isn’t at the level of baby panic that is so often discussed in the media.
- Individual fertility is very variable based on genetics and lifestyle, and the best time to have K is a very personal decision as is having kids at all.
That’s all so I hope You all Guys like our Article to so subscribe for more weekly science articles every day