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All women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. No one knows when they will run out of eggs and menopause begins. Also there is the issue of the eggs getting older as the woman grows older. That is when we start to see genetic abnormalities happening and the higher possibly of either a miscarriage or a baby being born with something such as Downs Syndrome.
Tell her to ignore fear mongers. Instead of being concerned over slightly older parents, society should focus on crack and alcohol addicted babies born to younger mothers. Miscarriages occur in 1/4 pregnancies or something like that regardless of age. The 'concern' forolder others is all about money. Docs see it as a way of cashing in by spreading anxiety and fear that happens because of one or two incidences. Little do they know older parents have been around for centuries. Yes I can see where there may be a few concerns but it is no reason to be fearful. For the first time ever in a long itme, women have choices in reproduction.
Tell her to ignore fear mongers. Instead of being concerned over slightly older parents, society should focus on crack and alcohol addicted babies born to younger mothers. Miscarriages occur in 1/4 pregnancies or something like that regardless of age. The 'concern' forolder others is all about money. Docs see it as a way of cashing in by spreading anxiety and fear that happens because of one or two incidences. Little do they know older parents have been around for centuries. Yes I can see where there may be a few concerns but it is no reason to be fearful. For the first time ever in a long itme, women have choices in reproduction.
Why do you think doctors make up the risks that older mothers have just to make money?
This study included 1,566,313 deliveries and just used age as the risk factor:
"CONCLUSION: Perinatal mortality, intrauterine fetal death, and neonatal death increased with age. There was also an increase in intercurrent illnesses and pregnancy complications with increasing age, but this did not entirely explain the observed increase in perinatal mortality with age."
Chromosomal disorders and miscarriage risk:
Age Down Syndrome risk Any Chromosomal Abnormality Miscarriage Risk
20 .... 1 in 1,667 ................ 1 in 526 ................................. 10%
30 ..... 1 in 952 .................. 1 in 386 ................................. 12%
35 ...... 1 in 378 ................. 1 in 192 ................................. 18%
40 ...... 1 in 106 .................. 1 in 66 .................................. 34%
45 ...... 1 in 30 .................... 1 in 21 .................................. 53%
The risk of maternal death (fortunately rare in the US) is 2.7 times greater for a woman age 35 or greater compared to a woman 30 to 34 years old and 3 times greater than one 25 to 29 years old.
Risk of complications like high blood pressure and diabetes is also increased in older mothers.
Her chances of becoming pregnant are quite low, never mind whether or not a baby will be healthy. You cannot *plan* to become pregnant at a later age or assume that it will happen.
IVF or whatever would still use her aging eggs, so isn't necessarily any help. When you read of these celebs having kids so late (and often twins) it usually is with husband's swimmers and donor eggs, but they don't like to put this on the cover of People Magazine.
It's not very likely she'll get pregnant, but if she did, she would most likely give birth to a healthy baby. Women who have kids older have a higher chance of their kids having something wrong but ~95% of the time, the babies are born healthy. However, I did read some statistics that the majority of pregnancies to women in their 40s end in miscarriages.
I think anything past your late 20s are too old to start a family though. 40s are definitely too old, a lot of people that age are becoming grandparents. Does she really want to be raising a little child during menopause and teenagers into her 60s?
Considering this woman has done other things until now, she'll probably be just fine with that. If one has a baby at 42, s/he will graduate from high school when one is 60, from college at 64. That's all still pre-retirement.
Tell her to ignore fear mongers. Instead of being concerned over slightly older parents, society should focus on crack and alcohol addicted babies born to younger mothers. Miscarriages occur in 1/4 pregnancies or something like that regardless of age. The 'concern' forolder others is all about money. Docs see it as a way of cashing in by spreading anxiety and fear that happens because of one or two incidences. Little do they know older parents have been around for centuries. Yes I can see where there may be a few concerns but it is no reason to be fearful. For the first time ever in a long itme, women have choices in reproduction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzy_q2010
Why do you think doctors make up the risks that older mothers have just to make money?
This study included 1,566,313 deliveries and just used age as the risk factor:
"CONCLUSION: Perinatal mortality, intrauterine fetal death, and neonatal death increased with age. There was also an increase in intercurrent illnesses and pregnancy complications with increasing age, but this did not entirely explain the observed increase in perinatal mortality with age."
Chromosomal disorders and miscarriage risk:
Age Down Syndrome risk Any Chromosomal Abnormality Miscarriage Risk
20 .... 1 in 1,667 ................ 1 in 526 ................................. 10%
30 ..... 1 in 952 .................. 1 in 386 ................................. 12%
35 ...... 1 in 378 ................. 1 in 192 ................................. 18%
40 ...... 1 in 106 .................. 1 in 66 .................................. 34%
45 ...... 1 in 30 .................... 1 in 21 .................................. 53%
The risk of maternal death (fortunately rare in the US) is 2.7 times greater for a woman age 35 or greater compared to a woman 30 to 34 years old and 3 times greater than one 25 to 29 years old.
Risk of complications like high blood pressure and diabetes is also increased in older mothers.
There are risks to pregnancy. There's a possibility one may not get pregnant.
This is true of everyone, regardless.
Yes there is a higher risk when one is older, but that doesn't mean by any means that an older mother is guaranteed problems just like it doesn't mean that a younger mother is guaranteed a smooth ride.
The only one who can gauge if it's right for them is the person involved.
And I'm gonna throw out the anecdotal evidence card - I had a baby at 42, we have no issues, none, so who knows? No one.
And the terms "more likely" and "less likely" does not mean "is guaranteed to".
Those figures look scary - but consider: a one in thirty chance of a child born to an older mother having Down syndrome still means that this is a rare occurance. Nor is Down syndrome the tragedy it once was, in developed countries which can offer appropriate support to individuals with DS and their families.
Over 90% of children with DS are not born to older mothers, and eggs do not age into DS. The extra chromosome is there from the start, according to my understanding - however, atypical eggs mature later in life, resulting in the increased chance of conceiving a child with a chromosomal difference.
It should be noted that while it's not due to chromosomal issues, mature mothers also are more prone to give birth to children with higher intelligence than average.
My own mother was within four months of turning forty when I was born, and I have no related issues. My aunt, her sister, had two healthy babies well into her forties, and this was in the early 1940s. Our family is also longevious, which may be a factor, as we seem to age rather slowly. So I'd advise your friend to look at other women in her family, especially in the maternal line, and see if there is a pattern of later-in-life successful pregnancies. She may be just fine, if so.
If this woman wants to use her own eggs it is insane to wait a year to try to get pregnant. She should be trying on her wedding night (and the wedding should be ASAP). People do not realize how much female fertility drops in the 40s, especially right around 43 when it falls off a cliff. They see movie stars having babies at 45+ and think that means that they can too. What no one ever discusses is that every single one of these women is using an egg donor, not her own eggs.
IVF is of limited help when your eggs are not chromsomally normal because of age. People think that IVF is a magical solution and it absolutely is not. IVF still requires good eggs, sperm, lining, and uterus. That is why many fertility practices do not have ANY IVF successes above 43. The women are just not able to make viable eggs. There is a promising new treatment called natural/low stim IVF with microarray comprehensive chromosomal screening in IVF but it is very expensive and time consuming.
I know all of this because I had my daughter at age 39 via IVF (with my own eggs) and read pretty much everything is out there about fertility. I'm shocked at how little people understand about the finite nature of female fertility. If this woman really knew the score she would not be planning to wait a year.
Those figures look scary - but consider: a one in thirty chance of a child born to an older mother having Down syndrome still means that this is a rare occurance. Nor is Down syndrome the tragedy it once was, in developed countries which can offer appropriate support to individuals with DS and their families.
Over 90% of children with DS are not born to older mothers, and eggs do not age into DS. The extra chromosome is there from the start, according to my understanding - however, atypical eggs mature later in life, resulting in the increased chance of conceiving a child with a chromosomal difference.
It should be noted that while it's not due to chromosomal issues, mature mothers also are more prone to give birth to children with higher intelligence than average.
My own mother was within four months of turning forty when I was born, and I have no related issues. My aunt, her sister, had two healthy babies well into her forties, and this was in the early 1940s. Our family is also longevious, which may be a factor, as we seem to age rather slowly. So I'd advise your friend to look at other women in her family, especially in the maternal line, and see if there is a pattern of later-in-life successful pregnancies. She may be just fine, if so.
A one in 30 risk is not "rare". A one in 100,000 risk would be rare. Which would you rather buy, a lottery ticket with a 1 in 30 chance of winning or one with a 1 in 100,000 chance?
No, the extra chromosome is not there "from the start" unless one of the parents has Down syndrome. It almost always occurs due to an error in cell division in the egg. That error can occur just before ovulation or while the egg is in the Fallopian tube, and there is definitely a correlation with maternal age. In a small percentage of cases the extra chromosome comes from the father.
The reason that a larger percentage of Down syndrome babies is born to younger mothers is that there are more younger mothers. The risk is still lower at earlier maternal ages.
Sure, the majority of older women who have children will do fine, but any woman who delays childbearing into her forties needs to understand that her risks are different and higher than a woman in her twenties or even her thirties.
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