Age is no barrier to achieving many things. But it can reduce the chance of a woman getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. A woman’s age is the single most important factor affecting her fertility. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. As a woman ages, her eggs age with her, diminish in quantity and quality.
Age is not something we can control. But if you want a baby or another baby, and you’re in a relationship, you can have a conversation with your partner sooner rather than later.
The father’s age can also impact on chance of conception, time to pregnancy, risk of miscarriage and the health of the child.
The facts and figures about women’s age and fertility
As a woman ages, it takes longer to conceive and the risk of not being able to get pregnant increases. Also the risk of miscarriage and complications in pregnancy and childbirth increase.
- Starting at about age 32, a woman’s chances of conceiving decrease gradually but significantly.
- From age 35, the fertility decline speeds up.
- By age 40, fertility has fallen by half.
- At 30, the chance of conceiving each month is about 20%. At 40 it’s around 5%.
- The risks of pregnancy and birth complications – and caesarean section – increase with age. Complications include gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypertension, placenta praevia, and placenta abruption.
- Older women are more likely to have a baby with birth defects or genetic abnormalities.A woman over 35 is nearly 2.5 times more likely than a younger woman to have a stillbirth. By age 40, she is more than five times more likely to have a stillbirth than a woman under 35.
- For a woman aged 40 the risk of miscarriage is greater than the chance of a live birth.
Hence, it is very important to keep your age in mind and plan pregnancy at the earliest if you are above the age 30. Any woman who is postponing pregnancy at any given age due to some reasons should visit her fertility consultant to know her chances and plan accordingly. For those who cant plan pregnancy , egg freezing and embryo freezing options have turned out to be a boon.
