You may be able to postpone motherhood until you are more financially and emotionally ready by waiting until your 40s or having a baby after 40. However, because fertility drops with age, getting pregnant may be more challenging. Over the age of 40, fertility, especially in women, substantially decreases.
If you have a child later in life, you may be better equipped financially and emotionally to be a parent. But even if older parents are having more children, infertility is still a concern.
From the age of 32, a woman’s fertility begins to decline gradually but noticeably. After that, it declines more quickly. Although the reduction is more gradual, male fertility also decreases with age. Most men can still get women pregnant in their 60s or even 70s. However, as men become older, the rate of birth defects rises.
Having a child after age 40 does not directly improve your health; delaying pregnancy, however, may offer a number of benefits that could enhance your mental and emotional health. You are more likely to have a decent job and be able to afford better medical treatment if you are in your 40s. You are in a better position to take more time off work to bond with your child and recover from childbirth.
Given that egg quality decreases with age, infertility risk increases. Infertility is associated with an increased risk of medical problems. These include fallopian tube problems, uterine fibroids and endometriosis. The likelihood of pregnancy difficulties increases, so does the likelihood that the baby will be born with birth defects or genetic diseases.
Age also lowers the success rate of infertility therapies. Women over 40 have 10 to 15 per cent chance of getting pregnant after IVF when they use their own eggs. Advanced age does not necessarily affect how a pregnancy feels or develops in healthy women over 40. There is no evidence to suggest that the symptoms you experience are harsher or otherwise different from those experienced by most other women during the first trimester. However, there are other factors that could make the first trimester more stressful.
Pregnancy loss is more likely in older women, especially for those who have experienced previous losses. In comparison to women aged 25 to 29, women over 45 have a 50 per cent greater chance of losing their pregnancy. Women 45 years of age or older are more likely to experience pregnancy-related difficulties as the pregnancy goes on.
Simply being older than 40 does not always have an impact on delivery. In fact, studies have shown that as long as a woman over 40 receives quality prenatal care, avoids chronic medical conditions, keeps regular prenatal appointments, leads a healthy lifestyle and gives birth in a prenatal center, her pregnancy and birth outcomes are comparable to those of younger women.
This implies that for a healthy woman, getting pregnant after age 40 may not be any riskier than getting pregnant earlier. But among women over 40, the prevalence of cesarean deliveries was higher. On the average, 59 per cent of older women had delivery through cesarean section, compared to 29 per cent of younger women. Also, 28 per cent of older women experienced a preterm delivery as opposed to 11 per cent of younger women. Reduced birth problems may result from avoiding elective cesareans.
For many people, the process of getting pregnant after 40 is similar. Any couple must engage in sexual activity during the woman’s reproductive window in order to become pregnant. The days preceding and following ovulation are included in this time frame. Ovulation predictor tests can be used to time the release of eggs, and basal body temperature monitoring can be used to determine whether an individual has had her ovulation. As a woman matures, it is crucial to do this because some women cease ovulating or ovulate less regularly.
To keep track of basal body temperature, you may take your temperature as soon as you get up every morning at the same time. Use a digital thermometer as soon as possible in the morning, following at least three to four hours of sleep.
After ovulation, the average body temperature rises and remains elevated until you begin your period. After that, the temperature returns to normal. The basal body temperature is not always a reliable predictor of ovulation. There are many factors that can affect the measurements, including stress, alcohol consumption and malaria in our climes.
