ABAYOMI AJAYI FROM THE PUNCH
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.
