While the chances of having a healthy baby are always in your favor, they’re better when you’re in your 20s. During this decade, your risk of delivering a baby with Down syndrome is about 1 in 1,300. By age 30, it increases to about 1 in 1,000, and by age 35, 1 in 365. Regardless of your age, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommends all pregnant women undergo prenatal testing for genetic conditions.
Improved fetal health
Not only is your metabolism higher than it will be as you get older (which may help you fit back into those skinny jeans a bit faster postbaby), but you also face a lower risk of health complications, including high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as gynecological conditions like uterine fibroids. Additionally, your risk for serious pregnancy conditions like placenta previa or placental abruption
are higher over age 35.
Fewer complications
At any age, loss of pregnancy is a possibility—in the US, anywhere from 10 to 25% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. While it’s almost always out of a woman’s control, the risk does increase with age: In your 20s, risk of miscarriage in the first trimester is only 8%, but rises to 12% for women ages 30 to 34 and 16% for ages 35 to 37.
Lower risk of miscarriage
We’re born with all the eggs we’ll ever have—typically 1 to 2 million. By puberty, that count is down to about 300,000 to 500,000, and holds relatively steady through your 20s and early 30s until it starts dropping—significantly. By 37, it’s down to about 25,000. Although that’s a big decline, new research shows it may not be your egg count that has a definitive impact on fertility, but the actual quality of the eggs—and that’s unfortunately proven to diminish with age.
Higher egg reserve (and quality)
Early pregnancy symptoms vary from woman to woman, no matter her age. Your BFF may have been glued to the toilet during her first trimester, whereas you may never feel sick. But research shows younger women are more prone to vomiting, and are more likely to have hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), the rare but severe version of morning sickness that Kate Middleton has been known to deal with.
INCREASED morning sickness
Improved fetal health
Fewer complications
Lower risk of miscarriage
Higher egg reserve (and quality)
Increased morning sickness
American women
are waiting longer than ever to have children. The average age of first-time mothers in the US is up to 28 (an all-time high), but it’s still the youngest average age for first childbirth of any developed country.
Men are fertile well into
their 80s, but that doesn’t mean their sperm is of high quality or volume. Studies have found that sperm motility (its ability to move toward an egg) and volume peaks around 25 years of age, then decreases significantly over time.
Surprise: Your chances of having a boy or girl actually aren’t 50/50. But if you’ve always dreamed of being mom to a girl, starting your family in your 30s just might improve your chances. While it might sound like an old wives’ tale, research shows younger mothers are more likely to have sons, and older mothers are more likely to have daughters. One study even found that two-thirds of children born to parents over the age of 40 are girls, suggesting that the increase of a parent’s age decreases their odds of having a son.
You’re more likely to have a girl
Despite higher risks in other aspects of pregnancy, mothers in their early 30s are actually less likely to deliver a baby prematurely. One study found the risk of delivering a baby earlier than three weeks prior to the due date was slightly higher for women under the age of 30 (and 20% higher for women over age 40).
More likely to carry to term
As you age, your body naturally has fewer viable eggs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t and won’t get pregnant—it just may not happen as quickly as it would if you were still in your 20s. A study found that 78% of women ages 35 to 40 became pregnant within a year of trying, compared to approximately 84% of women ages 20 to 34.
It can take longer to conceive
Women between the ages of 35 and 39 are more likely to become pregnant with twins—even without the use of fertility treatments—because they’re more likely to release two or more eggs during a single menstrual cycle. But don’t forget that being pregnant with multiples is considered high risk, which means a greater chance of complications.
Greater chance of multiples
Birth plans are useful, but as you’ve likely heard, labor doesn’t always go according to plan. If you’re over 35, and especially if it’s your first baby, your chances of delivering by c-section increase. This is because these “advanced maternal age” pregnancies are associated with a higher risk, and in turn, more delivery complications.
Higher risk of cesarean section
You’re more likely to have a girl
More likely to carry to term
It can take longer to conceive
Greater chance of multiples
Higher risk of cesarean section
Doctors recommend visiting your ob-gyn after 6 months of trying if you’re over 35, compared to 12 months if you’re younger.
Data shows children born to mothers over 30 were more likely to score higher on standardized testing. Could be the access to advanced schooling, resources and/or refined parenting techniques, but we’ll take it!
