Pregnancy after 40: advantages and disadvantages

Medically reviewed: 24, January 2024

Getting pregnant at your 40s

The optimal age for the birth of the first-born woman is the right to determine for herself. Someone traditionally prefers to acquire a family and children at a young or even a youthful age, and someone considers this issue in the long term.

You can find the arguments for and against the late motherhood in the same way as you criticize an early pregnancy, however, medical statistics remain inexorable – the chances of easy pregnancy and successful outcome after 45 years are negligible, after 40 years are small, and the optimal age before Now the age of 22-32 is considered.

In Western Europe and the United States, late pregnancies are more common, but it’s wise to be equal to Hollywood stars. Please note that the possibilities of foreign medicine are much wider, and late pregnancy and successful outcome can cost a tangible amount of money.

If the first pregnancy in a woman occurs after 40 years, then it is unlikely that it becomes a surprise. Most likely, this is a deliberate deliberate decision, to which a woman has come because of certain life principles or circumstances. Therefore it makes sense to list the advantages and disadvantages that need to be taken into account when planning the appearance of a child in adulthood.

Advantages of pregnancy after 40

The main trump card in the hands of an adult pregnant woman is her material base and financial independence. Perhaps this does not apply to every adult woman, but it is logical to assume that by delaying the pregnancy not just for several years, but for two decades, the woman plans to take place as a person and a professional, to create a certain base for the birth of her first-born. However, it is necessary to make an amendment to the fact that for so long the “cobble” capital future mother can squander even before the birth of the child, for example, to get rid of some health problems that impede the onset of pregnancy.

The advantage of late motherhood is a kind of stability, it can allow, for example, due to the care of the baby to stay and be late for work, without fearing that her, the held specialist, because of this will be fired.

In addition, adult moms are much more attentive to their children. Undoubtedly, a woman to a woman is different, but generalizing, it is usually assumed that a woman in 40 is ready to devote herself more to a home and a baby than to go on holiday-festivities, entrusting the baby to her parents or friends. Adult mothers tend to breastfeed their baby longer, but it is worth adjusting that this can be done by age-related features of the body.

By the age of forty, a woman acquires considerable life experience and wisdom, which allows her not to allow oversights and mistakes that are very common among young mothers. She is inclined to take more deliberate and measured decisions, but much depends on the nature and education of women.

What are the disadvantages of the late pregnancy?

No one will be surprised at the main disadvantage of late pregnancy. It consists in the physiological characteristics of the female organism at the age of 40 years and older. It is this age that is considered the upper limit of the reproductive age of the average woman.

By the age of 45, the probability of naturally occurring and successfully occurring births is extremely low, but this does not mean that at this age it is necessary to give up contraceptives and not be afraid of unwanted pregnancies.

Pregnancy after 40: think carefully

This point of view is explained by reproductive doctors as follows: from the moment of puberty and the ability of a girl to conceive a baby, the body contains about 300 thousand eggs, each year their number decreases by 13 thousand, and therefore after 35 years in the body of a woman there are 45 thousand egg cells, and by the age of 40 – several thousand.

You may be surprised: “Do not even hundreds of eggs may be enough to achieve the desired pregnancy?”

Do not forget that the quality of the egg affects the way of life and the ecological environment in which all these years the woman is. If several years of smoking, say, by the age of 20 carries a certain risk of anomalies in the fetus, then twenty years of smoking experience, a lot of stress and a far from ideal ecology in a big city will undermine the health of the eggs left in an adult woman.

Do not overlook and the ability to endure a child, since pregnancy has occurred. Muscular tone of the uterus, and the general condition of the whole organism in a woman in 40 years can not be compared with the physiological data of a young girl. It is important to protect yourself from the probability of miscarriage, premature birth, the birth of a child with underweight and various postpartum complications.

If a woman plans to give birth to children after 35-40 years, then she needs to take an extremely responsible approach to her health condition and adjust it not on the eve of pregnancy, but not to spend for many years. On a favorable outcome of late pregnancy can count only a woman who has for many years a healthy lifestyle, regularly observed in different doctors, doing sports, eating properly, with strong mental and physical health.

Another drawback of late maternity can be considered a significant difference in age between mother and child. You can drop all prejudices and do not take into account the personal experiences of the mother or her grown up child when they have various misunderstandings or they encounter the injuring opinion of others (it’s unpleasant, when a kid in a kindergarten is mistakenly told that a “grandmother” came for him) – reasons for misunderstanding and embarrassment may be a mass for a family with a lesser age difference.

However, parents of a late child should be aware that in a few years or several decades their child will need the same help and support as his peers, whose parents make it easier because of a younger age.

If it was previously said that a late pregnancy is a surprise, it’s worth making an amendment to the fact that “rarely” does not mean “never”. If this still takes place and the first pregnancy occurred at your adult age is not planned, note that:

• getting rid of pregnancy at this age will surely make this pregnancy the first and last – you might not have another chance to have a baby;
• the decision to leave the child should be weighed and analyzed from the point of view of medical indicators – the probability of defects and defects in the fetus at this age is much higher than in the young one, which the expectant mother should be ready for;
• the lifestyle of an adult pregnant woman should be even more careful than with an early pregnancy; It is necessary to treat with all attention and scrupulousness to its present state, to listen to the most small recommendations of the doctor.

This article is written by

Helen George - Midwife

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