Interesting article on age and fertility. Thoughts?

suzie211 · July 2013

My sister and a friend recently both shared this article with me. I found it interesting that many common statistics thrown out didn't have a whole lot of science to back them up. I know there are a few of us ladies on here that have baby brain, and thought I would pass this along as well. What are your thoughts?

I know 35 is creeping up on me, and I've been told too many times that my eggs are drying up and I should get on the baby train. FI and I plan to start trying after the wedding, but that's not only based on age. It just happens to be what we're ready for in our lives.

Does age scare you?

Click here!

Swazzle · July 2013

The link is blocked for me so I can't comment on the actual article.

My birthday is in 2 weeks from today and I'll be 28. The number doesn't actually scare me but I am aware that I'm getting older and that sometimes freaks me out.

As far as kids go, we are undecided. Neither of us feel inclined to have kids (especially right now) and I don't think aging is a good excuse to justify something you're not really sure about.

phira · July 2013

I need to wait until I'm done with my degree and I've started my career. Otherwise we're not going to be financially stable enough to start having kids, nor will I feel secure in my career. So, honestly? It was nice to see that it's highly unlikely I'll have much more trouble getting pregnant than I already would now if I wait 5-6 more years.

bethsmiles · July 2013

Swazzle said:

The link is blocked for me so I can't comment on the actual article.

My birthday is in 2 weeks from today and I'll be 28. The number doesn't actually scare me but I am aware that I'm getting older and that sometimes freaks me out.

As far as kids go, we are undecided. Neither of us feel inclined to have kids (especially right now) and I don't think aging is a good excuse to justify something you're not really sure about.

This. I'm not really concerned about my age and fertility right now (I'll be 23 on Wednesday) but I think there are a lot of factors that go into deciding if and when a couple (or an individual) should have children. I think age is one of those factors but it isn't the only one and shouldn't override other concerns someone might have about having kids sooner rather than later.

Personally, BF and I would like to have kids before we are 30 (so in like 5 or 6 years) but if we aren't ready before then we aren't going to jump into such a huge life changing decision just because of our age. Although BF did say that having a kid before you turn 30 can slightly reduce a woman's chance of getting breast cancer but that's just more of a plus if we are ready before 30 as opposed to a deciding factor.

suzie211 · July 2013

@swazzle The article was in the July/August issue of The Atlantic in case you can get to it by searching the magazine.

I agree with you on not pushing something because of a number, and instead making the decision when its right for you. When I was 28 I didn't love kids any less than I do now, I just was in no position to have a child and support it the way I can now. I had insanely way too much fun in my late 20's! A few years can make such a huge difference in a person's life.

Peaseblossom55 · July 2013

Interesting article, it doesn't make me as nervous about TTC. I will be 34 once we get married next year. I told FI I refuse to even try once I hit 40. We only want one or two anyway. We have talked about how soon after the wedding we will begin TTC.

I wish there were more time before having to worry about babies but oh well. I try not to let the age thing scare me or freak me out.

suzie211 · July 2013

Peaseblossom55 said:

Interesting article, it doesn't make me as nervous about TTC. I will be 34 once we get married next year. I told FI I refuse to even try once I hit 40. We only want one or two anyway. We have talked about how soon after the wedding we will begin TTC.
I wish there were more time before having to worry about babies but oh well. I try not to let the age thing scare me or freak me out.

I felt the same way after reading it. Society has such a push on having kids early, but I'm in a city where that doesn't necessarily happen. My friends from back home had kids early, and my mother is crazy about being a grandma again. I had no pushback for them when they kept telling me I needed to get on the baby making train with my "old eggs". Now I at least have something to point out my eggs aren't necessarily out of the game yet.

cu97tiger · July 2013

Peaseblossom55 said:

Interesting article, it doesn't make me as nervous about TTC. I will be 34 once we get married next year. I told FI I refuse to even try once I hit 40. We only want one or two anyway. We have talked about how soon after the wedding we will begin TTC.
I wish there were more time before having to worry about babies but oh well. I try not to let the age thing scare me or freak me out.

That x 1,000,000.

I'm 37, about to be 38. Technically we could start getting some reproductive help, but I'd like to try the natural way for a few more months. I thought the article was really interesting and it made me want to scream that there aren't more up-to-date medical statistics. I did definitely feel better about our chances after I read the article!

Blue & White · July 2013

We're planning on adopting at least some of our kids. I have no problem adopting all of them. And adoption fertility doesn't change with age.

That being said, my mom had me when she was 32 after being married for 9 years. I came out okay

Peaseblossom55 · July 2013

@cutiger97 it would be nice to have another 2 or three years after being married to travel and just enjoy being married but we won't. It doesn't mean we won't get to travel or anything it will just change the dynamics of married life. There should be more research into this though, so women don't freak out as much. Hopefully it happens for you soon!

buddysmom80 · July 2013

My mom had me at 34, my paternal grandmother had my dad at 35 so I'm not worried. Bf and I decided that we want to ttc soon after we're married (which i could be 35-37 years old). We both have felt like we've done all the pre-child things we want to do. Fwiw fertility problems could happen at any age. My friend is 32 and had to have in-vitro, so I think it should be recognized as a whole that fertility problems can affect you at any age.

KeptInStitches · July 2013

It makes me feel better. If I end up going back to school to go into a different field, I'll still have time to have kids (I'm 26 now).

Belle2188 · July 2013

Really interesting article--good to know the clock isn't ticking quite as quickly as I thought it was. I don't have too much to worry about yet (I'm 25), but it's definitely something I've thought about. I have always felt strongly about having kids before I'm 30--part of that is that I want to be around for as much of my children's lives as possible, but another part has always been that I'm afraid of what would happen if I waited.

FI and I definitely want kids, and we're both in agreement that we want them before we're 30 (which means I'll have one by 29 since FI is a year older), but it's nice to know that that can be based more upon being ready for them and at a good place in life than worrying about it being our last shot. I don't think the information in this article will change our timeline since we really do want to start a family, but it's good to know that if anything goes awry I still have some extra wiggle room!

CLoGreenEyes · July 2013

Thank you for sharing, @suzie211. That was an informative article. I had been unaware that many of the conclusions about fertility and age were based on historical records - obviously, things have changed quite a bit since then!

This is definitely encouraging. I am 24 and not ready to even begin thinking about kids, though BF and I do want them someday. I had previously wanted to start before I was 30 and finish before 35, based on some of the data that was questioned in the article. BF doesn't want to start until 30, just so we can make sure a suitable home and stable finances are securely in place. We'll see where the future finds us, but after reading this, I think I can relax on the issue.

nyiri89 · July 2013

Really interesting article. Personally, I don't think about ttc too much (I'm 24) - however I worry about birth defects more than having problems with conceiving. Most genetic diseases, down syndrome, trisomy disorders, even autism (as some studies suggest) increase exponentially with age (mostly after 40), I hope bringing this up doesn't upset anyone, but this has happened in my own family and is very close to my heart. Since I've experienced it myself in some way, it is certainly something that is on my mind

Thankfully, I do have some time on my side. Hopefully fertility specialists will make great strides in the coming years. And I wish everyone ttc lots of luck!

minskat30 · July 2013

Thanks for the article. Ironically H and I discussed this last night and this morning. I'm having a harder time "living in the now" as a married woman who wants kids than I did before getting engaged. I'm 31 so we have some time....I need to chill the heck out.

labro · July 2013

I'm nearly 26 so I guess this is something I've put some thought into. BF and I want to be married for several years before having kids so we can pay off our debt and do some travelling. This makes me feel better about delaying getting pregnant until my 30s. I also liked her point about how women on average add 10% to their career earnings for every year they delay having kids.

suzie211 · July 2013

lmhollister said:

I'm nearly 26 so I guess this is something I've put some thought into. BF and I want to be married for several years before having kids so we can pay off our debt and do some travelling. This makes me feel better about delaying getting pregnant until my 30s. I also liked her point about how women on average add 10% to their career earnings for every year they delay having kids.

This makes feel a lot better about working hard and playing hard through my 20's. FI and I have even talked about me staying home after we do have kids, but I am at the point in my career where it would be a huge step back if I did. So most likely I will be heading straight back once we do.

I was so glad I was sent this article. I felt it validated my choices in life and I'm glad some of you found value in it, too.

doubleSS07 · July 2013

This was an interesting read. I've only ever heard that as you get in to your mid- to late 30's your chances drop significantly. I will be 35 in October and honestly before the last year or two I was really on the fence still about even having kids. It's been really recent that we've had serious conversations about how life would change, if we're ready physically, emotioanlly and financially. We plan to start off late next year just not using protection and see where that goes and from there talk about actually "trying". We have both agreed that we don't want to spend our life savings on treatments and we'd probably be ok if for some reason we were unable to conceive.

tuarceatha · July 2013

Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing. I've been pondering the age thing myself and I keep seeing all these women that are clearly well into their 30s and pregnant. Which for me, right now, pisses me off. Simply because I don't want to wait any longer and the fact that I can annoys me. But yay, on the other hand.

I'm surprised more people haven't collected and shared recent data on this topic. Like any doctor could survey his/her preggo patients and get all sorts of records of age and first time pregnancies.

Peaseblossom55 · July 2013

Ah we were talking about babies and timelines yesterday it was a bit weird but cool and scary. We both said we wish we had a few years to wait, oh well. So we may start shortly after getting married.

Interesting article on age and fertility. Thoughts?

Re: Interesting article on age and fertility. Thoughts?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards