More and more women are venturing into late motherhood, they want to first finish their education, get a suitable career growth, stabilize and only then think about starting a family. In recent years, the number of women giving birth at the age of 30-44 has quadrupled. Late mothers are usually considered to be women who gave birth to their first child after the age of 35. This is the moment when in the maternity hospital you will hear that you have a late pregnancy and the gynecologist should refer you to prenatal examinations. On the other hand, you are now biologically active longer, take care of yourself, live healthier and feel younger than your mothers or grandmothers. A child in adulthood increasingly becomes a woman’s conscious choice.
Late motherhood is a global trend
In the West, late childbirth has become the norm, many famous actresses gave birth in their forties or later. Later motherhood is a significant trend in Europe and the world. The decision to have children is now a socio-economic decision rather than a biological one. The labor market, further education and the construction of a professional position determine the fact that the percentage of the birth of the first child in adulthood will increase. However, according to experts, you are not biologically programmed to have children late. Young mothers more easily tolerate the psychophysical changes associated with the birth of a child.
The older the mother, the higher the risk
A late attempt to conceive may mean that treatment is no longer possible and there may be no pregnancy at all. Women are now healthy, active and attractive for much longer, but this does not lead to fertility. Although it remains at the same level until the age of 35, by the age of forty it decreases significantly, and a woman retains only about 20% of her fertility. A late mother is more likely to have health problems during pregnancy such as miscarriage, high blood pressure and gestational diabetes.
The risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth also increases – in a 40-year-old woman, it is twice as high as in a 20-year-old woman. As a result, the older a woman is, the harder and harder it is to give birth, and cesarean sections are often performed. The birth of a child at this age is often associated with an in vitro procedure, the use of sperm banks or egg donors.
On the other hand, mothers who become pregnant later are aware of the dangers and diseases, so they take more care of themselves and therefore of the baby. In turn, the hormonal changes in her body and her readiness to cope with the burdens of childbirth make the mother immunized.
