The oldest you've known someone to get pregnant naturally?

41 is fine. When I had my baby at 43 - in a ward of 4 women, all of us were in our 40s and it was not determined by age (i did ask).

Close friend, 46 I think, unplanned and unexpected, but miscarried in first trimester.

Just to note when I got pregnant accidentally at 49 I had lost weight and got fit doing alot of running.

Thanks everyone, currently trying to get pregnant at 41 and this has given me hope

I have a friend who was 43. She assumed she was infertile after years of trying and failed IVF so it was a lovely surprise.

The UK guidance advises contraception be used up till 55y, if you are sexually active and don’t wish to conceive. This is based on the majority of women’s fertility declining to such a level at that stage that pregnancy is highly unlikely - but note, not impossible - hence my pp about the 56yr old I delivered.

Most women will have reached menopause by 55y and no longer have periods, so of course won’t conceive. A minority are still menstruating at this age, and I often advise my patients at this age to continue contraception for another 1-2 years, as there will always be outliers. We (schools/health professions) do a poor job of educating about basic fertility, contraception and difference between perimenopause/menopause, I’m afraid.

There is so much concern about fertility declining from 35y on a population level, that this message has been misunderstood by many women (and doctors/nurses!) to mean that all women won’t conceive naturally once in their 40’s. I certainly saw many women in 40’s and sometimes in 50’s. requesting terminations, as they had just presumed contraception was no longer needed.

Bloody hell this thread is terrifying. I thought there was no chance of any 'accidents' at 43, seems not tho!

Yes, this is also my experience. I put a lot of effort and dedication into getting as healthy as possible to increase my chances. I feel it is now paying off, so far this pregnancy has been the easiest one (I have two DC). I struggled more at 34 in my first pregnancy, when took my health and energy levels for granted.

It seems as though there have always been outliers though. Sarah, the wife of Abraham was ‘barren’ and thought long past childbearing when she conceived Isaac. John the Baptist was born to a woman who was also thought to be barren and much too old to conceive. Both of those babies had distinguished later lives!

I have an aunt who had her youngest at 40. Oh, god, the moaning, it was endless. Wonder if she's up on here talking about what a breeze it was? 😁

lol I had more energy than most of the younger mums and I was sooooo happy to be a mum that I embraced it more than most

❤️No worries, I am used to Mumsnet. You either drop dead or struggle with basic daily tasks such as walking or getting out of bed after 45.

While I very much agree parental ages increase the risk of many disabilities, ADHD and Autism have a high genetic risk also. In my circle of friends alone there are many children with one or the other or both.
My best friend had her son at 24. He’s quite severely autistic and may never live alone or work (he’s almost an adult now)
My husbands sister had her son at 30. He’s autistic, has ADHD and dyslexia.
My husbands other sister has 2 sons born when she was 30 and 32 who are both autistic. One much more affected than the other.
Another friend had her kids at 36 and 38. Both diagnosed with autism when they were teens.

In all but the first case here, there is a family history of autism or ADHD. So I’d be much more worried about that than age.

I was 42 and in my largish workplace I was the oldest first time mum anyone could remember. However, at the same time, a colleague a year older than me had her second with massive age gap and different marriage. A few years later one of my other colleagues claimed the oldest first time mum crown at age 47. I think she is probably the oldest mum I know who conceived naturally.

I have ADHD and I am not hard work, but the hard work part seems to be more correlated with being on MN than with age, I have never seen so many people struggling with kids on the spectrum and with kids in general in real life as in here.

I'm sure @CortieTat doesn't want to hear this! I assume she'll cross that bridge if she comes to it

Why should I be worried? There are various prenatal screening tests available and I’ve done them.

Yes, you should look it up.

Of the people I know personally, 42 and 43.
The 42 year old sticks out in my mind. Ex colleague, both her and her husband seemed older and had two children in their late teens- one about to start university.

Anecdotally 46, 47 and 50 although don't know if it's completely true.

Are you not worried about the baby though given your egg quality? Your DH’s sperm quality will not be the best either due to his age,

Does it not? I’d need to see recent studies.

There’s a Wikipedia page dedicated to pregnancies over 50 which is quite interesting reading.

I had a friend at school whose mum was a couple of weeks away from her 46th birthday when she was born.

54, I delivered her when I was a midwife in 1977. She had been told by the GP to go to A&E with suspected appendicitis. One 8lb 10oz baby boy later….. her husband fainted when he was told!