Is it really that common to be a grandparent in your late 40s?

My Mum had my at 24, and I had my daughter 5 weeks shy of my 24th birthday, so she was a Nanna at 47…

Means she is now 63 with 4 grandkids (2 are mine 15&11) and 3 grown up daughters (all in our 30s - just!). I have friends my age with kids older than me and younger, and who made their parents grandparents both older and younger than I did. I also have friends who became parents in their 40s and who I met at baby groups with my kids. Everyone is different, and I don’t like to assume!

I became a grandmother for the first time at 39! I raised the child and lots of people thought I was her mother.

Who knows. I have a friend who was a grandmother by 33. I had my own child at 37. So who can say now. When my daughter was young and played in play parks there was a young man about 17/18 who was always there with a baby, I never worked out if he was dad or big brother. It doesn't matter

If I saw someone who looked around 47, I wouldn't have a clue if they were mum or grandma.

I'd probably air on the side of caution and assume they were mum.

Honestly this is exactly what these people think it would seem

Not sure what this has to do with my comment unless you consider someone who doesn't have a degree to be "deprived" ?

Like I said though these threads always turn into a rush for older mothers with superiority complexes to insist all young mums are "deprived" and the "I don't know anyone who reproduced before 30" nonsense.
Its basically a thinly veiled way of saying they consider being a young mum peasant behaviour that they have no interaction with because they're moving in higher circles or whatever delusions they believe 🙄

I had my eldest when I was 21. So if he goes on to have a child at the same age I will be 42... it's not that uncommon surely? Not is it uncommon to have a child in your 40s either

I had all 4 kids before I was 30. So I'm.expecting to be a youngish grandmother if they choose to have kids young.

Like pretty much every other thing in this damn country (of which MM can be a microcosm) it's a class marker.

Class marker? So the older the mother when she gives birth, the higher her 'class'? Honestly?

That's not my personal experience.

Like pretty much every other thing in this damn country (of which MM can be a microcosm) it's a class marker. Totally normal in some circles to be a grandparent in your 40s and unheard of in others. Neither is wrong or right obviously but the groups probably don't mix much which explains the surprised reactions both ways.

I never mentioned older mothers? I mean I'm not a young mum by any stretch but I'm not an older one either! I was only 30 when I had her

well exactly

Where I'm from it's the norm,my mum was a gran at 36,I was having my 2nd and last child at the same age.My dd said to me the other day in her friend group I'm the oldest mum but my mum the youngest grandparent.She became a great gran twice at age 67.

Well they would, wouldn’t they? Given it takes five years to do A levels and a degree.

This data is a bit old (too lazy to search for something up to date) but it is a simple statistical fact that women with a degree have their first child about 5 years later than women who only have GCSEs.

Mean age of mother at birth of first child, by highest achieved educational qualification, 1996 to 2016, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

Are you serious?

It's much more common to be a grandmother in your 50s than it is to become a mother mid 40s!

Having a baby at 13 means you could be a grandmother at 26! And a great grandmother at 39!

Well basic maths shows it's possible to be a grandmother at any age above 40 with no teen pregnancies involved.

That’s awful. Let’s hope the cycle can break, as presumably your cousin was also young when she had her.

My cousin became a grandparent at 32! She is raising the baby, her daughter was 13 and in a care home.

Is it that common, no. Does it happen of course. My DP's mother was a Grandmother at around 45 and at 50 odd has 4 grandchildren.

If I had to guess I would say it is more common to be a grandparent in your late 40's than it is to have a child at the age of 44/45.

@AnxiouslyAwaitingSpring

Never? Not once in your life?

You really think being a mother to a toddler when you’re touching 50 is more normal than having children in your 20’s?

Older mothers have always existed of course, but usually they had also been younger mothers at one point. My great grandmother for example, had her eldest at 20, her youngest at 40 (with 8 in between). The youngest child and eldest grandchild were born in the same year. This was pre-contraception days, obviously.

I’d be more likely to assume young gran than older mum, sorry!! And not because it’s common just because it’s slightly less common (to me).

My mum was UMC and 22 (she had just finished her degree) when she had my brother. My brother was a high flying professional by the time he had my nephew at 26.

So my mum became a grandmother at 48.

No teen parents or disaster involved.

Biologically it is much better to have children younger- there is an increased risk of low fertility, pregnancy and birth complications and genetic issues with older parents.

I had my children in my late twenties too and it was a fabulous time to become a mum.

OP I'm 41 with a 10yr old and thankfully I don't (yet) look my age although my hair is slowly turning white underneath! But you've made me wonder now if people assume I'm grandma!

Don't worry about what people think. If I was in your shoes, I'd just assume they'd come from a deprived area where early teen pregnancies are the norm.

Sorry but yes that is crazy! I've never heard of anyone being a grandparent younger than 50 and even then, that was a very sad case of a 13yr old giving birth.

no that person must have had their kids v young like 18 or something. These days its more common for 40 year old to have a baby than 18 year old