How easy / hard did you find it to conceive age 35+?

And in fact the drop in success rates given there is far from precipitous

Women in IVF have fertility probs anyway so those figures aren't necessarily representative of the population as a whole, are they?

I just looked up the IVF success rates (as an indication) of the clinic I used. This is success at one cycle (you can't assume that that if you have 3 cycles success rate will multiply by three!)

Under 35 28%
35-37 21%
38-39 18%
40-42 10%

As you can see there is a distinct drop in fertility from 35 (25%) and another from 40 (50%). This clinic doesn't accept women over 43 so no stats for that. In women over 35, "natural" conception isn't likely to be much higher than IVF as an embryo is implanted overcoming the natural problem that your egg walls thicken with age and they may not be getting fertilised if you use the age old method.

Is that too much information?!

Took 2-3 months at 36 and the same at 41

Ds was conceived when I was 35, the one and only time we didn't use contraception. Dh has now had the snip.

had all mine after 35 and without a problem, first time every time

Conceived twice at 39, both at 2nd month of trying (and didn't try very hard). Lost first one.

I seem to have killed off your thread - sorry!

I hesitated a long time before answering as I know everybody wants to presnt a positive spin on things and its true that some women do have no problem. For example the average success rate if IVF over 43 is (IIRC) about 8% that means that 8 of every 100 women that have an IVF cycle over 43 do get pregnant.

It's also true that newspaper reports of fertility dropping over 35 often have a judgemental element to them - ususally along the lines of nasty career women who want it all and left it too late to have children. So often womens reactions are often a kneejerk reaction against that, when usually the facts quoted are more often than not true.

Ultimately you have to go with what feels right to you, if you're not ready to have anohter baby now then you should obvioulsy wait but understanding that the longer you wait the harder it MAY be for you. I personally wouldn't have done anything differently now that I think about it, but I know several women who said if they had realised that they would have the problems that they did, then they would have tried earlier.

As always the best approach is to be as well informed as you can possibly be, keep yourself as fit and healthy as you can, do what is right for you now and trust the rest to fate!

Sadly I had many years of fertility treatment from 36 onwards before giving up (and I could tell you of another 5 women in my position off the top of my head without even thinking too hard).

The reason you hear lots of stories of women over 40 (think 35 is probably scaremongering a bit) who do get pregnant and virtually no stories from those who don't, is that we failures don't tend to proudly announce it to friends and family.
The vast majority of women here have children so you're bound to get a skewed impression thats its really easy. The adoption webgroups are full of women over 40 the majority (not all) of whom failed to get pregnant.

Individual stories aside, it is true that your fertility starts dropping noticeably at around 35 and again at around 40, by 43 your fertilility is (on average) low enough that most IVF clinics will not take you on unless you are having egg donation.

I was advised by my gynae to start trying by 36 if I wanted the best chance of getting pregnant. I would think your chances are better if you have already been pregnant once as your have at least a proven fertility. I ruefully regret not trying earlier, who knows if it would have made the difference but I wish I'd known when I was 30 the facts that are now available.

Sorry not the fluffy answer but I felt I had to offset some of the replies about how terribly easy it is with a reality check from some who found it bloody impossible!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

age 35.. twice

It was !

at "about ten minutes"

Took me about 10 mins at 43. But the average is made up of lots of very different individual cases - so no-one else's experience will inform yours.

fairly crap article - nothing new !! I like having babies old!!!

I conceived DS when I was 39--took two attempts. Got pg again when I was 43, the first month we tried. M/c 10wks later. Am now 44 and nearly 36wks pg. I've had the pg from hell, but the baby's problems aren't maternal age-related, according to my consultant.

For me it took less the older I got. V strange.

With dd I was nearly 37 and took 4 months of half-hearted trying

next pg which ended in miscarriage, I was nearly 38 and took 2 months

with ds I was nearly 40 and it took one night

I am also a smoker and a drinker, so probably to some extent I'm living proof that it's luck of the draw in terms of fertility.

It's not just the fertlity:age aspect that needs to be considered. It is just physically more tiring the older you get, not so much being pregnant but the energy required.I'm permanently knackered!

Nah, but the stats don't take into account healthy lifestyle - some people are very unhealthy, and I can't believe you are! Not that I had been THAT healthy actually during my life before conception, but I did start my periods very late, which may have helped. Also, I expect you're aware of all the alternative health stuff to help with conception - acupuncture, etc. - if needed.

36 when trying for ds - got pregnant the second month (I was v surprised as I'd presumed it would take much longer).

35 with ds2 first attempt. DH really hack off