AIBU to think that most babies born to older Mum's are boys?

[SleepFreeZone]

In my own experience and just out and about at preschool and primary it seems that the older mum's predominantly have boys. Does anyone else think the same or do you think it just feels that way as I am old, have two boys and have lost two girls in pregnancy due to abnormalities?

I thought what a weird post but, thinking about it, most of the Mums I know who gave birth over the age of 30, had boys. How bizarre?

Maybe we just look older? There are times when I can literally feel my hair turning white and the life draining out of me when DS is being a blight!

tawdry I think you've cracked it!

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha I'm 30 now and definitely feel 10, even 20 years older since I had my son.

Technically, boy fetuses are less hardy and have a higher rate of miscarriages. I think though you are assuming it's the opposite only because of your personal experiences with loss, which are totally valid of course, and I'm sorry you've just experienced another. But I don't think they extrapolate to the population level. Though there has been another study recently that showed a sample in which girls were more likely to be miscarried, so it's likely more complicated than just being affected by biological sex and there may be other factors at play (like maternal diet, lifestyle, particular genetic abnormalities, etc.) that may disadvantage certain pregnancies over others. I'm older and I've not seen anything different in my friend groups really. Though certainly in my immediate group of mum friends (many but not all of whom are mid to late 30s/early 40s) nearly all of us have had girls (there is 1 boy, even amongst those who have had several, they have all girls). I don't think that's indicative of anything really though other than chance.

You can conceive a girl and then miscarry the pregnancy. Then conceive a boy and successfully have a baby boy at the end.

But, as a PP said, studies indicate that a female fetus is more likely to survive a difficult pregnancy, harsher womb environment, etc., so this conclusion is also incorrect.

Actually you do have a point. Maybe the other frazzled mothers with two boys I see around the place aren't my age at all 😂

Thank you mindutopia 💐

I don't want to be right with my theories btw. It's just something I'm thinking about that seems to be played out in my immediate social circle.

BTW I believe it's also true that mothers of boys or with more boys die earlier, and that boys are more likely to be only children.

I'm sure the statisticians among us can validate these claims for me?

Dsis had a girl (IVF) at 38.

I had a ds aged 32 and my dd aged 37.

sorry for your loss OP.

I had 2 MC but I didn't know the sex of either of those.

Do you think you associate more with Mums of boys because you have boys yourself and they play together? I think everyone has girls but I know its only because I do.

Older men are more likely to have daughters.

Sorry for your losses, SleepFreeZone

Oh you're on to something I think. I'm 40, 2 yr old and 7month boys. Friend is 40, baby boy. Sister had two boys when she was 38 and 39. Playgroup friend is 42, boy. None of the older mums I know have girls!!

Actually I was told it's harder to carry boys, so most miscarriages to older woman are boys...

Of the women I know who gave birth in their forties, three had boys and two had girls.

Sorry you're having TTC trouble and for your losses OP.

Putting aside the issue of conception, which clearly just comes from the male partner, if you think about which foetuses are likely to survive better, you should expect to see more girls born to older mums. Research suggests female foetuses are stronger, and weather maternal malnutrition and stress much better than male foetuses. So males are more likely to be miscarried sadly than females.

Anyway, I know it feels like some way of asserting control in an uncontrollable and unknowable process. Good luck to you and I hope you get your rainbow baby soon.

I thought it was the other way around as almost everyone I know has girls. The only people with boys tend to be younger parents.

But the sex of the baby is not determined by eggs, so how can the age of female matter to the sex of the baby?

What age is "older mums"?

I had twin DDs at 33, SIL had a single boy at 32. My mother had DDs at 37, 40 and 43 having had boys in her twenties.

I love the fact that a few posters are quoting, you know, actual medical evidence on this... and most other posters are just flatly ignoring it for the sake of their "own experience amongst friends" .

There are some huge studies of gender, age and even occupation in relation to the baby's sex. Google is brilliant, you know.

There is no correlation between maternal age and sex ratio. There is some difference in sex ratio in pregnancies with complications and adverse outcomes, such as small for gestational age and pre-eclempsia. There is a lower proportion of live born males in those pregnancies. This is more pronounced in older mothers.

The sex of the baby has no determination on the age of the sperm, what is important regarding elderly sperm (above the age of 40) is the propensity for birth defects.

Older mums are more likely to require intervention in birth, especially if it's their first baby - talking above the age of 40. Being pregnant and giving birth is expensive.

What I find is that older mums in their 40s are more likely to have twins. (which must be a shocker and a delight).

Both my friend and I had boys late in reproductive life - both born before 40, just! We both had two girls each earlier.

Study with over 2.000.000 births between 1967 and 2006:

Maternal age and sex ratio

My mum had me at 40,( i am a woman!!)
i had a boy at 27 and another boy at 32.