To ask if you would have waited longer for kids

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People who had children in their late twenties or early thirties

Would you have waited longer to have children if you knew the full impact it would have on your life and relationship?

No, I had been trying for some time.

If I'd met someone earlier I would've had them younger. Started at 30 and just had my 3rd at 35. I feel old now. Ideally I would've started mid-20s and had 4.

I was 32 when I had my first. Perfect age for me.

What about those of us who had kids earlier op?

We had 6 kids starting aged 23 to 36.

And no we would have had them all earlier. Once you hsve one you might as well have 6.

There is no right age though. You middle through.

I had my baby at 31.
I would have had him younger had I the choice but the circumstances weren't to be.

I am glad I didn't wait longer.

I am now worried about if I try for second sooner rather than later as it took me a while with the first but also want to put my stamp on my career again before I leave for another 9 months

(Might so shared leave next time )

I had my first at 29 & my last at 33. I wouldn't change a thing, it was the perfect time. My relationship was in a good place and it was a good time for me to take a career break. No regrets.

I had mine mid/late 30s. I think it very much depends on personal circumstances. There's no one right magic age. I was extremely immature ( really alarmingly) right up until my late 20s. In my late 20s I retrained and for the first time gained financial security and an actual career with the possibility to progress.
Funnily enough, immediately after my second was born, I definitely wished I had started earlier and had 4 or even 5! But that was the hormones talking. Now, there's almost never a day goes by that I'm not glad I stopped with 2!

27 and 30 for me. It was the right time, ticked the boxes of being married (important for me). Mortgage tick, degree tick and both in decent although not especially well paid employment.

I took 3 years out in total with my babies and I wouldn't change that, it was great. They are now at school and I am in a part time job I enjoy.

I hadn't appreciated the impact of child care costs at all when expecting my 1st. I liked my job, earning 30k and figured I'd just go back to it. In reality I wanted to be home with the children more than I'd thought and two in nursery would have been £100 per day. So I quit my job. I'm earning less now than I did 6 years ago which feels like a big step back. If I'd waited to have children and thought more about my career plans maybe i would have been better off I don't know.

Have no desire to travel without my kids in tow so don't feel I'm missing out.

I have very little 'help' but I made an effort to still go out monthly with my friends so I can't say I have missed out. But the lack of freedom to go out socially is not always easy.

I had mine in my early 20s then a final baby at 30, wouldn’t have waited or wanted to leave it any longer I was happy to have them young

Prob would have preferred earlier tbh.

My first wasn’t planned so yes I planned to wait a bit longer but maybe only a year or two. The circumstances weren’t totally ideal so there was more stress. I’m glad it’s out of the way and I’ll reach 50 with adult kids. I couldn’t do it again in mid 30s or otherwise. Two kids is more than enough!

20/24/31 with mine, currently 31. I wish I’d have had this one earlier because pregnancy is so much more difficult now than when I was younger. However, far more financially stable therefore going into this one with no worries is pretty awesome. Swings and roundabouts

I fell pregnant at 15 has DS at 16 went to college/ uni whilst working because we had DS young when I finished uni ( was in a stable job to ) we decided to have DD who was born at age 22. Ds was 6 at the time and To us is made sense than me starting the career I studied in then going to have more children in the future.

Saying this !
If we didn't have DS " accidentally " I wouldn't of had DD at 22 and we probably wouldn't of thought about kids until early 30's.

But now I don't really regret I see it as I will just have my free time later on instead of in my young years and probably will appreciate travelling at 45 more than I would have at 18.

I had mine at 32 and 34 (day before my 35th birthday!).

Physically, I think it would have been a bit easier if I'd had them in my 20's. I probably wouldn't have ended up with as many complications.

Mentally and emotionally it was the perfect time. I never even considered having children until I hit 30.

I was 25 and 28 and that was perfect for me. Approaching 40 and they are getting so independent. I wouldn't want to have little ones now. Lots of my friends do and had a lot of fun in their 20s but we had no money then and do now so I hope to have my fun in my 40s instead :) No regrets for me.

I had mine at 31 and 34 and I was the first of all my friends. Most of them waited till they were between 38 and 42 to have babies.

I'm glad I had mine when I did. My twenties were amazing and I was ready at 30 to have DC.

I wouldn't have waited longer. My fertility would have been going down and down....why would I risk that when I wanted DC?

Had mine at 42. I'm an exhausted full time working single parent.
Didn't have the circumstances to do it any earlier though

Had mine at 24 and 26. Perfect as far as I'm concerned. I'm 45 now, and my children are 21 and 18 and doing brilliantly as young adults. I now have "my" life back and love every second of it. Having babies in your late 30s/40s sounds like a nightmare to me. No thank you! To each their own.

I had my dc aged 24, 25, 28, 31 and 32. I would have liked to have had them a couple of years earlier but the my first took longer than we thought it would.

I had mine aged 24 and 26 and it was perfect for us. I'd finished studying (or so I thought!), got married and we'd bought our first home, we both had decent enough jobs. I'm now 29 and midway through re-training but honestly before I had my kids I had no idea what career I wanted. So I'm glad I had them and then decided, as I'll be qualified by 31 and can get going on my career with them both at school.

I wish I had mine earlier. I was early 30s.
I couldn't pick my career back up because it involved spending time away from home which I had to do. I was devoted to them not money.
In hindsight I would have children and go back to work later.
Also, having young children, the menopause, a full time job and going through a divorce concurrently was no fun for any of us. And they were in their teens when I was 50.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
They are brilliant now though thank goodness. But yes I would have done it earlier.

I had my first just before I was 26, all 3 before thirty. Having kids precipitated a chronic illness which ended my ability to work in my career and obviously completely changed my life and both physical and mental abilities. So yes-with hindsight I would have liked a few more years being young and healthy. But on the flip side it means my kids will be off in the world while many of my peers still have preschool and junior school age kids. So a bonus in that respect.

I had my first at 29, second at 31, third at 33 and 4th and 35. I wouldn't have changed it at all- me and DH have been together since 17 so had plenty of time pre kids, I took a year out age 21 to travel the world, did a party season in Ibiza age 22 and overall ticked off everything I could possibly have wanted to pre kids.

If I had waited until later I probably wouldn't have been able to have as many and Ive always known I wanted a big family. Also, I put my 4 easy pregnancies and births down to having them young- my body bounced back a lot quicker with my first pregnancy than my last, and overall I think the pregnancy and newborn stage is a lot easier when you're younger. It's nice to know that by the time I'm 40 I'll be out of the exhausting baby and toddler stage and will have much more of my own life back.

Honestly, I'd have had them earlier tbh.

I had way more energy in my early twenties.

Nope! I had my first at 18 and last at 26. I have 4 and I'm so glad I did it how I did. I have a good home and job and I continue to progress and live. No regrets what so ever. I can't imagine being older and having kids. I had more energy with my first.