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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you have a baby at 45?

999 replies

84wood · 18/01/2020 17:39

Hello

I am considering having another baby. We’ve already got a lovely DC who’s 5 and we’ve really enjoyed being parents. I had a trouble free pregnancy and had my child privately so I’m lucky to know all the best doctors and units. I’m also in very good health. It would be a bit of a financial struggle as DC is in a private school but not impossible. How would you feel? Would you try?
Thanks so much for reading and for any advice.

OP posts:
BlimeyCalmDown · 18/01/2020 19:19

Nope

riotlady · 18/01/2020 19:21

I would consider it if I had no children and it was my only chance to have a child, but not if i had one already

berryhigh · 18/01/2020 19:21

Absolutely not. The reasons are nothing to do with affording private schools/ private healthcares which seem to be the things you have mentioned. Are they your main concerns? For me it would be much more about the risk of disabilities, the risks to my health, the implications of these on my existing children, being elderly and still responsible for a child, whether it was fair on the child, etc

The only situation where I would possibly consider is if I had no other children.

WeeSleekitTimerousMoosey · 18/01/2020 19:21

it's very hard if you had your children at a younger age to imagine going back to the baby stage.

No, I can imagine it all too well, that's why I wouldn't want to do it.

hammeringinmyhead · 18/01/2020 19:22

No. My family history (we usually plod along ok until late 60s) means I'd only just about see them graduate from university or finish an apprenticeship or have a toddler-age child. I've had my first and last at 34 (and I was 32 when we started trying).

PlomBear · 18/01/2020 19:22

35 is my cut off!

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/01/2020 19:23

40 yes, 45 no. I am nearly 47, and while at 40 I pretty much looked and felt the same as I did at 30, I have aged a LOT in the past 2 years. My periods have just started to go a bit wierd so I guess I’m in perimenopause anyway. I’m stiffer in the mornings and I’ve started to have slightly raised blood pressure. I know of a few people who have died suddenly of heart attacks at 55 or had a stroke. I would not want to inflict my ageing body at risk of developing a health issue due to ageing, on a young child.

I just don’t think women are meant to have babies at 45. There is a reason that we are fertile in our teens and it drops off a cliff when we pass 40, and that’s so we can be fit and well to see our children into adulthood.

The other thing is that my dad is mid-80s and while my mum is a bit younger than him she has health problems and when it comes to the point where they need a lot more practical input from me in their lives then my own kids will be late teens and will not need me so much.

I could not imagine having the worry of elderly parents and a toddler AND have to work full time to afford the many years of childhood to come.

Daisy7654 · 18/01/2020 19:23

A parent at a graduation ceremony is much more likely to be in their 50s or 60s than 40s, even today. Assuming graduate at 21. 45 + 21 = 66.
19!!! + 21 = 40.

Comeonbabyyay · 18/01/2020 19:23

being elderly and still responsible for a child,
I don’t understand this reply
If the child is 20 by the time you are 65 🤔
Is 60 elderly? 🤔 surely not

Tombliwho · 18/01/2020 19:23

Absolutely not, the thought fill me with dread tbh. Its not really about the finances.

karencantobe · 18/01/2020 19:24

No. A baby at 46 would be fine, a teenager in your 60s would be a nightmare.

BlueEyedGreeness · 18/01/2020 19:24

This is so personal, it's not answerable!
I would not because I struggled with my health and pregnancy in my late 20's let alone 40's!
Like I said though. This is down to your own ability and emotions etc

DickDewy · 18/01/2020 19:24

No. Far too old.

Belindabelle · 18/01/2020 19:24

No way. I am 50 and menopausal. The thought of having to contend with that, work full time and parent a 5 year old would finish me off. It’s bad enough dealing with a 14 year old. Actually the thought of being the parent of a 14 year old at 60 terrifies me more.

karencantobe · 18/01/2020 19:25

@Comeonbabyyay Most people retire by mid sixties. Of course it is old.

BlueEyedGreeness · 18/01/2020 19:26

My dad had my brother at 43, he didn't have to go through pregnancy and still struggled. He's 75 and I'm 33, it's weird to have a dad who's only 3 years younger than dh's grandma (and me and dh are the same age)

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/01/2020 19:27

I do want to be able to enjoy my OWN probably early retirement with DH without a teenager in the picture.

Lastly, I saw how tired my parents got when providing childcare to their grandchildren. They were glad to be able to hand them back at the end of the day, it made them visibly tired. so no, I wouldn’t want that for myself but not be able to hand them back at the end of the day!

Lippy1234 · 18/01/2020 19:27

I had DC2 graduation last summer, I was 49 and felt very average age wise. The same as going to all the open days, there were loads of parents who seemed to be the same age as me and my DH who is 3 years older than me.

Drabarni · 18/01/2020 19:28

Bloody hell, no, it was bad enough at 38.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 18/01/2020 19:28

A lot of people here are speaking going on their own circumstances rather than the OP's. If you had your children when you were 22, 24 & 26, then of course you wouldn't want a fourth child at 45. OP is considering her second child when her first will only be 5 or 6, though.

As for being mistaken for their grandparent, there's another current thread dealing with this very issue. Considering that the 'normal' age-range for having children is 25-30 years, that's always going to be a potential factor. In some areas, 20 is considered old to be having your first baby and in others, 35 is considered young. A lot of it depends on your own circumstances, health, wealth and outlook on life.

From what she initially wrote, I'm guessing that OP isn't short of money and is likely to be in a position to be retiring comfortably relatively young. When/if her second were to be going to university, she would be in a good financial position to support him/her and then be able to be a work-free, well-off grandma and able to help out then when they might start thinking about having their own children.

Whilst it might be nice to be around until your children are 70 and to see your GC and GGC, it's by no means the experience that many people have. You have to live and enjoy the life you have, not the life you potentially could have had. My parents had my sister when they were 30 and me when they were 34. They didn't live to see me get anywhere near 25 or her 30 and they didn't get to meet their first GC, even though my sister was only 28 when she became a mum.

Ideally, our parents would have been very rich and been able to buy us everything we could have possibly wanted, but they weren't - they were on the poorer side of average, but it doesn't mean that we had a bad childhood or wish we'd never been born.

As for calling people (well, women) selfish for having a child at 45, you have to think if the child would agree with that that to the extent that, when old enough to consider it properly, they would have preferred never to have been born in the first place. The vast majority of people, from the whole gamut of life circumstances, don't end up thinking that way.

To look at an extreme case, Sue Radford had not long been a teenager when her first child was born. She's now 44 and expecting her 22nd child (very sadly, one of whom hasn't survived). Some would say she was selfish for having her first so young (granted, it's very debatable as to how much agency and ability to consent she had then), some say that she's selfish for having so many and some say that she's selfish for having any number baby at 44/45.

To be honest, you could easily say that ALL planned pregnancies are chosen for selfish reasons. Most people don't have a baby because of what they think they could offer the baby but because they want to be a parent.

I think you just have to live your own life and make your own choices as best you can and play the hand you're given. Hindsight is always a great thing, but no matter how much you may look back and wish you'd done something when you were much younger, you can't actually go back and change that at all.

Personally, I don't think 45 is too old to have a baby, if your circumstances are otherwise good. Maybe we should just leave it to nature and say that, if you're able to get pregnant (at the upper end, in your 40s, at least, as opposed to the lower end, when you may be 9 or 10), then it's not a terrible thing.

It's definitely not categorically a black and white yes or no matter.

theflushedzebra · 18/01/2020 19:29

I might consider it in your situation, to give your dc a sibling. I wouldn't have in my situation, because I have 3 and they exhaust me Wink

I'm quite surprised by some of the responses here though, being derogatory about older parents. My mum had my youngest DSis when she was 44 - and there was no bullying over it! Dsis is now 30 and has just had her first baby, and my mum is a very involved grandmother. I think my mum is a particularly active and young 75 year old - but god, don't rule it out, if you are in excellent health, and feel up to it.

EntirelyAnonymised · 18/01/2020 19:29

Not personally, no.

cptartapp · 18/01/2020 19:30

My friend has just had twins at 47. Her DH was 49. They have another set of twins aged 17. She's hired a nanny for three days.
I can't think of anything worse.

justanothergurl · 18/01/2020 19:31

You do you! I posted here (underneath a different name) when I was 22 and thinking of TTC. Was told I was an idiot and did it anyway... best decision I ever made! My son is 3 now and no regrets. Only you know your situation and health best. Disabilities can happen at any time anyway

BecauseReasons · 18/01/2020 19:31

My friend has just had twins at 47. Her DH was 49.

Crikey. Good luck to them!