To not think 26 is young to be pregnant

[User54047]

My friend has recently announced that she’s pregnant. I’m delighted for her however she’s getting a lot of comments from people saying she’s too young and that she will regret it when she’s older. She’s recently brought a house with her partner and both have stable jobs.

when I was having my first there was a child (!!) of 14 having her baby in the ward -with-a-noisy-large-family-

I don't think it's young at all, age is all relative.

I'm 24 and TTC, we own our own house and have stable jobs and have been together over 6 years so it's the right time for us but other people in their mid 20's perhaps are still partying a bit so wouldn't be ready and those people would perhaps think it was young.

26 would have been too young for me but 24 would have been perfect for others. It’s all relative.

I think it’s all relative to each individual person.

My best friend had her first at 19, and it was absolutely the right decision for her. I turned 30 this year, and I still don’t feel ready to have a baby.

I thought I would by now, but I’m just too busy to think about it!

26 is definitely not too young, I had my DS at 30 and felt old!

I am 26. I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. 26 is just fine.

Not too young at all. I'm 26 this month and my eldest is 7 I was too young!

I was 26 when I had my first. Best thing I ever did. My cousin had her first at 41. It's all your own choice, own journey.

I don't think it's too young. I had my first at that age and am now delighted to be child free before the age of 50!

I'm 26 and have 3 under 4

It is younger than usual but definitely not young. I had my first at 24 and I'll have my second in a few months when I'll have just recently turned 26. I'd say 'young' is under 22- by 24 I'd already had over 6 years of 'freedom' (had done the whole drinking thing, had holidayed and traveled, etc). I was ready to move onto the next step in my life. If you're under 22 I feel like you need that time to blow off some steam and figure life out.

I think it depends on your area and what seems to be the norm. There’s definitely a divide between places where you assume the 40 year old pushing the pram is a new mum or where they’re assumed to be the grandma. If you have your life ready for a baby at 26 it’s a good age.

I had three by then, I had so much energy. Far more than when I had my youngest 10 years later.

@User54047

Don' be absurd. Of COURSE 26 isn't too young to have a baby!

I had my oldest at around that age and now that she’s an adult I’ve heard comments like “wow you started early”. I think I look a bit younger than I am which is what they meant cause I don’t think that age is particularly young to start

Too young?? My mum had me when she turned 20! I was 24 and I lost very late on in my pregnancy, we didn't try again until I was 28 and I regret it so much as I struggled to conceive for 20 months. Now I'm expecting dc2 and i get told I'm "trying late in life" when I'm early 30s!

Stuff them.

Far better to have one at 26, than to have one in your mid 40s!

According to ONS:
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The average age of first-time mothers was 28.8 years in 2017, unchanged since 2016.

it is not young. However, one of my nieces just had baby at 24 and she is very immature, so I didn't quite agree with that one (No, I didn't say that to her, or anybody for that matter. I wasn't raised in a bleeding barn). Though, honestly: it is not like she might develop a brain even if she waited until she was 30, so ... whatever.

I guess it's considered young nowadays. Even when I had my first 16 years ago I was the youngest at my antenatal classes and most baby groups (I was 25) and most of my kids friends parents are older than me. It's not young though - under 21 I would say was young to have kids.

I had DS1 at 29 and didn't feel young at the time; I'm 38 now and 29 seems impossibly young to me! So I think people's perceptions cannot be trusted basically 25 is younger than average around here but not extraordinarily so.

I was 27 when I got pregnant with my first. Was much younger than everyone else I met at antenatal classes and the first of my friends by a long time.

Don't think it's particularly young though. People are too judgmental - none of their business!

I had my first child at 26 having been married for 3 years. We are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary. People can fuck off.

My mam had me at 19 in 90s i think that was a shocker as her & my dad wernt married or living together ( i was a nice SUPRIIISE) but 28yrs later still married and happily together.
I'm having my 1st at 28, now round my area that's probably old 😂

I had my first at 29 and I was the last of all my friends to have a baby! So I felt pretty old. We're TTC #2 now only a year later as there's a lot of emphasis put on women's fertility declining after around 35 and I'm worried if we left it any later we might struggle.