Would you call 22 years old

[Vivana]

Very young to have a baby. Was talking to a friend who said I was to young back then to have a baby at 22 years old. Now early 40s and did not have any more children.

No not really. I was 19 when I had my child. I'm glad I had mine early on.

22 is young, but I don't think it's 'too young'.

Same I'm glad I had dd early.on in life

I think 22 is young to have a baby.

Not at all, I wish I'd had mine then!

Yes I think it's young. I was 27 when I had DD and one of the youngest of my friends.

Depends where you live. I moved while I had babies. In one area (posh, educated, monied) 22 would be considered very very young. I moved to a more w/c area where it would be considered average.

I think nowadays it's young.
I had #1at 24 and was by far the youngest at toddler group. It wasn't until #3, 6 years later that there were a few around my age and all of those were on their first.

Definitely young. Not necessarily too young though. I’m in my 40s now and only a couple of people I went to school with had children that young. It seemed to work out for them.

Young, yes. Most people I know are closer to 30 when they have children.

Too young, no. The right time to have a baby varies from person to person.

I was 26 and considered very young! Most of my colleagues/peer group don't even start TTC until their 30s. My son was an accidental pregnancy, but he's awesome 😎. The one downside is that none of MH friends have kids but I made some mum friends.

It is young but not ‘too young’. Also depends on what you’ve done in life prior to that - for someone who has been working since 16-18 and has somewhere to live and a stable relationship, it would be the perfect time. Someone who’s recently left uni, living in a flatshare or with parents, casually dating, establishing a career - generally not a great time to have a baby.

It's young in my sphere of friends but not necessarily a bad thing to have them young.

I was nearly 23 when I finished my degree though (September birthday and 4 year degree) and 28 by the time I was qualified in my professional job (having had a couple of years work experience before returning to study FT for a year then two years training in work). I met DH at 23, we lived together five years before getting married then had DDs when I was 29 then 33. Amongst my crowd that is pretty fast work! But I considered it wasn't an option for me until I was qualified in my job, knew who I was, had met someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, got married, had bought a house and could afford to have a baby. If people feel "ready" in their early 20s then good luck to them, but many people would not feel that way until much later. I was still very much into getting drunk and falling over in my early 20s, but by my late 20s I was ready to settle down.

I really only consider teenagers 19& under young to have a baby.
I fell pregnant and 19& had baby at 20. I don’t think that was young.
Early 20s is best IMO.

Yes it's young for me but it depends on where you live/socio economic status/ethnic origin.

yes i would say 22 is very young to have a baby.

Not too young.

"Very young" and "too young" very different things

It is young, especially nowadays when they're is a trend for people staying families later.

But it's not too young.

I had my first aged 24, my second (and last) fairly soon after, and wouldn't change it. I'm out the other side and still young enough to have sore a few good years of adventures before I get too old.

I have friends that still have primary aged children, and I don't envy them. Enjoy!

Of course it's very young. When you had your child 20 odd years ago the average age to be a first time Mum was 28.5, now it's over 30. In comparison to those numbers 22 is at the very bottom of the 'acceptable' age range, you were not a teenager and presumably had left University (you could have still been in FTE in Scotland). Not much time to establish a career though.

In the mid 70s, the point at which women had children younger than they did at any time in the 20th century the average age was 24.5. That generation did get divorced a lot though.

But as long as you were and are in a stable and happy relationship then you were old enough to have a baby and bring up a child. I had children at the opposite end of the scale, having a child in my early 40s. I was clearly 'old' to be having a child but he's healthy and happy and I am more than capable of caring for him.

I am 60 and to me it is too young to have a baby. DD is 22 and still at university. None of her friends from school are having babies yet. Having said that my mother and DH's mother were 23/24 when we were born and not considered young particularly although both were married.

At 22 I had just bought my first flat, a single person, and was working hard at a high pressure job that turned into a career so would have been totally wrong for me to have a baby the.

With hindsight, if there is a stable relationship I'd say early 20s is probably not a bad idea. The mother is young and has energy and hopefully the grandparents are relatively so and can help a bit. It is a time of optimal fertility and minimal risk. The mother will be 30 tops when the children start school and could at that time easily pick up a career and have 35 years ahead of her.

I had mine at 35 and 38 and we struggled with fertility. Also at 60 and working full-time, I suspect my DC will have theirs at 30ish tops. I will be newly retired by then hopefully but I doubt I will have the energy to help them very much - although I suppose I could help out with nursery fees.

You were Young, but whether you were ‘too young’ depends on how you coped with having a baby. People seem to start families later nowadays. Twenty years ago, less so.

I think 22 is young (I had Dd at 23 so not judging) not because it impacts your ability to parent, Dd is top of her class, well behaved and often referred to as a role model at school. Nor because you miss out on the partying etc of your 20s - I'd done enough of that during my gap year and uni. But because life is generally not settled in terms of finances and work and that can be quite stressful. Returning to my home town with a high teenage pregnancy rate where I desperately didn't want to be another young mum statistic was mentally tough at the time. However, if I had a crystal ball to show me that in a decade I would own my home, passed my driving test and driving an alright car, completed another degree and being at the beginning of my career in teaching I would have been a lot more chilled instead of thinking my life was over and I'd never achieve anything.
However, on the other hand if I had anither child now (at 33) I wouldn't have had as great start to mother. I lived with my parents for the first year and didn't have to worry about anything and I didn't start working until she was 3 and in nursery so we spent all of that time at toddler groups, with friends, going swimming with vouchers from surestart (DDs a competitive swimmer now I've always wondered if that impacted her), eating healthily as I was at home etc. If I had a baby now they would be in nursery by 1 years old so I could go back to work and there would be alot more stress in the house.

When older I guess you are more likely to have your child in a stable relationship, I was young enough to end mine when I found out I was pregnant because we didn't live together so it was easy and he has proved himself a brilliant father despite being a terrible bf. I think older parents are more likely to stay in unsuitable relationships.

Most people want a home before a baby now, and most people couldn’t do that by 22 these days, unless they live at home.

Google says the average age for first time mother's nowadays is about 28-29, so compared to what people are used to, I'm not surprised it seems young (for men it's about 33, if anyone's interested).

Personally I think it's very much about circumstance rather than age, if someone's in a good position to raise a child at 22 and feels inclined too, then they should! Perhaps there's not many people in that position at that age, but that shouldn't stop those who are.

I'm pregnant with my first at 26 and people seem to think this is young, though no one's suggested it's too young.

Biologically it's a better age than 35+ but socially it's young. It's far less likely that a 22 year old would be in a stable relationship, be able to provide a stable home or have the life experience of an older adult.

A lot of people prefer to be fully qualified and have a good stable career before having a baby.

I was 23 when I had my first. Ihad my degree and had started work experience and exams for my professional qualification. After maternity I went straight back and finished them off, so only had a 6 month delay in getting where I wanted to be career wise.