Would you have a baby at 50?

[pumpkinpatch6]

Off the back of the "Do you regret having a baby at 40" thread, would you have a child at 50 assuming you can provide for it emotionally and financially? Obviously medical assistance would be needed.

I am childfree myself but actually think a woman reproductive choices don't suddenly become anybody else's business just because she's older.

Lots of grandparents regularly babysit and sometimes do full time childcare for grandkids, nobody says they are too old when their own career is on the line.

People are living longer, staying healthy for longer and staying fertile for longer. You have no idea of a woman's beliefs on abortion. I actually have a friend who at 50 thought she could bo longer get pregnant. She did. She didn't know she was pregnant at all until she went into labour (she is overweight and it was hidden).

Lots of people will pile on and say dumb stuff like 'id rather have my mum than any amount of money' but the reality is most people need an inheritance to get on the property ladder now. Everybody dies sooner or later. Recieving that inheritance at 30 is potentially more practical than when you're 60.

Lots of people don't have opportunity or find financial stability or a suitable partner until much later in life. They shouldn't be told they can't have a child just because of some made up rule.

Yes there's more risks as people get older but equally there is more risk with genetic predisposition to autism etc. and I know many people who have multiple severely autistic children. Should they have been forced to stop at one? Or people who have a disability themselves, should they be told not to take the risk?

Obviously nobody should be forcing 50 year olds to have children but tbh if they really want to what harm is it doing it anybody else? None.

No !

Good grief. Absolutely not. There's a very good reason that nature enables women to be able to have babies only until they are in their late 30s/early 40s.

No, you would be elderly by the time the child is in their 20's. Depending on health and cognitive function which are declining at a younger age according to the patients I see nowadays. I think it would be selfish.

Nope

Not a chance the baby will be 10 when your 60 and 20 when ur 70 the likely hood is u will pas while they are still young!

Not in a million years!!!!

I'm 31 and I'm tired as hell with a baby. If I make it to 50 (😂) I sure as hell won't want another baby

I'm pregnant at 42 (after years of infertility and IVF. Very early days so still might not work out.) and this is the absolute latest I was willing to have a final go at it. If this doesn't work out, I'm done and will accept it wasn't for me. I don't judge women who are happy to go for it later than me, but my family doesn't particularly have good old age genes so I don't think it's fair on a child for me to carry on later than this age.

People are living longer, staying healthy for longer and staying fertile for longer.

No they’re not staying fertile for longer. Most people will still need medical assistance to get pregnant at 50.

I don't think I would commit to another dog at 50 for fear I wouldn't be around until the end of it's life (we don't have longevity of life in my family!). Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

Christ no!

No, I wouldn’t.

Not a chance. I felt old having a child at 32.

I wouldn't - but I say that from a position of privilege having had all the children I wanted in my 20s/early 30s. If I hadn't had children and desperately wanted them then maybe I would.

There is a woman I see on the school run sometimes who had her last baby at 48! She always seems in great shape, cycles everywhere, active, happy family 😊

One of my parents was 43 when I was born and although they were noticeably older than my friends parents I wouldn't say it had an adverse affect on my life at all. They are now terminally ill and coming to the end of their life and the care aspect is happening at the same time as my own kids are young but I wouldn't say that's enough of a reason not to have kids older.

Baby at 50? No problem. I'd give my baby to my parents at 50 or even 60 to look after for a weekend or whatever.

It's the longevity of it. Would you sent your 16 yo to their almost 70 year old grandparents to be looked after? Or would you be expecting that the 16yo is there to help them out with stuff they're struggling to do now they're older? That's the difference.

Add on top that at that age learning, developmental and chromosomal abnormalities are much much more prevalent. You could be 70 with a strong 20yo at home with the mental age of 8 struggling to deal with their outbursts and wondering what the fuck will happen to them when you pass.

I would ! But I made a decision aged 18 to have as many children as nature allows me to.

As I mentioned in my post, I am friends with somebody who got pregnant naturally at 50.

I also know lots of people we went to live with their grandparents because their mothers were drunks, abusive, or just couldn't offer proper care. This was from my childhood when I grew up on a council estate. Should the children in question have been thrown into the care system with strangers and no long term stability just because granny was in her 50s? No.

I think it's incredibly old fashioned thinking and has no place in modern society.

Well I hope that didn’t turn out to be too many.

No one can parent 20 kids effectively

The only way you could parent 10 kids well is to have them spread over a couple of decades

I think it's incredibly old fashioned thinking and has no place in modern society.

Thinks 50 is too old to give birth certainly isn't old fashioned.

The example of a grandparent in their 50s and 60s being a foster carer isn't the same as choosing to birth your own baby. It's. A last resort, and still not ideal. I imagine those grandparents are shattered and wished their child could've been looked after by a parent in an ideal world.

Weird.

And how many was that?

Nature or your finances? Because you're either exceptionally privileged or want the tax payer to fund your little nature experiment.

@Anotherparkingthread
You talk about grandparents in their 50s and 60s bringing up children. Firstly, that's a lot different to being pregnant and giving birth.
And secondly, if someone has a child at 50, the chances are that the baby's grandparents will be either dead or too old to be actively involved, and if they waited until they were 50 to have a child, they'd be in their hundreds when they become grandparents!
So to my mind, it's unnatural to have a child so late in life. Sure, it happens very occasionally that a woman naturally falls pregnant at that age, but it's extremely rare.

No.