How old is too old to have a baby?

[Shaz83]

Just wondering how old is too old to have a baby? Fair enough being healthy etc is fine.. but how old is too old?

My friend was similar. Really wanted children but her self imposed limits stopped her. When I became pregnant at almost 40 and all of the things she said would happen because I was so old, tiredness, birth defects, being a very elderly parent who looked like the grandma pushing the pram etc didn’t happen it rather put a dampener our friendship.

FFS, not another one of these. Sick of the older mum bashing! Some of us aren't that lucky and do not get to choose when we are finally blessed with children. So there's no magic number.

Ha. This thread OP was mental.

I mean…

Could you update the thread on how conceiving at 35 is going? I’m the same age and getting nervous

Im 38.5
7 weeks preg with our ivf baby

When your 35 or over - i recommend pgta testing
If u do ivf

Weve avoided 4 more miscarriages that way
And currently preg

Giving it until the autumn and then going down the ivf route.

Congrats on the pregnancy ♥️

I think it depends on the person. I say this as someone who has never even tried to conceive so I don't know what pregnancy and childbirth feel like.
But one factor is how long into that child's life are you likely to be healthy, fit and strong? And that can't always be predictable.
My grandmother had my father at 46, which was very unusual in the 1950s. But she lived a long life and was healthy, strong and independent into old age. She died when he was 50.
My mother had me at 32 and my sister at 36. We lost her two months ago aged only 71, and my sister has a lot of anger (not at Mum, at young-onset dementia) that she never got to have a proper relationship with her as an adult.

I’m 37 and pregnant with my first. I would have had children 10+years ago if I could, however after years of infertility, this is me. I always had a firm ‘no children after 40’ stance, however as the years ticked by and I got closer to 40, my views have altered slightly. I’ve always wanted 2 children, but then in November last year were told IVF was our only option. Knowing the wait lists in our area, and the toll it takes on the body, we made the decision of 1 and done, as I felt like I would need to have 2 close together in order to not be ‘too old’ to have a second child. By some miracle we actually conceived naturally the cycle before we were due to start IVF. My thoughts are now changing again, and I’m thinking actually, once this baby is here, I’m not going to use contraception as I feel hopeful we could maybe have another child before I get ‘too old’. Having said that, it did take a long time to get pregnant with this one, so if I don’t get pregnant again quickly, I may change my mind again!

so for me, I’d say early forties. However if I hadn’t got pregnant I may have continued beyond that age.

Thank you