What's your upper age limit for having last baby

[Suburbiton63]

Just that really!
I am 37 would love one more (a third) but just don't think I can put my body through I again.

I had three miscarriages after 40 and, like a PP, had a baby just short of 46. I didn't plan it like that. But I dont regret it.

Post grad by 23. Started career before children, continued with children AND am still in the same (well, similar) now.

Not sure how you can't conceive of a mum working? Most of us do. OK, I didn't work part-time, wasn't a SAHM, but a mum nonetheless. Most of my friends are the same as me. Yes, some of them started later with kids. But they all continued their careers.

Yep me too. There is some balance though of building career and becoming financially stable, owning own home etc in 20's and getting married and having children in 30's. I bought my first house aged 22, rented it out and travelled until 26, worked my way up career ladder and married at 32 then had my first at 33.

My friends who married and had children in their 20's really struggled financially and had to put their careers on hold as didn't earn enough to cover nursery fees. A couple are now divorced, no drama, but just completely different people once they reached late 30's to when married in early 20's. Now remarried and having dilemma that their new partner is keen for children ( in a respectful no pressure way) , and theirs have only just moved out and the thought of starting all over again is a challenge.

Tbh most people will see their way as the best way. And things don't always go to plan, some people may have wanted to have children earlier but struggled to conceive.

Ultimately, as long as can financially and emotionally provide for a child, then it's up to each person when is best for them.

I had mine at 34, 37 and 44 (nearly 45). The middle pregnancy was the hardest. I was more tired in the last trimester with the last one than with the first. But truly it was not noticeably more difficult either during pregnancy, labour or afterwards. My youngest is 14 now. I appreciate I was fortunate compared to many.

Agree totally.
I finished at 28 and I have total freedom in my 40s. I do think a massive "fuck that" when I hear my work colleagues in their 30s are pregnant or when they’re of similar age to me worrying about childcare or school runs.

I only ended up having one but by the time I was 37/38 I decided my time had passed. That was possibly also due to not wanting kids with too big an age gap though.

Guess you're still doing school runs in your 40s.

I had my first at 23 and second at 24. I then had my third at 34 and had a cut off of 36 but am pregnant now with my fourth and will likely give birth just after my 37th birthday. Weirdly, I am now considering a fifth even though I wanted to be all done by 36.

I’ve travelled and have 3 postgrad degrees and am an academic. I am absolutely privileged to have spent so much time with my children and also built a career which is interesting although sadly not massively lucrative. My DH is a doctor so similarly intellectually satisfying but not necessarily CEO money.

Having children through my twenties was my greatest joy, I don’t feel I missed out on anything, just longer to love.

I had my second and last child at 29. I wouldn’t have had children much later than that.

I have an aunt who had my youngest cousin when she was 42. She struggled through menopause with a young child and with dealing with teen issues in her late 50s which put me off having children older.

I feel fortunate that I met my partner when I was young and that we were in a position to have our children at a reasonably young age.

It's a personal thing isn't it?

My upper age limit was 35 but I had my last at 33.

I stopped at 35 despite wanting a 3rd. The reason for this was because I knew a couple of people whose parents had had them when both parents were in their 40s and they really resented their parents for it because they felt a gulf between them and their parents and also they became responsible for elderly parents at a younger age.

I’m 43 and feel I could still handle pregnancy and a baby again. But I’m done at 2 so won’t be doing.

Or 50s. AND have one friend who will be 60 before her child moves out of middle school. Not great for the child having a mum the age of other kids grandparents.

Old parents is the reason the term 'the sandwich generation' was coined. If you have babies late, you are then facing the possibility of both childcare and elderly care at the same time.

My personal limit was 30. I had my 5th child when I was 30.

Maybe if you lived in a more prosperous area with better-educated women, you’d experience a wider age range of school parents.

I’m TTC my 1st for a few years now, and I’m turning 40 this year so it might not happen. I’ve been trying to decide when I’ll give up. Im
fit and healthy, regular periods etc all tests came back fine.

It's not possible to have a cut-off is it, unless you don't really really want children.

It's all well and good saying "I swore I wouldn't have kids after 35", but then what if you don't meet the right person or you have fertility struggles?

Are you actually saying that if you were struggling to conceive you'd stop trying at 35 because you said you would? Or would you keep trying and maybe have a child at 37? If the latter, 35 isn't your cut-off is it. You just happened to get the right set of circumstances to have children sooner than this.

I think finances play a big part. We never wanted DC while we were young. I didn’t even give it a second thought until I was nearly 40. I eventually had DS at 43.

By that point we’d both developed very good careers. We had paid off our mortgage and built up a decent level of investments. It means that we can now work much less and even retire if we want to. DS is in Reception and most other parents are struggling with both working FT and big mortgages. Our biggest struggle is now having to limit family holidays to dates that coincide with school holidays!

Having complete financial security and no need to work again while your kids are still very young is fantastic. Were we still lumbered with a big mortgage and had only small pension contributions and investments I’m pretty sure we might feel a little different about things.

35 for me

Im pregnant with number 2 now and will be 37 by the time she is born, would like a third so we will be trying again as soon as my periods return. Would like to be pregnant again by the time she’s one and have third by 39 but I would keep trying into my early 40s. In an ideal world I would have had them between 30-35 but it took 4 years to conceive number 1. Definitely finding this pregnancy hard work!

I had mine at (just turned) 33 and 35.
My best friend has just had her 3rd at 41, and I know several school mums who have had babies between 40-43

I had my third (and last) at 35. Pregnancy and birth were all just as straightforward as my first at 29. I did feel more drained by the sleepless nights but I think that was down to having less chance to rest with older kids around rather than my age.

Don't feel remotely old to be dealing with a teenager either as I approach 50. My siblings had kids/grandkids younger and actually they find it hard juggling still working and being an involved grandparent. It's hard to help out as much as you want when you're not retired.

35

I had my third at 35. Couldn't face another pregnancy. Had it been my first, I might have felt differently.

I had my last at 30 and loved having my kids in my 20s. After 30, I have travelled with the kids all over, studied and moved countries. I was more worried about getting to my thirties and finding my fertility wasn't what it should be when there was less time to do anything about it.