What age would you consider "old" to be TTC#1

[SpringWater1571]

Posting because I'm anxious and paranoid about my age and TTC. I keep seeing commend where people have referred to ages and saying "later in life" etc and things like that. What age would you consider old/older for TTC#1?

Late thirties i would say. Mid thirties is Fairly average nowadays to have a baby. You’re def pushing it after 40- yes some people can conceive after 40 but not everyone can. It depends on your individual biological clock sadly.

It's really down to the individual. The only answers you can possibly get here are other women's anecdotes which tells you nothing about yourself.

Go to see a fertility specialist who can run some tests on you to see where you stand.

I started TTC for my DD at 30 and was told frequently that I 'was leaving it a bit late'! At bloody 30!

Biologically speaking I'd say 35+, but really lots of mums start their families at 40+. Not for me but each to their own - you can only make a huge life changing decision like TTC based on your own circumstances and feelings not what other people think. It's just worth being mindful of things like declining fertility and increased risk as we age etc.

After 35 your fertility starts to decline.

I had my third aged 35 and was shocked how steeply my chances of Down Syndrome had increased just by virtue of my age.

So biologically I would say that after 35 it get more complicated but that doesn’t mean it will definitely be complicated.

A first baby after age 42 seems quite unusual to me. But again no reason not to try.

How old are you OP?

As the poster above says, you can have fertility tests which will tell you if you have lots of eggs left or not. If not, you can assume you’re someone who can’t leave it too long (although no one can give you a definitive time frame based on these tests).

I had dd1 at 39 and dd2 at 43 - both naturally conceived. Had 2 miscarriages in between though which seems to be the norm sadly as you get past 40ish. I certainly thank my lucky stars every day that we have dd2 as for a while there I thought we had missed the boat.

On a brighter note, both pregnancies and births were fabulous and we have too lovely, healthy girls. I have never felt too old to have young children. We also conceived very easily and quickly for all 4 pregnancies. ( between 1 and 6 months)

I would say 40 is old (but not too old). I know loads of women who had their first at that age - although many of them through ivf.

The chance of conceiving naturally without significant intervention close to 50 is absolutely tiny. All those stars pregnant age 50 are most likely not pregnant with their own eggs.

Older 35, old 40, too old when you hit menopause

35. This is when you would be considered medically a 'geriatric primigravida'. (Older first time mum) Your fertility also starts to decline more sharply aged 35. BUT lots of women have children into their forties even. It's difficult, as obviously circumstances mean not all women are in the position to have a child in their 30s. But if you want multiple children, I would say it is not a good idea to wait to start TTC until you're 40....

I don't have any opinion on "too old" - if you can conceive and carry a healthy baby, crack on.

I would take the scientific view and say above 38 is old to Ttc #1, based on the studies I have seen that identify this age as when fertility really starts to decline rapidly, on average. For TTC #2 or more I think it's less of an issue - there is some limited data to suggest giving birth does "reset" a woman's fertility somewhat - although obviously rates of miscarriage and chromosomal abnormalities are still a real concern at 40+.

I don't think it's all that helpful to talk about examples of women who conceived and had healthy babies in their late 40s and beyond as evidence that "you're never too old" etc. Statistically, those women are unicorns - the chances of conceiving at all in your late 40s or older is tiny and the miscarriage rate is approaching 100%. Yes, celebrities do it with donor eggs, but that is a whole other kettle of fish. Biologically, there is for the vast majority of people a cutoff point.

My gaenecologist is usually most concerned by women over 45, but will refer anyone over 40 for extra checks. That age reduces for pcos. So ‘old’ for pcos sufferers is 35 (because we tend to get other nasty side effect diseases).

I'm 34 and have just had my second baby. My husband is 35.

I would love to have another in the next few years but DH has said that from his perspective he wouldn't want to be any older than 35 when having a new baby.

If I trying for my first baby at this age (34) then I wouldn't feel too old to be doing it for the first time.

For some reason that I can't explain I think I would consider 37 to be "old" to be having a first baby.

Anything over 38, but that's because my mum had me at 39, my sil had my nephew at 42, and I had my dd at 40 (I also had a mc at 39 and two more mcs at 43).

Nobody in my NCT group was under 35, with the oldest being 44. We are in London though, and my hospital seemed very blase about older mothers.

I still haven't quite given up on a second child but, at almost 44, accept that my eggs seem to not be up to it (my last loss was due to a trisomy), and I'm not sure if I can go through another loss.

If you are over 40, I would be realistic with yourself about the chances of a successful pregnancy.

I’d say 35.

Absolutely no ones business but yours.

Had mine at 29 and 33- I have a 12 year old so someone my age (early 40s) I would like fairly old to be having no 1, but only as I feel so far past that stage myself and would find it hard to imagine going back there, not judging. Having said that a number of mums locally were ten years my senior having their first child when I had DD1, so it's not uncommon.

think not like.

I'd say 37 if you were planning more than one child.

It seems a bit disingenuous to give examples of women giving birth in their late 40s or even 50s. It's incredibly incredibly rare to manage to get pregnant naturally at this age and even rarer to end up with a healthy baby.

The majority of these pregnancies will be either from IVF or donor eggs which takes the age factor out somewhat.

@onefortheroad what are you on about? Just because a 40 something used donor eggs it doesn’t mean she isn’t less likely to develop the shitty maternal illnesses that are more likely with age (pre-eclamsia, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure in pregnancy, ovarian or breast cancer during pregnancy).

Over 40

@RavingRoo well since you asked so nicely.... I'm actually agreeing with you that in my opinion mid/late 40s is too old. My comment was in response to several previous posters who have given examples of people they know who have given birth at this age.

My mum regularly likes to tell me that she was considered a geriatric mum when she had me, and she was only 30.

I think 40 plus is probably what I would think of as older.

I started TTC at 38. I was lucky and had two healthy babies by 41.

BUT would I be sanguine if my daughter did the same? No I bloody well would not! I was lucky, my only issue was that i didn't ovulate - easily fixed with progesterone in my case.

I am fully aware that if I had discovered I had a more complicated gynae situation the clock could well have run out before we fixed it.

So if you really want kids, I would say start at 35 at the latest. At least then you have a few years to sort any issues you may discover.

37+

But not in a judgemental way. Just in a ‘get cracking, hope it all goes smoothly’ supported be way .

My closest friends were 35, 36, 40 and 41 respectively when they had their first babies, by the way!

I had my babies at 27 and 31, but had unexplained infertility throughout my 30s after that...you never know!