Is 37 too late to have a 3rd child

[pollypocketss]

With a DH that is 42?

Previous two in early 30s but feel I'm pushing my luck.

The combo of me above 35 and DH above 40 seems to scare me but my heart tells me to go for it while my head tells my heart to be quiet!

Exactly, I had kids late as I wanted to travel, party and establish my career first. It's whatever suits the person but just saying to OP that 42 isn't old to have a child.

All through my family tree children have been born to.older parents. We have a long living family, generally living into late 90s so perhaps bring able to successfully have healthy children later in life is linked to longevity?

Thank you @Iwasafool and @AmusedMaker - no one has actually said that to me yet! Thank you.

I had my 4th at 40 (we started ttc just as I turned 38) and my 5th at 41.
I had my 1st at 21, second and third at 30 and 31.

I don’t feel tireder than I did at 21, and my 4th pregnancy (only boy) was a breeze.

@pollypocketss
It's not your heart, it's your hormones. Perimenopause.
Of course you can have another, but if you've never planned another, I'd seriously consider whether that's the best option?!

@JumpinJellyfish I had two mc between 3 and 4, so sorry my lovely.

Mid 40’s . And a lovely child, loved by the family

I had our 3rd when I was 37 & DH was 42. Took a few months to conceive but was absolutely fine & the pregnancy was the easiest of all 3. Go for it!

Good news here as well for us older mums:

For each additional year in maternal age at last birth, the odds of exceptional longevity increased by 5%. Women who had their last child above the age of 33 years had twice the odds of exceptional survival compared to women who had their last child before age 29.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5308150/#:~:text=Among%2020%20248%20women%20(mean,years%3B%20P%20for%20trend%20%3D%20.

I don’t the age of all the people saying they had their third at 39 and it’s all hunky dory but as an older first time mother myself I would say the menopause can be a game changer. It’s like one of your propellers cuts out - tired all the time and sometimes you just don’t GAF. It’s probably ok if you have a supportive partner and family around.

How old was DH?

How old were other DCs?

Not sure what you mean 'if you've never planned for another'

We've never had a set number, after each one we wanted to enjoy them then think of the next and so here we are.

I have no family around at all. Supportive DH however and we both work full time, we worked hard for our careers so would go back FT after 1 year of MAT leave.

Thank you everyone.

To those that had their DCs in their late 30s, did you have any family support or was it just you and DH?

Do you think that's doable with 3 kids? Ages will be 7, 4 and baby's

My grandmother had her fifth and final baby at the age of 45. You're grand!

Dear god. Parenting a 15 year old at 60
no thanks.

If you have older kids they tend to help out a lot with the younger ones. Mine are now 22, 19 and 12 and the 2 older ones do things with the younger one separately. It's lovely to see. So one will take him climbing, the other will take him fishing. Such a lovely connection they have.

If the OP has a baby at 37 they will 23 at 60…

Only if you feel old!

I'm expecting baby no.2. later this year and I'll be 37 not long after and I don't feel too old but then my friends are all having babies too so it's very normal here. No.3 is absolutely on the cards if we're able! I've been weighing up going back from mat leave pregnant v chancing a larger gap (preferable in some ways but worried about my age from a fertility perspective and not because I feel too old).

We do have family help but they only look after 1 child at a time and our siblings have had/are having babies which means family support will reduce and both baby no.2 and any no.3 will have to go to nursery. We both work full time.

I’m in a similar position where I’d half love a third but the sensible side of me is saying to stick at 2. Partly because it’s easy to think that you will have a straightforward pregnancy and a healthy child (especially if you’ve had two before) but the reality is that each time you fall pregnant you are rolling a dice and it’s well known that the risks of having a child with additional needs increases with age.

I also look at my MIL who had 4, the youngest two born 10 years plus after the first two and she is SO ready for them to leave now as she is in her 50’s. She has never said she regrets it but openly admits that she wishes she’d had them one after the other in her 20’s.

I was referring to the “you go girl”
poster above me whose family member had a baby at 45.

I had my second at 38.

First and last at 36, if you want to though- go for it!

Do it
I'm 44 with my 3rd

Absolutely not. These days lots of people are only just getting going on their first at that age. I do think people are increasingly leaving it far too late and I'm not comfortable with people deliberately delaying parenthood until their forties. But 37 is fine.

Your body will tell you when it's too late. If you can get PG with no intervention and no massively heightened risk to the baby then it's not too late.