??geriatric pregnancy

[Nel45]

So I’ve worked in maternity care across the country for nearly 30 years and never once have I come across the term ‘geriatric pregnancy’ being used in the NHS, Nor with my last 3 children born when I was 35-44. (Naturally conceived and born last year)
However just seen a BBC article referring to a mother who had a ‘geriatric pregnancy’ since when did this become an official term in the UK??

SE UK, first DKs born in the 70s 80s. I was actually working in OPD, quite normal for women 36 and over to have these 2 terms applied to them. I was considered old to have had my ds at 32. Very early 20s was the norm then. Second marriage, DD at 41,easiest pregnancy and labour, ironically,no labels, but pushed into testing. The ward I was working on in the late 90s went from being called The Geriatric Ward,to Care of the Elderly.

Sorry to break it to you but that’s actually quite a long time ago now…

Congratulations! I hope everything is going well so far.

I had my daughter at 38 after three miscarriages (one at 17 weeks) and 8 frozen embryo transfers - my daughter being the 8th. I was 31 when we started trying. So selfish of me not to stop trying on my 35th birthday, two years before the clinic approved the treatment that enabled me to actually stay pregnant.

I had my child in 2018 when I was 36 and I’ve just dig out my discharge letter (I was re admitted after week after birth with retained placenta/sepsis) and the term “geriatric pregnancy” is in print on that letter.

I had both mine in London and the term “geriatric pregnancy” definitely wasn’t in use at either of the hospitals I attended (2016 and 2020).

Being older than 40 was listed as an “additional risk factor” in the notes but it was only when this was combined with other risk factors that the overall risk was increased.

I was actually “only” 29 and 33 when I had my children but I remember a lot of discussion about this at antenatal and postnatal groups so I paid attention!

Where was this? It must vary by hospital / region.

It was used in the 80’s when I did a stint on the maternity ward. That was East Anglia.
In the 90’s I was 34 when I had dd, not used then.

Couldn’t agree more!

This comment made me doubt myself so much I just spent 15 mins rifling through a box file because I knew my discharge letter was in there (see my comment above).

No idea why you have never come across it. Was the formal medical term for donkeys years. Was changed to AMA sone time back so as not to cause offence. Means exactly the same thing though in a clinical sense no matter what term you put it under. And yes, I was under that term with most of mine, but I didn’t raise an eyebrow as it wasn’t directed at me as a personal offence🤷‍♀️.

I had my DD at 38 (2022) and it was on my notes as well

Scotland. It probably varies by practitioner rather than region.

I work in a similar profession and some practitioners keep up to date with terminology while some don’t. It’s not necessarily a criticism, just an observation. I think language and terminology is a very hard habit to break when you use it every day.

I was over 35 when I had both my kids and I distinctly remember this term being used - certainly the first time around in 2001 when I was based in London - and being taken aback and quite offended by it!

It was on my notes, though, never actually said out loud to me. I agree it’s horrible and I’m glad it’s not an approved term now.

my sister was reffered to as a geriatric pregnancy aged 31 in 1999, again in 2001 (aged 33), 2005 (aged 37) and finally 2009 (aged 41) by which point she was joking is there was an older term she could have (All boys, all natural pregnancies for those interested)

I had babies at 36 and 39. First midwife said it was a geriatric pregnancy but didn’t see it written down. Second pregnancy they weighed me at 12 weeks and obviously by some bmi calculation I was classed as obese (not in that category when not pregnant) and on the front of my notes they wrote geriatric obese. Double whammy!

Used in my notes as well, I was 33 and almost 37. May well be regional and I know it's not particularly old but in my hospital I would say I was the oldest by 4/5 years at every appointment I went to as you could hear people giving their DOB.

I have been mistaken for my two youngest's grandfather on several occasion

Geriatric Father?

I was surprised when pregnant with my second at 23 to be tested for Chlamydia which is something they apparently only do for "young mums" (under 25 it turns out)
After having my first at 16 I did not consider 23 to be that young.

I was 35 when I had my first ds - he's 22 now and they called me a geriatric pregnancy then. Staff came and looked through the door at me after I'd had him. All other new mums were about 17 so I can understand why I was a novelty.

yeah DH as well.

He was 57 and 59 when they were born. I suspect the now deleted PP would probably collapse with horror at the thought.

My mum was offended to be called an elderly primigravida aged 25 in 1971!
Conversely I was 36 in my first pregnancy mid-2000s and nothing was said to me or in front of me about my age at all, my area did have a fairly high proportion of first time mums over 35 though

Before the 1970s!

My mother said this term was used during her first pregnancy in 1959 when she was 32 (and no doubt also during her subsequent pregnancies).

I’ve heard the term before but never used to me by professionals. I had my youngest at 41. Conceived on first try, easy pregnancy and 4hr labour and water birth at home.

Historically, it was very common for women to have their youngest children well into their 40s. Both my grandfathers were one of ten siblings and the youngest were born when their mothers were well over 40.

In 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft (the mother of feminism) had her second child, Mary Shelley, at 38. Admittedly, she died postpartum but not apparently linked to her age (infected placenta).

I asked my midwife in central London who said it’s not a term used for my age in my area at least (where it’s not unheard of for expectant mothers in their early fifties who used a donor egg). I live in Kensington btw. Fertility treatment is quite common apparently.

Not sure why people are disputing the fact that some have said it was literally used in their notes. Maybe their geriatric state caused them to imagine it was written… 😂

They poshed it up a bit, called it 'geriatric primagravida' when I was pregnant in the late 1990s. I was 35. Made me smile, TBH!

I was described as a prima gravida in 1988. I was 26!
edited to say sorry. It means first pregnancy. I always thought it meant old 🤣