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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Too old to have a baby age

141 replies

svg23 · 09/08/2025 17:38

This has been done to a thousand times but when is the tipping point between being quite old to have a baby and being too old...

OP posts:
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DelphiniumBlue · 09/08/2025 17:45

I had dc3 at 41, so I would say older than that.
Cherie Blair famously had her last baby at 45, and I imagine not many people have babies naturally after that . Also there’s a higher chance of things going wrong, and miscarrying the older you get.
If you have an assisted pregnancy, then in my view 50 is the upper limit, and that’s if you are in good health with a younger DH and plenty of money to pay for help. I’ve had friends that died around 60 so I d be very conscious of a child being left without a mother.

PaperSheet · 09/08/2025 17:52

For me personally I stopped TTC at 43.5

curious79 · 09/08/2025 17:55

Too old is the point at which you can’t get pregnant any more by any means. Anything else is up to your individual discretion

wifestroppyknickers · 09/08/2025 17:56

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Ginnygi · 09/08/2025 17:59

It's so individual. I've seen people saying once you hit 30, it's too late 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

You'll know when it's too late for you.

questionthethought · 09/08/2025 17:59

I think anything past 42 starts to seem old really.

SparkyBlue · 09/08/2025 18:01

curious79 · 09/08/2025 17:55

Too old is the point at which you can’t get pregnant any more by any means. Anything else is up to your individual discretion

This . I had a totally surprise pregnancy at 43. Last year at 48 I had the coil fitted to help with very heavy periods and I had a full check up with my gynie. Bloods and all tests he did told him I wasn’t in menopause yet and he reckoned I’d still very possibly manage to get pregnant (not that I’d want to). It’s a personal choice

wifestroppyknickers · 09/08/2025 18:01

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TheHandmaidsSnail · 09/08/2025 18:02

35 would have been my cut off but in the end it was much younger as I stopped at 2.

mygrandchildrenrock · 09/08/2025 18:03

I had my last baby at 42.10 and it wasn’t too old. That baby is 25 this year, happy and healthy - as am I!

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 09/08/2025 18:05

questionthethought · 09/08/2025 17:59

I think anything past 42 starts to seem old really.

Unless you're a man, apparently...

MeringueOutang · 09/08/2025 18:05

I'll shut the door on a possible pregnancy at 43. That's the oldest I've personally known people have a last baby and I think much older than that would be a problem for us as DH is older than me.

Lafufufu · 09/08/2025 18:09

I had dc 1 at 38 and dc2 at 40yr 3m.

we had agreed/ i had said if i wasnt pregnant by my 40th birthday we'd stick with 1 child.

I'd love a third but i would be 42 and even at 41 I feel too old / am too concerned to risk going for a 3rd

But its deeply personal amd maybe id feel different if I had no children bit i dont think so

Lafufufu · 09/08/2025 18:09

I had dc 1 at 38 and dc2 at 40yr 3m.

we had agreed/ i had said if i wasnt pregnant by my 40th birthday we'd stick with 1 child.

I'd love a third but i would be 42 and even at 41 I feel too old / am too concerned to risk going for a 3rd

But its deeply personal amd maybe id feel different if I had no children bit i dont think so

susiedaisy1912 · 09/08/2025 18:10

Depends if you want to be raising a toddler and doing the school run in in your late forties and early fifties

MiddleAgedDread · 09/08/2025 18:12

One of my friends has just announced they’re pregnant at 46! I was genuinely gobsmacked, everyone else’s kids are growing up and the chat is more about sleepless nights due to perimenopause these days!

beetr00 · 09/08/2025 18:13

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don't see the correlation between that and fertility tbh @wifestroppyknickers

JDM625 · 09/08/2025 18:14

Its a very personal thing and based on SO many factors with your own lifestyle, health, family health +++.

I TTC 12yrs, lost 3, rounds of IVF and no cause for sub-fertility ever found. Non smokers, limited alcohol, healthy BMI, exercised etc. After the last failed round of IVF at 43, the consultant asked if I'd considered donor eggs. Well no I hadn't because that was the first time anyone had ever mentioned it! I did look into donor eggs both here and abroad but decided in the end to stop TTC.

I started to also think about the age I'd be (IF I had a child) when say they'd go to secondary, uni etc. DH has 2 cousins who both got pregnant at 44 with healthy pregnancies. 1 was her first baby and the other was a 2nd marriage with a 22yr old daughter already. There is no right or wrong OP.

ginasevern · 09/08/2025 18:16

I don't really think it's entirely about how you, as the mother, feels. It's about the practicalities of being an older parent and how that will effect the child and any existing children. Having a baby shouldn't be all about your own personal needs.

hellotomrw · 09/08/2025 18:21

Personally I wouldn’t older than 40. Had mine at 28 and 32 and that was tough enough, can’t imagine doing it again in 5+ years 😂

TokyoSushi · 09/08/2025 18:22

Over 40 would have been too old for me, now at 45 it would be a definite no

Absentmindedsmile · 09/08/2025 18:22

40

SarahAndQuack · 09/08/2025 18:24

Do you mean, you want to know statistics? You can look them up.

There is a decline in fertility from 35-38, and then quite a sharp decline onwards.

Broadly, humans are inefficient at reproduction. At age 20, about 1/5 of an average woman's eggs are not viable. By 38, this rises to 50%. For men, fertility starts declining from about 35; a father over 40 is substantially less likely to give you a healthy pregnancy. That continues to decline with age. This means that, the older you are, the more likely you are to find that you TTC and don't conceive, or you conceive and then miscarry, or you find the pregnancy isn't viable.

I think it's a very personal choice - you have to think how you feel about the possibility of repeated miscarriages, or the possibility you'd have to terminate a pregnancy for non-viable chromosomal issues.

Cheesetoastiees · 09/08/2025 18:31

I say 40 at the moment. But maybe that might change if I don’t have all the babies I’ve planned by then 😂

Nothankyov · 09/08/2025 18:34

This is so individual. I has my last one at 33 and I couldn’t have done it again.

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