My wife and I are in our early 30s
We have been married for almost 5 years and we don't have kids.
Some people are coming up to us and giving us advice on children; or actual on how to make children
like you should swim everyday, or just relax
or take this vitamin, or eat peppers, or dont eat peppers
or have more sex, have less sex
quit your job, pretend your riding a push bike
or stop jogging
one misconception that i think is driving lots of this is the belief
that after 35 your walking off a cliff, fertility just drops
this is driven by the statistic that 1 out of 3 women who are >35 years old
will not get pregnant with a year
This number, 1 in 3, has been used in some fairly official capacities
but you need to ask yourself the question "where does it come from?"
that what i started to look into
this number, 1 in 3, comes from France in the 1700s. It looked at lots of women and saw how many go pregnant.
but it didnt consider if they were trying to get pregnant or even if they were sexually active
and that means that there are millions of people today who are told to get pregnant
based on a statistic, 1 in 3, that comes from a time before electricity, antibiotics or fertility treatment
So, is there a better data set we can look at?
and the answer is yes. There is more up to date data we can use
and it tells a very different story
A more recent study considered about 800 women in Europe
and the study found that women in their late 30s
who had sex at least twice a week
had an 82% chance of getting pregnant within a year
compared with 86% for women 27-34 years old
a drop of only 4%
and essentially there is no difference between women in their late 20s or early 30s
another study from Boston university follow about 3000 danish women
it found that of women in their late 30s
35 - 40
78% got pregnant within a year
compared to 84% for women 20 -34
again only a slight difference
A 3rd study from the university of North Carolina focused just on older women. Women 38 or 39.
It found that 80% of white women in this age range who were not overweight got pregnant within 6 months
with lower results for other races or people who are overweight
most studies don't see a big drop in fertility until above the age of 40
However we need to think not just about likelihood of getting pregnant
but also complications with pregnancies
like miscarriage, high blood pressure and chromosome issues like down syndrome
in general all of these things get more likely with age
but probably not as much as you think
most of the data on miscarriage is focused on women who go through IVF pregnancies
so its not a good source to use
however there is good data for blood pressure and chromosome issues
for just generic issues genetic issues the rate is about
1% for women 35, 2% for women who are 40, and 13% for women who are 45
specifically for down syndrome
it is about 1 in 500 when you are 20, 1 in 400 when you are 30, and 1 in 65 when you are 40
and finally, for blood pressure
it impacts about 2% of women who are 30
and 4% of women who are 40
so the data tells us 2 core things.
Fertility decreases with age and complications increase
BUT the vast majority of women, at any stage in their 30s
will be able to get pregnant on their own
and deliver a healthy baby
as a simple guide, it is recommended to have your last child before the age of 40
after 40 you are rolling a dice
it may work out or maybe there will be consquences
and finally with all of these numbers
keep in mind that these statistics only represent the 100s
or 1000s of women in the studies
they don't represent all women trying to conceive
Each couple is unqiue
I hope this video challenged your view that 35 years olds
have some type of fertility cliff and have to rush
if you want to learn more, I have included links below or see your doctor
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