Babies Tale

More and more women today are choosing to have their babies later in life - that is, in their thirties and early forties. Statistics from the March of Dimes Prenatal Data Center show that, yes, later motherhood is on the increase. Most of the births occurring each year are to women in their mid- to late twenties. But the proportion of births to women 35 years and older has increased by 84% between 1983 and 1993, from 5.7% of births to 10.5%. In 1976, 19 of 1,000 U.S. births were to women between 35 and 39 years old. By 1996, births to women in this age group accounted for 35.4 of 1,000 births. Women over 40 accounted for 4.5 births per 1,000 in 1976. By 1996, women between 40 and 44 accounted for 6.8 births per 1,000.

Between 1980 and 1990 the number of births outside marriage to women over 30 tripled. It is estimated that about three-quarters of these births were to divorced or separated women. Many of these women were living with their new partners.

While most women who delay motherhood choose to have children in their late thirties, a few decide to become mothers for the first time in their forties. More and more women are establishing their careers first and then embarking on motherhood. Recently, many career women have embarked on motherhood later in their lives, presenting an image of the youthful, sexy, attractive older mother. You may know some of them yourself! Actresses Jane Seymour and Priscilla Presley are two well-known examples of women who have given birth to children in their forties.

Many pregnancies to older women are still accidental, as is shown by the number of women over 40 who choose to terminate their pregnancies. In 1988, 109,642 U.S. women over 40 were pregnant. Of these, 44% chose to terminate the pregnancy. 56% chose to give birth. (Alan Guttmacher Institute, Facts in Brief; January 4, 1993).

Although menopause in most women occurs sometime between the age of 45 and 55, most women trying to have a baby in their forties do experience fertility problems. Now new infertility treatment has given hope to older women unable to conceive naturally. The news in 1997 that a 63-year-old American woman had conceived was greeted with some controversy and confusion. Public debate centered on whether it was “right” for a woman who could be a grandmother to give birth and whether she would be an adequate mother for her children, not to mention whether it was moral for doctors to use artificial means to induce a pregnancy in women over the natural age of child rearing. (In fairness to the doctors, she had told them she was years younger.) But what is the “natural” age at which fertility ends? The oldest mother on record to have conceived naturally appears to be Mrs. Ruth Kistler of Los Angeles, who gave birth to her daughter at the age of 57 years, 129 days.

The reduction in the numbers of women who have very late babies has probably changed people’s attitudes so that today it seems more “unnatural” for women to have a very late baby than it seemed to earlier generations. For women to have a late baby by accident seems to require help and sympathy, while to choose to have a baby late-perhaps with help from medical science seems to inspire judgmental attitudes. Late motherhood is seen as an indulgence in a generation of women who want to “have it all;” it is not meant to be good for the baby.

Everyone seems to accept that late motherhood carries some risk-for the woman’s health, the baby’s health, and perhaps their happiness later on. But what are the risks of late motherhood? What chances is the older mother taking with her health and life? What are the chances of her succeeding in having a healthy pregnancy and normal labor? What are the actual risks of having a baby with disabilities? And how successful is parenthood for the older mother, her family, and, especially, for the child? This book will try to answer these questions for those of you who are considering having a baby later in life.

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