How old is too have a baby

During an evaluation, you have physical exams and tests to try to find the cause of infertility. If a cause is found, treatment may be possible. In many cases, infertility can be successfully treated even if no cause is found. But the chances of success with these treatments decline with age. See Evaluating Infertility for more information. Getting early and regular prenatal care may increase your chances of having a healthy baby.

If you have a preexisting medical condition or if a medical condition develops during pregnancy, you may need to see your ob-gyn more often.

Regular prenatal care can help your ob-gyn find problems sooner and take steps to help manage them. Carrier Screening: A test done on a person without signs or symptoms to find out whether he or she carries a gene for a genetic disorder. Chromosomes: Structures that are located inside each cell in the body. Complications: Diseases or conditions that happen as a result of another disease or condition.

An example is pneumonia that occurs as a result of the flu. A complication also can occur as a result of a condition, such as pregnancy. An example of a pregnancy complication is preterm labor. Down Syndrome Trisomy 21 : A genetic disorder that causes abnormal features of the face and body, medical problems such as heart defects, and mental disability. Most cases of Down syndrome are caused by an extra chromosome 21 trisomy Eggs: The female reproductive cells made in and released from the ovaries.

Also called the ova. Embryos: The stage of prenatal development that starts at fertilization joining of an egg and sperm and lasts up to 8 weeks. Endometriosis: A condition in which tissue that lines the uterus is found outside of the uterus, usually on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and other pelvic structures. Fetus: The stage of human development beyond 8 completed weeks after fertilization.

Fibroids: Growths that form in the muscle of the uterus. Fibroids usually are noncancerous. Folic Acid: A vitamin that reduces the risk of certain birth defects when taken before and during pregnancy.

High Blood Pressure: Blood pressure above the normal level. Also called hypertension. A menstrual cycle is defined as the first day of menstrual bleeding of one cycle to the first day of menstrual bleeding of the next cycle. Neural Tube Defects NTDs : Birth defects that result from a problem in development of the brain, spinal cord, or their coverings.

Ovaries: Organs in women that contain the eggs necessary to get pregnant and make important hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Preeclampsia: A disorder that can occur during pregnancy or after childbirth in which there is high blood pressure and other signs of organ injury.

These signs include an abnormal amount of protein in the urine, a low number of platelets, abnormal kidney or liver function, pain over the upper abdomen, fluid in the lungs, or a severe headache or changes in vision. Prenatal Care: A program of care for a pregnant woman before the birth of her baby. Yesterday morning, People confirmed that Janet Jackson, who is 50 years old, is pregnant with her first child. Once extremely rare, pregnancy over 40, and even into the early 50s, is an increasingly common phenomenon because of recent advances in fertility and prenatal health care.

In fact, from to , the number of babies born to women 50 or older increased by nearly percent. When I got pregnant, I thought that I was pretty old to be a first-time mother. This led me to the false assumption that I, at 35, was old. When I met my doctor, I almost immediately informed him that I was old. He was right. Sort of. She thinks there's definitely something to be said for waiting until you're older and having other life experiences behind you.

For Meghan E. With that being said, she acknowledges some drawbacks to waiting until your 30s. Unfortunately, it's true that fertility starts to decline substantially at 32, and more rapidly at In addition, fertility assistance success, like IVF success rates, also start to decline, adding to the cost of treatment, points out Dr. Monica B. I'd still be invited to the moms' night out kind of things, but there was always something in our conversations that underscored the age gap.

By age 40, a healthy woman's chances of becoming pregnant each month are less than 5 percent. The bigger concern within this age range, however, are the medical risks involved. Brauer points out, multiple pregnancies, such as twins and triplets, which are more common when undergoing fertility treatments , significantly increase these risks.

Suzana S. All in all, experts and moms agree that there's really no right answer to the question of "when is the best age to get pregnant? Your best plan of action is to do what feels right for you—whatever that may be. It starts when you get your first period and stops when you reach menopause. As time goes on, your chances of having a successful pregnancy become less and less as your egg reserve diminishes, your egg quality decreases, and your hormones change.

Fertility rates trend with the average number of eggs a woman has at any given age. In general, you begin puberty with between , to , eggs. This number drops to around 25, at age 37 and continues dropping to 1, or fewer by age How does this look exactly? Well, the likelihood of becoming pregnant naturally without medical assistance after a year of trying is as follows :. By the time you reach 40, only 1 in 10 women will get pregnant each cycle.

Regarding women who undergo artificial reproductive technology ART , live birth success rates follow a similar decreasing trend with age, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC :. Related: A look at your fertility timeline. Menopause is defined as the stopping of the menstrual cycle for a year or longer. Most women reach this milestone somewhere between their late 40s and early 50s, with an average age of around 51 years old. Generally, women enter perimenopause sometime in their mid 40s, but some may hit this point as early as their mid 30s.

For example, a year-old woman in India gave birth to twin girls in Related: A year-old woman gave birth to her grandchild. Many women are able to carry pregnancies after age 35 and beyond. However, there are certain risks — for both mother and baby — that tend to increase with maternal age.

Related: Health concerns for new mothers at