The miracle of IVF means women can have babies well into their 40s but fertility experts have warned women to start their families by the age of 35 or risk being left “haunted” and childless.
Leading reproductive biologist Professor Mary Herbert told the British Science Festival that women need to be informed about the risks of delaying motherhood.
In the age of IVF and ever-advancing reproductive technologies, Professor Herbert says women mistakenly believe they’ve got decades to start a family.
She says modern women need to be told to stop using their career as an excuse to delay motherhood as working life doesn’t get easier with age, and to be more prepared to put up with some financial hardship as previous generations have.
“From talking to young women, it’s about getting my career established, but in a sense I find that misguided because there is no career that gets less busy as you go on,” Professor Herbert said.
Without this information, women who are left childless could end up “haunted” by their decision to wait.
“The most important message is for women to have their babies before the clock strikes 12,” Professor Herbert said.
“I would be getting worried about my daughter if she hadn’t had a child by 35.”
Professor Herbert went on to point out that while some women are lucky enough to get pregnant in their 40s or 50s, the vast majority will not, their dreams of motherhood ending in heartbreak.
Those who do fall pregnant face increased health risks for mother and baby, with older mothers being more likely to miscarry, have complicated pregnancies and deliver babies that are underweight or premature.
Stillbirths are twice as common in over-35s and there is a much greater risk of the baby being born with genetic disorders like Down syndrome.
IVF specialist Jane Stewart, secretary of the British Fertility Society, agreed with Professor Herbert, saying family planning clinics and GPs should be forced to discuss the risks of delaying motherhood with all patients.
“Family planning is often seen as a way of avoiding teenage pregnancies, avoiding people being pregnant when they don’t want to be because it doesn’t fit in with their life or social life or whatever else,” Ms Stewart said.
“But family planning has to include when you are going to have your children as well. If you look back and regret it, it will haunt you. The risk is that you will always be troubled by the ‘what if’.”
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