When talking about the ideal age to conceive a baby, it is said to be between 22 and 30 years old, since if you are younger or older than those ages there is a higher risk of conceiving a baby with chromosomal problems, such as Down syndrome, or other congenital defects, such as abdominal malformations, increased risk of abortion or lower fertile capacity (the older, the more difficult it is to achieve pregnancy).
However, it seems that not everything is negative when talking about babies born to mothers over 35, since it has been seen that these babies could have less risk of some congenital defects, not related to chromosomes.
Data about the study
We are talking about the calls major congenital malformations, which affect different parts of the body such as the heart, brain, kidneys, bones or digestive system.
The study was presented last week at the annual meeting of the Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society, in New Orleans, and therefore your data can be considered as preliminary, not yet published. To do the study, the researchers analyzed the second trimester ultrasound of more than 76,000 women and saw that women who were mothers from 35 years old had 40% less likely to have a child with one or more major congenital malformations.
The malformations in which there was more difference were defects of the brain, kidneys and abdominal wall. Where no differences were seen, it was in terms of heart defects, in which the defect rate was similar in the two groups.
The study researchers said the following about it:
The study provides some comfort to women who decide to delay having children and who in other areas, such as genetics and their own medical health, face greater risks with pregnancy.
Comfort?
I don't say no, but I doubt it. As they say, at an older age greater is the risk of chromosomal malformations. One thing could be better, but the other we know that worsens with age. In addition, it is also known that the older the risk of abortion. The study talks about pregnancies in the second trimester, and that is where possible malformations are assessed. This makes them ignored possible malformations that are not seen by abortions during the first trimester. In case of having also controlled these babies that did not reach term, even in the second trimester, the figures could be different.
Data about fertility according to age
Let us not forget that at an older age, the longer we wait, harder then it will be to get a pregnancy. According to the data, the probability that a woman in her 20s will get pregnant on her fertile days is 25%. That is, with everything in the face, or practically everything in the face, only 25% of women (or a woman in 25% of the occasions) will achieve a pregnancy. When the woman is already 30 years old, that probability drops to 15%. From the 35 odds are 8% and from 38% they are 3%.
Come on, what to expect can be dangerous at the fertility level, because many couples who decide to postpone paternity and maternity end up facing each other with a reality they did not expect: they no longer have childrenThey can't, they don't get it, and then the pilgrimage begins by clinics and professionals that can help them (or not) to conceive.
In other words, and as a summary, it seems that the body is not designed for the type of life we currently live, in which children reach the world when their parents are growing older.
