The shift towards older motherhood is irreversible and it is pointless to warn women to have their children by the age of 35 or risk their babies suffering a range of medical problems. [s]The Guardian[/s] reports that this is according to Britain's top maternity doctor Dr David Richmond, whose relaxed view of the growing number of women delaying motherhood until their late 30s or early 40s contrasts sharply with the acute concern expressed in recent years by senior doctors.
Later maternity can reduce a woman’s chances of conception and involve a greater risk of miscarriage, a more complicated labour, and medical intervention at the birth. However, most women who leave it late know the risks they are running, the doctor believes.
In the US the ‘older woman’ is a factor in rising twin births. Roughly a million more twins were born in the US, when compared to the pre-1980 twin rates, reports [s]The Atlantic[/s]. Changing demographics is part of the reason: ‘Older women tend to have more twins than younger women – and older women are having more of the nation's babies’. They attributed the rest of it to the increase in infertility treatments, specifically in-vitro fertilisation and ‘ovulation stimulation medications’.
[link url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/27/age-first-motherhood-maternity-doctor-david-richmond]– The Guardian[/link]
[link url=http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/1-million-extra-twins-have-been-born-in-the-last-31-years/360849]– The Atlantic[/link]