The number of women who gave birth to their first child between 30 and 40 years has almost tripled in the last 20 years. In addition, the number of first-time mothers after 40 years has increased by almost 50%. And physicians are forced to reckon with it. The offensive word “old-timer” gradually disappeared from their vocabulary, and childbirth in adulthood is no longer considered something out of the ordinary.

Increasingly, women are postponing childbirth while studying or moving up the career ladder. The number of early births (up to 20 years old) in all civilized countries is steadily falling (Russia, however, is an exception).

Numerous studies have shown that pregnancy and childbirth after 35 do not pose such a serious danger as previously thought. The average portrait of a woman in her thirties who is preparing to become a mother has changed a lot lately. As a rule, she belongs to the middle class, is well educated, takes care of her health. Her body is not worn out by numerous births.
It has always been believed that later children are more likely to be born prematurely, gain less weight and get sick more in early childhood. Recent research has cast doubt on this.

American doctors who observed 4 thousand women in labor in one of the hospitals in New York came to the conclusion that a woman over 35 years old, if she is physically healthy and has not had miscarriages, has a chance to give birth to a normal healthy child (even if this is the first birth) almost the same as a 20-year-old.

For a middle-aged woman who has devoted all her young years to a career, pregnancy is an opportunity to try herself in a completely new way. In addition, she is more likely to find support from her husband, since a mature man is psychologically more prepared for the role of a father than a young one.

As you know, psychological readiness for motherhood comes much later than biological. According to psychologists, pregnancy in adulthood is much more favorable than in early youth. A woman perceives her condition more calmly, less prone to stress, less likely to experience internal conflicts. She is more disciplined and lives in harmony with herself. Many consider the birth of a child a gift of fate or a blessing from God.

Older women, most of whom married late, as a rule, stand firmly on their feet, have reached a certain level in their professional activities, and are confident that they will return to work some time after giving birth. All this allows them to look to the future with great calmness and optimism. A middle-aged woman who has devoted all her young years to a career may look at pregnancy as an opportunity to try herself in a completely new capacity. In addition, she is more likely to find support from her husband, since a mature man is psychologically more prepared for the role of a father than a young one. As a rule, middle-aged parents, unlike young ones, devote more time to raising a child. As a result, many "late" children are ahead of their peers in their intellectual and physical development. The secret here is in the atmosphere of love and mutual understanding in the family where the long-awaited baby appeared.

American psychologists conducted a survey among women who became mothers before the age of 20 and between 30 and 40 years. Both were asked to answer the question of whether they would give birth at the same age if they could make a new decision. More than half of those whose children were born before the age of 20 answered “no”, and the majority of older mothers expressed confidence that they had chosen the optimal time for the birth of a child.

Hollywood star Kim Basinger first became a mother when she was already over 40. Actress Beverly D * Angelo, a friend of Al Pacino, gave birth to his charming twins when she was 49. The famous actress Marina Neelova had a daughter when she was 41 years old. And there are many such examples.

Doctors today can help even those women whose reproductive period has ended. Various methods are used for this: hormone therapy, implantation of a donor egg in the uterus. Muscovite Natalya Alekseevna Surkova got into the Guinness Book of Records, becoming a mother at the age of 57. She already had two adult children. Recently, a 66-year-old woman from Romania gave birth to a child. For many years she taught at the University and wrote books for children, but she had no babies of her own before. True, doctors are not particularly enthusiastic about the increase in the number of mothers-grandmothers: the risk of complications and the responsibility of the doctor who “leads” such a woman in labor are too high.

Of course, late motherhood has its problems. Women over 35 are more likely to experience health complications during pregnancy, especially diabetes and high blood pressure. These complications occur in approximately 6% of women over 35 years of age compared to 1.3% in younger women.

Another problem: the "solid" age of the parents increases the risk of developing anomalies in the fetus, the birth of children with severe hereditary diseases. Therefore, all primiparas over 35 years of age are usually offered an amniocentesis in the second trimester of pregnancy - an analysis of amniotic fluid. This allows you to identify about 200 hereditary diseases associated with a violation of the chromosome set.

You can also find out the degree of risk of such diseases using the "triple" test - it is done around the 16th week of pregnancy. For analysis, blood is taken from a vein. Women of older reproductive age do not recover from childbirth as quickly as younger women. For some of them, after decades of taking care of themselves, it can be difficult to get used to the fact that the baby, especially in the first months, requires constant care and attention.

Another disadvantage of late childbirth is that parents have to limit themselves to one child or have a second one when the first one is still very small - after all, the time allotted by nature for acquiring offspring is not unlimited.

Should I do a Caesarean section?

In women over 30-40 years of age, childbirth can be more difficult and protracted than in younger women - this is the generally accepted opinion. In fact, any experienced obstetrician can testify that in many cases, older mothers do an excellent job with minimal medical help. Often and, by the way, not always justified, at this age they offer a caesarean section. This does not raise questions if there are medical indications for surgery or a woman managed to get pregnant only with the help of doctors. Then, trying to eliminate any risk to the baby and taking into account the aggravating factors, the doctor makes such a decision.

Recent studies have shown that, on average, the duration of labor for older mothers exceeds the duration of labor for young mothers by only 45 minutes. And at 40, you can not be afraid of difficult childbirth if you are well prepared for them physically and psychologically.

Where to start?

If for some reason you put off the birth of your child, you should prepare in advance for his possible birth.
Try to get rid of bad habits if you have them. By the age of 35, we have time to experience a stronger impact of adverse environmental factors than by the age of 20.

Should we add to them the harm from smoking and alcohol? Watch your health, do not start even trifling, at first glance, diseases. If you treat a cold instead of carrying it on your feet, you are much more likely to keep your kidneys and heart healthy, organs that take a lot of stress during pregnancy.
Control your weight and maintain muscle tone. Go in for sports or exercise. Excess weight creates additional problems during gestation.

It should be borne in mind that after 35 years, the ability to bear children gradually decreases. Experts believe that at this age it may take 6-12 months to conceive instead of four. Before you decide it's time to start procreation, visit a therapist. Sometimes a woman is being treated for infertility for years, during which time she develops various ailments. These diseases may not cause much concern, but they can interfere with the normal course of pregnancy.
During pregnancy, you will need to be more attentive to yourself than younger women, to strictly monitor your diet and regimen.

It is worth taking seriously the choice of a doctor and a maternity hospital. It is desirable that the clinic be equipped with everything necessary in case you need urgent help for a newborn.

"If you want to preserve beauty, have a child at forty," say the French. If a woman is healthy, during pregnancy she blossoms. In this magical way, estrogens act - female sex hormones, the production of which increases several times. In addition, the eggs of a pregnant woman are not "spent", so aging seems to be suspended. Menopause in women who have become mothers in adulthood may come later. Raising a baby provides a unique opportunity to turn from a middle-aged woman into a young mother.

Such parents usually go through the so-called midlife crisis painlessly - they just don't have time to delve into their problems. Not soon they will have another test, which psychologists call the "empty nest" syndrome - when children grow up and leave their father's house.

As you can see, "late birth" is a rather arbitrary concept. Today, a woman has the opportunity to choose for herself at what point in her life to devote herself to a child. And if nature gives a chance to experience the happiness of motherhood in adulthood, is it worth it to refuse?

Kurbatskaya O. N., obstetrician-gynecologist, head of the department, candidate of medical sciences

Childbirth at 40+: a doctor about late childbirth

An obstetrician gynecologist of the highest categories Pilipenko Lyudmila Nikolaevna

Childbirth at 40+ is in trend today

Modern women give birth later and later: you won’t surprise anyone with a first pregnancy after forty years. Why, forty are enough examples of successful childbirth even after fifty years. The reasons for this reproductive behavior are many and usually complex. It can be economic, psychological, and any other reasons. But - most importantly - the level of modern medicine and new reproductive technologies make later motherhood physically possible.

And indeed, in recent years, childbirth at the age of 40 is no longer surprising, it has become quite commonplace.

Moreover, in many developed countries of the world, in particular in Great Britain and the USA, the number of women who gave birth after 40 already exceeds the number of those who became a mother before the age of 20.

The development of reproductive technologies and advances in medicine are shifting the female age of childbearing further and further. Bridget Nielsen gave birth at 54, Janet Jackson at 50, Halle Berry at 47, Rachel Weisz at 48.

Since pregnancy and childbirth place an enormous burden on all organs and systems of the mother's body, the question arises: how safe is very late motherhood for the woman and for the child?

Women over 40 have significantly higher rates of complications during pregnancy and childbirth than those who give birth at a younger age.

If you decide to postpone motherhood until after 40, be prepared for the fact that pregnancy and childbirth can be associated with high risks.

The decision to give birth after 40 certainly needs to be approached with even more awareness than a pregnancy at a young age.

On one side of the scale - a new page in life and a lot of positive emotions, and on the other - a high risk of chromosomal abnormalities in a child.

From the point of view of nature, everything is quite clear: it is better to give birth to children from 23 to 35 years.

Because young women have better egg quality, the probability of chromosomal pathology in the fetus is less, they themselves still have a lot of strength and health not only to successfully carry and give birth to a baby, but also to get up at night in the first years. Starting from the age of thirty-five, it can be said that the countdown begins, and the woman's fertility is slowly falling, and the risks are becoming more and more.

A woman who decides to give birth after the age of forty should understand the peculiarities of such a pregnancy and try to reduce these risks in every possible way.

The risk of pathologies in the fetus increases. These can be both relatively common pathologies such as Down syndrome, Patau or Edwards, and more rare ones. Let's take Down's syndrome as the most common and compatible with life. So, if a 30-year-old mother has a chance of having a baby with Down syndrome is about one in 800, then by the age of 40 we are already talking about a ratio of one to a hundred, and at 44 years old - one to 25.