Time Waits For No One

"You may delay, but time will not" - Benjamin Franklin.

In modern day society women are waiting longer and longer to conceive their children than ever before. The average birthing age is 29.8 years, which is an "all time high" according to the Office of National Statistics and it is increasing every year. Some leading factors are said to be the increased rate of women in education and the rising cost of childcare.

There is a societal pressure on women to be professionally successful and to be in a committed, loving relationship before starting a family. This, along with the wide spread use of contraception has postponed the age at which many start their families. Women are now able to exercise their reproductive choices with the development of technologies such as IVF and egg freezing. However they may be making uninformed decisions about family planning, exacerbated by the media presenting pregnancy wonder articles and headlines such as "Having babies later makes for a happy mother" (recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald). Women who wish to be mothers should be aware of the risks pregnancy at an older age, and not be influenced by unsubstantiated media sensationalism.

Age is not just a state of mind. There is a direct correlation between age of mother and increased risk of complications for mother and child. The normal biological reproductive age is between 20-25 with fertility rates declining gradually after thirty; beyond 41 women are unlikely to be able to conceive. The rate of miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy, preeclampsia, placenta previa, low birth weight and many other complications increases with age. The chance of conceiving a baby with chromosomal problems increases year by year from 1:1250 for 25 year olds to 1:100 for a 40 year old, but perhaps the biggest obstacle of all is getting pregnant.

Money can't buy you time. Advancements such as IVF and egg freezing lull women into a false sense of security. As age increases the likelihood of an embryo taking decreases substantially and for women above 40 it is recommended they use donor eggs. Egg freezing is a poor substitute because although the eggs may be younger the vessel used to harbour the embryo is still beyond reproductive age. This is a medical solution for a socially driven phenomenon.

The Guardian writes in a recent article that "on average in wealthy OECD countries, women are delaying motherhood to four years later than they were in 1970". This indicates that the age of first pregnancy is related to socio-economic status. The article goes on to state that there is a "correlation between average age of becoming a mother, number of children, employment, education and even womens' rights". Although correlation does not necessarily imply causation, this pattern of age of pregnancy and status in society seems to ring true throughout many studies and through my own life experience.

Better education and factually correct information on fertility, pregnancy and family planning in the media may aid women to conceive before their biological clock hits twelve.