We want to get straight to the title of this blog and acknowledge that the best age for YOU to get pregnant depends mostly on your goals, wishes, and circumstances.
As experts in pregnancy and prenatal care, however, the Desert Hills Care Center team, under the expert guidance of board-certified obstetrics and gynecology specialist Dr. Helard Ballon-Hennings, can provide some points to consider.
If you want to learn more about optimizing your chances of getting pregnant and bringing a healthy child into the world, read on.
A woman’s reproductive years span from when she first passes through puberty until she transitions through menopause, which, on average, means from the age of about 12 to 51.
This is obviously quite a large span, but it’s safe to say that conditions that favor a healthy pregnancy deteriorate on either extreme end — both a 12-year-old and a 51-year-old mother face increased challenges.
Still, there’s a fair amount of room to work between these two extremes. In the United States, the mean age of first-time mothers has been slowly rising — it was 27.3 in 2021 — largely because of a decline in teenage mothers and an increase in women in their 30s and 40s having children.
When it comes to fertility, the fact is that a woman’s peak reproductive years are between her late teens and late 20s. There are several reasons for this, which we explore below. However, before you dive into the reasons, we want to emphasize that we’re talking about increased risks, not foregone conclusions.
First, your fertility peaks in your late teens to your late 20s because this is when your eggs are the most abundant. You have a finite number of eggs to work with when you’re born — about two million. By the time you reach the age of 51, you’ll only have about 1,000 eggs left.
Not only are your eggs more numerous in your teens, 20s, and early 30s, but they’re also healthier. As you age, the quality of your eggs can decline, and there’s more risk of chromosomal abnormalities.
Another reason a younger age may be more favorable is that you are less likely to have problematic gynecologic issues that can interfere with fertility or pregnancy, such as endometriosis and uterine fibroids.
Apart from your gynecologic health, your overall health may decline as you age, which can influence pregnancy. For example, older women are more likely to have chronic conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, which can increase your chances for pregnancy issues like preeclampsia.
Our goal here isn’t to steer you away from having children at a later age — millions of women successfully build families in their 30s and 40s. Instead, we strive to provide you with some points to consider, with the understanding that each woman is different.
A great step is to come to see us for preconception counseling. During this visit, we can review your circumstances and your health to provide you with some guidance. From there, the decision about when to build a family is yours alone to make.
For expert women’s health and obstetric care, please contact our office in Las Vegas, Nevada, to schedule an appointment.
