The pandemic only made matters worse for anyone with a shred of anxiety who was considering kids. The worries led to increased interest in fertility preservation services, like egg and embryo freezing, in the past year.
If you are a woman in your early 30s hoping to get pregnant in the future, you might be feeling the pressure. Everything you have heard suggests that your chances of getting pregnant plummet around age 35. The way you figure it, you’re running out of time. But are you?
The risk of infertility as well as miscarriage, conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, and fetal chromosomal abnormalities climbs more significantly at 35. But the numbers don’t skyrocket.
With that in mind, it’s time to debunk the following myth about late maternity:
You Reach the Cliff at 35
You are familiar with the idea of your biological clock ticking. As the thinking goes, there will come a point at which time your body can no longer produce children. That’s true, but there is no set age. More and more experts are coming forward to say the research that the fertility cliff is originally based on is actually outdated, and point to newer studies that show much more promising results. Take this one out of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine that found that 81 percent of 38-and 39-year-old women got pregnant naturally within a year of trying at those ages.
The fertility cliff concept suggests that a woman’s ability to get pregnant after age 35 is greatly diminished. It is like driving a car off a cliff. But there is no science behind such claims. Where the idea came from isn’t clear, but some have suggested that it dates to the 1970s and the introduction of genetic testing to look for Down Syndrome.
At any rate, a variety of factors play a role in fertility. It is not just an age thing. And yes, there are good reasons to get pregnant at a younger age, including the fact that miscarriage and chromosomal disorders are more likely the older a pregnant woman is. However, there is no fertility cliff. It is a myth.
Psychic Factors and Fertility
“Fertility is much more individual than people realize,” says Dr. McClelland. “For some, 30 could be the age at which things become more difficult; for others, it could be 45.” What’s more, a variety of factors play a role in fertility, a few being lifestyle-driven. According to psychoanalysis, psychic factors can even determine the physical ones.
It’s hard to know if someone’s struggles are age-related or whether they would have had them if they started trying to conceive when they were younger too. Psychoanalysis can help you understand and overcome unconscious blockers which are preventing you from getting pregnant and why.
A majority of infertile women wanting to have children show signs of anxiety, depression, and stress. Thus the ongoing debate of cause-and-effect. Does infertility cause mental health issues or vice versa? There are no definitive answers. What is clear is that… the psyche is involved and the age at which a woman decides to get pregnant is up to her. It is a personal choice. There is no definitive age at which fertility comes to a screeching halt. There is no specific age at which it’s dangerous to get pregnant.
If you are a woman and want to stop stressing about this, get in touch. Forget about what the women’s magazines and advice colonists have to say and let me help you think differently!