Number of births for women over 50 soaring August 26, 2018 | Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 12,434 |
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The number of births to 50-plus women has quadrupled over the last two decades, up from 55 in 2001 to 238 in 2016. During that period there were 1,859 births in the UK to women over 50, and 153 to women over 55.
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Adam Balen, professor of reproductive medicine at Leeds University and fertility spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, shares Barnsley’s concerns. “We’re not very good in the west at preventative medicine, and in the world of infertility we are treating lots of things that could have been prevented,” he says. If IVF has the reputation for being a panacea then that, he stresses, is misplaced. “IVF doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not available on the NHS for everyone.” As well as being expensive (some of the women I spoke to have spent upwards of £20,000 on their quest for a baby, and anecdotally others have spent far more), late pregnancy carries risks, says Balen. Miscarriage and pre-eclampsia, in particular, are more likely; and the use of donated gametes increases those risks. Stresses around assisted conception can also affect a relationship.
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Barnsley has some concerns about the trend. “Fiftysomething motherhood will only ever be a choice for the well-off,” she says. “And some women will spend a lot of money on something that doesn’t, in the end, work out. Imagine borrowing £50,000 and then being unsuccessful.” She also wonders where the child’s perspective is in the debate. “I’m thinking of 21-year-olds who instead of travelling the world will be looking after a parent with Alzheimer’s,” she says. “They run the risk of being out of sync with their peers, and that might not be easy.”
Re: Number of births for women over 50 soaring August 26, 2018 | Registered: 18 years ago Posts: 9,973 |
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Gemma Barnes, meanwhile, hasn’t written her to-do list for her 52nd birthday, which is coming up later this year. But when I ask her what’s going on it she smiles broadly and says she is definitely not ruling out a brother or sister for Hannah.
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Re: Number of births for women over 50 soaring August 27, 2018 | Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 12,434 |
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freya
The race is on....will they live long enough to see their kid graduate from high school? My vote is no. I think parenting at 50+ is bound to take at least 10 years off their lives. Pregnant at 55 and a typical life expectancy of 80 is 70. Parent dies when kid is 15. 55 isn't old but 55 and a new parent is old.
Re: Number of births for women over 50 soaring August 27, 2018 | Registered: 19 years ago Posts: 9,199 |
Re: Number of births for women over 50 soaring August 27, 2018 | Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 12,434 |
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bell_flower
"My guess is the other mums are just biting their tongues and trying to be polite, and the strangers who have mistaken them for grandparents were being honest. "
So that. I thought I was going to need a search party to find my eyeballs after reading how all of them had been mistaken for a grandmother but none of the playgroup mawms said anything.