The decision to be a mother is not something that is taken lightly, and even less so when you are reaching 40 years of age. Work obligations or personal projects can be reasons to delay having a child beyond the age considered ideal (25 to 30 years). In fact, Spanish women are increasingly delaying their motherhood. Spain is, together with Italy, the country of the European Union where women are mothers the latest. And according to the latest report of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) of 2016, the average age of motherhood in our country has reached a historical figure: 32 years.
What can we say about being a mom at the “late” age?
Most women over 35 have normal pregnancies and deliveries. Although, it is true that the older they are, the greater the risk of complications, which can affect the development of pregnancy and the birth of the baby.
Both spontaneous abortions and ectopic pregnancies (those that develop outside the uterus) are more common in older mothers. For example, at 45 there is a 50% chance of losing a pregnancy.
Other complications can be:
- Multiple pregnancies, whether you conceived naturally or with assisted reproduction techniques.
- Gestational diabetes.
- Previous placenta.
- Pre-eclampsia
- Premature detachment of the placenta.
It is recommended to consult with the doctor to monitor you more closely and more frequently during pregnancy. With regard to childbirth, the gynecologist will most likely recommend a c-section to reduce the chances of the baby suffering during birth (after age 40 the probability that the baby is not well-placed will increase). labor lasts longer due to the lower elasticity of the muscles of the uterus).
Are there advantages?
Bearing in mind that motherhood at an advanced age is a growing phenomenon of modern society, science has been studying it and some favorable conclusions have been reached:
- Greater awareness The older the woman is, the more aware they are of the decision to become a mother. At this point in life, they think through things better.
- Maturity. The woman at 40 years of age has a maturity and emotional stability that is not achieved even at 25 or 30 years.
- Food and healthier life. The diet is usually much healthier than that of a younger woman, and with fewer derangements in the schedules.
- Less strict in education. Danish researchers found that mature mothers were less likely to be hard on their children and children were less likely to have behavioral problems.
- Smarter babies. It has been shown that babies born to mothers between 35 and 39 years of age achieved significantly better results on cognitive tests than those of younger mothers.
Mental skills of the mother. One study concluded that giving birth after age 35 improves the mother’s mental abilities. The researchers believe that it is due to the increase in hormones that occurs during pregnancy (estrogen and progesterone), which act positively in the brain’s chemistry and its effect increases the greater the mother is.
*Content validated by the mediQuo medical team.
