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Things You Should Know When Trying to Get Pregnant after 35

Team AckoFeb 8, 2024

In today’s world, many women are postponing pregnancy to focus on their education, career or other life events. They want to be emotionally and financially ready before embracing motherhood. They prefer to have a baby in their late 30s.

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Let us address the following questions here. Does age play a role in getting pregnant? Is it possible to get pregnant once you are over 35? What are the risk factors involved?

Age is a very influential factor when it comes to getting pregnant. Fertility in females starts to decline in her early 30s and declines further once she is above 35. A woman is born with an entire lifetime supply of eggs. At birth, her ovary contains about 1- 2 million eggs. However, once she is above 30, the number of eggs starts to decline continuously every month.

It is not impossible to get pregnant after 35 but there are risk factors, which cannot be ignored. Below mentioned are 7 things that you should be aware of if planning for a baby after 35

Conceiving can be difficult over 35

With fewer and fewer eggs, conception can be hard. If you have been trying for six months to get pregnant, talk to your doctor. Fertility treatments may help you conceive. However, these treatments cannot guarantee pregnancy. More the age, less is the success of the treatment. Hence, don’t delay in consulting your doctor.

Unhealthy diet and obesity

An unhealthy diet, smoking, drinking alcohol and obesity can further decrease the odds of getting pregnant. Make lifestyle changes that promote and improve your overall health. Eat a well-balanced diet, exercise regularly, and quit smoking and drinking alcohol. You can join a yoga class, go for walk, do breathing exercises and reduce stress.

Pregnancy complications

You are at more risk of medical conditions like high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia during pregnancy if you are over 35.  These conditions need to be monitored regularly by your doctor for a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Health of the developing baby

Pregnancy after 35 may cause premature birth, low birth weight, birth defects like down syndrome, miscarriage or still birth. The would-be mother may be pregnant with multiples and based on her and baby’s health, the doctor may even advise to go for a c-section to avoid complications. To ensure all is fine, both would -be mother and baby’s health needs careful monitoring by the doctor. This calls for you to not skip prenatal care checkups and medicines.

Spouse age matters even more

Male age does matter. If you are 35 and your spouse is 5 years older than you, the odds of getting pregnant decrease further. The quality of sperm also declines with age. If your spouse is 40 and above, the morphology of sperm, i.e size and shape of sperm declines and a sperm with abnormal morphology has less chances to fertilize an egg.

Fertility treatment options

If you are over 35 and have been trying to get pregnant for 6 months, consult your doctor. Your doctor may put you on drugs that stimulate egg production or go for ART like IVF. These treatments require rounds of doctor appointments, blood test, ultrasound where your doctor will be monitoring hormonal levels, egg formation and its release etc.

There are women who go for fertility preservation procedures like egg freezing when they are young. The eggs are frozen and stored. Its utilized when she is ready to have a baby at a future date, in her 30s.

Have children when ready to embrace parenthood

There is no doubt that fertility declines with age. However, getting pregnant after 35 is not ruled out. It's more important to have children when you are physically, emotionally and mentally ready than to have it when you are not prepared. Meanwhile, work on being healthy and fit. Avoid feeling guilty if not able to get pregnant and blaming yourself to have delayed pregnancy. If after trying for 6 months you are not getting pregnant, consult your doctor and seek help.

Although the odds of getting pregnant decrease with age, getting pregnant over 35 is doable. Keep yourself informed about the risks involved and treatment options available. In order to boost your chances of getting pregnant, keep your health in good shape by adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only, based on industry experience and secondary sources. It is not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a qualified expert for health or insurance-related decisions. Content is subject to change, refer to current policy wordings for specific ACKO details.

 

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