How Age Affects Pregnancy: Facts, Myths, and What Really Matters

Pregnancy Podcast

Vanessa Merten

Newborn, Parent, Homebirth, Vbac, Kids & Family, Doula, Firsttimemom, Midwife, Pregnancy, Doctor, Parenting, Pregnant, Vanessamerten, Physician, Csection, Prenatalcare, Breastfeeding, Naturalbirth, Nursing, Birthcenter, Family, Baby, Hospitalbirth, Health, Obgyn, Research, Trimester, Expecting, Labor, Mom, Diet, Dad, Birth

4.5 • 948 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From a biological perspective, there’s a limited window for getting pregnant, spanning from reproductive age through menopause. While that offers many years of opportunity, there’s never a perfect time to have a baby. You might find yourself expecting earlier than planned, or life may lead you to parenthood later than you imagined. Whether you're in your 20s, 30s, or 40s, age can influence many aspects of pregnancy, like fertility, potential risks, and even emotional or financial readiness.

Many women feel pressure to have children before their 35th birthday. This idea stems from classifying pregnancy at 35 or older as “advanced maternal age.” Although this label is based on increased statistical risks, this high-risk label can create unnecessary anxiety. Especially considering most pregnancies in this age group are healthy and uncomplicated. There are also real advantages to becoming a parent in your mid-thirties or beyond. In this episode, we’ll explore how pregnancy experiences can vary across ages, what the evidence says about the risks of advanced maternal age, and how you can make confident, informed choices no matter where you are on your journey to parenthood.

Thank you to our sponsors

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Read the full article and resources that accompany this episode.

Join Pregnancy Podcast Premium to access the entire back catalog, listen to all episodes ad-free, get a copy of the Your Birth Plan Book, and more.

Check out the 40 Weeks podcast to learn how your baby grows each week and what is happening in your body. Plus, get a heads up on what to expect at your prenatal appointments and a tip for dads and partners.

For more evidence-based information, visit the Pregnancy Podcast website.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Merton.
0:10.4	Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast.
0:15.3	In today's episode, we're talking about how your age affects pregnancy.
0:20.4	We're going to cover a lot of facts,
0:22.8	some myths, and talk about what really matters. From a biological perspective, there's a limited
0:29.4	window to get pregnant. Although this is a big window, it spans from your reproductive age
0:35.9	all the way through menopause.
0:38.3	While that window is a lot of years of opportunity, there's never a perfect time to have a baby.
0:44.8	You may find yourself expecting much earlier than you planned, or life may lead you to
0:50.4	parenthood way later than you imagined. Whether you are in your 20s, 30s, or 40s,
0:57.2	age can influence a lot of aspects of pregnancy, like fertility, potential risks, and even
1:04.2	emotional or financial readiness. Most women feel pressure to have children before their 35th birthday. This idea stems from
1:14.1	classifying pregnancy at 35 or older as advanced maternal age. This label is based on increased
1:23.0	statistical risks, but this high risk label can create unnecessary anxiety, especially considering
1:30.8	that most pregnancies in this age group are healthy and uncomplicated. Plus, there's also
1:37.8	big advantages to becoming a parent in your mid-30s or beyond. In this episode, we'll explore how pregnancy experiences can
1:46.9	vary across different ages, what the evidence says about the risks of advanced maternal age,
1:54.1	and how you can make confident informed choices no matter where you are on your journey to
2:00.1	parenthood. You can find the complete article
2:03.2	and all of the resources for this episode at Pregnancypodcast.com slash age. You are currently
2:13.1	listening to the public feed of the podcast, so you have access to ad-supported content and the last
2:19.5	year of episodes. Become a pregnancy podcast premium member to unlock all ad-free episodes,
	...

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