What age is your personal cut off on having kids?

[Anonymous]

My cutoff was 35 when I was younger but it turned out to be 36 in practice. Mostly due to health risks and wanting to have time when the kids are out of the nest where I am still young and active enough to travel for hiking/biking/etc., squirrel away extra cash for retirement, and later on be young enough to enjoy my potential grandchildren.

[Anonymous]

35. All the science that was pushed when I was childbearing set this as a magic number. It was always burned in my brain and I haven’t looked back.

[Anonymous]

When my husband turned 35.

[Anonymous]

I’m 36, have 2 kids, and would love to have another but worry about the risks as I get older. My first 2 kids, I got pregnant the first time we tried each time and my pregnancies and deliveries were very easy/uncomplicated but still I worry. My mom and my maternal grandmother both had their last kids at age 39 so for some reason I’m kind of hanging on to that # as the oldest I would consider having a kid. But I do think a lot about $$ for retirement and the possibility of ever traveling again once kids are grown, meeting potential grandchildren and being an active grandparent, etc etc

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:35-36 is the most normal and safest. Anything older risks mutations, defects, death etc...

? I know several who had babies after 36, normal kids, including me. What is your source for this assertion.

You’re responding with anecdotal evidence, pp was responding with what could be any number of clinical studies (take your pick or ask your doctor.) your response is a bit naive

You need to get out a bit. Plenty of women have healthy babies AMA in developed countries. The first PP did not provide anything to back up their claims.

Talk to any OB. There are plenty of studies out there about the risk of birth defects as you age. I had one child at 36 (just barely AMA) and another at 40. The increased risk of abnormalities was significant from 36 to 40. Even more steadily increased in the 40s. We did more of the offered tests with the pregnancy at 40 and had more “what if?” conversations.
You are not providing any evidence for your claims either so it hard to criticize the poster you are responding too. How many babies had birth defects and were aborted? Sure there’s lots of healthy babies. It’s still more likely to have a healthy baby than not, but the risks aren’t insignificant.

It's not all doom and gloom if you have access to good care.

One of the big risks is downs- what is your doctor going to do to fix that? Sure, good prenatal care can help carry to term but birth defects can’t just be fixed.
You’re way too blasé about the risks.

Abort?

That doesn’t “fix” it. You still won’t have a baby and could potentially have a lot of emotional trauma.

+100. Gosh PP I’m all for safe and legal abortions but you’re being quite blasé about what abortion entails.

[Anonymous]

My cut off was 40. Had my second 3 months before I turned it.

[Anonymous]

Mine was 38. I had my first at 35 and decided to have another, but I didn’t want to go through the exhausting baby years past 38. I also wanted to leave time to get my career back on track once I was done having kids.

[Anonymous]

It was 45 but that was kind of forced bc that's when I had my third. It was either do it then or don't do it.

I think that was pretty late, and if I could design my life from scratch, I'd have my kids before 30, 35 tops.

[Anonymous]

I had mine at 28 and 30. They're now 6 and 4. Looking back, I would not have wanted to have children any later.

[Anonymous]

36. Anything beyond that just gives me too much anxiety about health issues.