Perhaps having a baby in late 40s may came as surprise several years ago, the situation today is much more different. Actually, having a baby in late 40s is becoming very common, moreover it is becoming a trend, meaning menopause no longer means the end of fertility.
I am sure you’ve heart that Travolta family is expecting twins. Kelly Preston, John Travolta’s wife is 47 years old and pregnant with twins, and she is not the only one in celebrity world that is close to 50 and expecting baby.
Linda Ames who was 52 this year gave first birth to her daughter when she was 42, 5 years later to her first son Julian and two years after that to her son Diego. Paloma was conceived naturally, while Julian and Diego were conceived with the help of fertility treatment. Linda says that the only thing that stopped her from having children was because her doctor recommended that it was not a good idea to be pregnant and give birth after the age of 50.
American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommended a natural age of menopause to be the highest age of a woman to have a baby of her own, and the age was around 50 or 51, but they have removed the statement because most of the studies show that mothers have done well and had healthy pregnancies up to age of 55, which is also the oldest age clinics limit infertility treatments such as IVF, hormone treatments and eggs donations. Of course the health condition of a mother to be is the first criteria that is unique and must be evaluated first. Evaluation includes not only physical preparedness but also a meeting with reproductive mental counselor.
Most fertility clinics have 10 to 20% of their patients who are over 40 years old. There are different reason for having a child at this age as some of them are careers, travels, second marriages and secondary infertility, etc.
