Women Health Talk

After hitting the age of 35, studies have revealed that it increases your odds of not being able to get pregnant. But don’t get your hopes down getting pregnant is still not impossible, it may just be harder. You may be wondering why it is more difficult to get pregnant than when you were in your 20’s and 30’s, so why should you seek help from a doctor after you hit 35 years of age? And what are your chances of getting pregnant after hitting age 35?

Age and Fertility

You see it every day in the media with celebrities. Pop stars, movie stars, and moms are getting pregnant in their late 30’s and even early 40’s. You may even know someone who has become pregnant like these stars, but you have to realize you may not be like everyone else and your chances of becoming pregnant significantly decrease after age 35. After women are in their early 20’s their fertility is at its peak and starts to decline by the late 20’s. And once they hit age 35, their fertility starts to decline even more rapidly. Statistically speaking, your chances of getting pregnant decrease to about 20% at age 30, and about 5% at any given month once you reach age 40.

Why Fertility Declines

When women are born, they are born with all the eggs they will ever have in their lifetime. Usually women have around one million eggs, but once they hit puberty they have only around 300,000 left. And only about 3% or 300 of those eggs will mature and be released in ovulation. Before a woman hits menopause, her body starts to go through internal changes not visible from the outside. That is, everything starts to age. Her reproductive organs slow down and become less successful at creating mature and healthy eggs. And once you get closer to menopause, your ovaries react even less to the hormones that are liable in assisting the eggs in ovulation. Menopause is natural and happens in every woman, and bad habits such as smoking have shown to speed up the decline in fertility.

Age Increases the Chances of Birth Defects and Miscarriages

Not only do the woman’s ovaries react less responsive to the hormones which are there to assist the eggs in ovulation, but there are also an increase in genetic problems such as down syndrome. Down Syndrome Babies Statistics:

• Age 25: 1 in 1,250
• Age 30: 1 in 952
• Age 35: 1 in 378

Not only do you increase your babies chances in having down syndrome, but your chances of having a miscarriage increase with age.

• Miscarriages by Age
• Age 20: about 10%
• Age 30: about 12%
• Age 35: about 18%
• Age 40: about 34%

Fertility Treatment Success Rates After Age 35

Fertility Treatments such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) can help couples become pregnant. However, some couples think that it can help eliminate or even beat the decline the fertility coming with age. This is not true. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as you age the percentage of having a live birth decreases. At 31, live births after IVF treatment were about 38%. And by age 39 the percentage drops to about 22%. And after age 43, the likely hood of having a live birth drops to less than 10% However, you can also have an egg donor. Women who have used an egg donor from a woman who is much younger had a success rate of 45% of having a live birth with IVF treatment.

Conclusion

In the end, fertility begins to decline in the late 20’s and is even more rapid once you hit the age of 35. It’s going to happen to everyone. Not only do you have a decrease in chance of becoming pregnant but you also have an increase of chance of having a down syndrome baby, and possibly a miscarriage. Also, if you are seeking treatment, success rates also decline with age if you are using your own eggs. If you are having problems in getting pregnant seek help as soon as you can. The odds will be more in your favor the quicker you find a treatment.

My name is Hannah Warr and I’m 32 years old, happily married, with one daughter who I dearly love and who means the whole world to me. The last 6 years of my life has been an up and down roller coaster ride. When I was 26 my husband and I decided we wanted to start a family, however after 11 months of trying to get pregnant we had no luck.

I wanted to make information more accessible to women and men who are battling infertility. So I have started to publish articles online as well as my own website which discusses common fertility problems, infertility causes, and infertility treatments. You can visit my website here: http://www.fertility-problems.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/women’s-health-articles/why-infertility-decrease-getting-pregnant-is-harder-when-you-reach-age-35-1515004.html