Molly Sims Has Some REALLY Good Advice for Women Waiting to Get Pregnant
These days, actress and model Molly Sims (who turns 43 today — HBD, Molly!!) has been lighting up a whole different screen — the one on our phones/computer as a lifestyle blogger with her very own site. We caught up with the mom of two, who chatted with us about some hot topics buzzing on Brit + Co recently: motherhood, infertility struggles and her advice to first-time moms choosing to have kids later in life.
Recent research suggests that the best age to get pregnant is in your 30s and that kids also benefit socioeconomically from having a mom who waited longer to get pregnant. Molly tells us, “I always wanted a career but I also always wanted to be a mother.” Can you relate? Yeah, we feel you. Molly’s shared some of her best advice for those girlbosses in similar situations, and it may make you want to start thinking about future motherhood differently.
“You have to not waste time in the end,” Molly admits. “I know that sounds bad, but [time] doesn’t wait on you. You think it will, because a lot of things do, but you kind of have to be proactive. I think women are so scared because they don’t want to know [about fertility], but you’re better off knowing, because there are things you can do — whether it’s freezing your eggs, taking supplements… For me it was 36 that it hit me, like, ‘Wait a second. I’m not with anybody but I think I wanna be [a mom].’ It happens. It’s hard.”
Infertility can affect six percent of American couples, and the CDC reports that from 2006 to 2010, approximately 12 percent of women ages 15 to 44 in the US have used infertility services. That comes out to about 7.4 million women in the US alone. Molly worked with Lori Bregman, a doula based in Los Angeles who worked with her *before* there was a baby, even encouraging her to try new things, like placing her on the doula’s signature “fertility smoothie.” “I was like, ‘What is maca? What is this vegan protein?’ I just did it and I kept drinking it. I drank it for like a year before I was trying to get pregnant,” says Molly.
What exactly goes into this smoothie, you ask? Ingredients like maca powder, bee pollen and fatty acids. “I would put every girl I know on maca powder, on açai berries, on CoQ10 and vitamin D. Every girl I know. I don’t care if you’re 20, I don’t care if you’re 40,” Molly says.
And whether it was the smoothie or another thing she swears by — acupuncture (“It works!” Molly says) — Molly and her husband ended up getting pregnant during their honeymoon. In 2011, the model welcomed a son, Brooks Alan, and just last year, she had daughter Scarlett May.
While Molly, who is currently an ambassador for Thrive Market, an online marketplace for yummy organic health foods, is clearly head-over-heels for her adorable kiddies (she can’t help but pull out pics to show me — and we can confirm, they’re squee-worthy!), she’s glad she waited to take on the mantle of motherhood. “I also love having a baby later in life,” Molly confesses. “I know this is going to sound weird — but, like, I’m canceling something tonight because my husband is coming in on a train from Boston. There’s not an event I haven’t gone to, there’s not something I feel like I’m missing. [When] you’re young, experience all the things you can because when you do finally make the commitment, you can have so much fun.”
What do you think of Molly Sims’ advice? Have some of your own to share? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(Photos via Thrive Market)
