This Is REALLY Good News for Women Waiting to Have Kids
Thinking about freezing your eggs or waiting to have a baby… but not sure that giving birth at an older age is a good idea? Think again, lady, because science is on your side. According to a London School of Economics study published recently in Population and Development Review, mothers who wait to have babies later in life might help significantly improve their children’s *quality of life,* despite earlier claims to the contrary.
1.5 million Swedish men and women were examined over a 30-year period to find out their fitness, height, grades and more information, with the conclusion that an older mother was better. Here’s how: The study says to take, for example, a mother born in 1950. One scenario could have the mother pregnant at age 20 in 1970, and another could have the same mother pregnant at 40 in 1990 — with a lot of advances made in the 20 years between 1970 and 1990. Within those 20 years, social, economic, scientific and environmental advances were made, resulting in children who are taller, healthier and who obtained more education than those born earlier. Basically, if you wait to have kids, the benefits of social and scientific progress outweigh the risks associated with aging.
It makes sense — at the speed the world develops today, a lot can happen in a single year, much less a decade, that could be a force of good in a child’s life. The study says that previously reported disadvantages to an older mother — such as health complications later in a child’s life — were only examined in terms of the mother’s reproductive system’s age, and that these new findings can either outweigh or at the very least counterbalance the negative. So internal clock, begone — get pregnant when you and only you are ready.
Did your mom have you later in life? Tweet us a sweet picture of you two @BritandCo!
(Photos via Getty)