Having Kids: The Younger, The Better

Although there are some advantages to having children at an older age, marriage, educations, savings, stability, etc, there are also a great number of disadvantages. It has been common knowledge for quite some time that the older a woman is the more health risk that both she and her unborn child face. Some of these risks include miscarriages, premature delivery, stillbirth, bleeding complications, hypertensive disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, growth retardation, multiples, and the need for a cesarean section, and infertility. However, in order for any of these risks to pose a threat a woman would first have to be able to conceive. The biggest disadvantage that older women face when trying to have children is infertility. According to eMedicine, couples who are considered infertile are those who have tried to conceive with no success after at least one year of unprotected sex. Although we have known for quite some time that the older the woman was often times the more difficult it was for her to conceive we did not know to what extent until recently. The findings of a study done at the St. Andrews and Edinburgh University concluded that by the age of 30 the average woman has lost close to 90 percent of her approximately 800,000 eggs that she was born with. By the age of 40 the average woman has lost all but 3 percent of her eggs, making conception near impossible.
Infertility is often very costly to diagnose and then treat. The most common infertility treatment is IVF, in vitro fertilization. IVF involves taking a woman's egg and a man's sperm and combining them in a petri dish in a laboratory. Once the eggs are fertilized then 2 to 4 of them are transferred into the woman's uterus in hopes that they will implant into the uterine wall and begin to grow. This process is called a cycle. On average one IVF cycle can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000, and takes 3 cycles for a woman to become pregnant. Not only is the cost extensive but there is not guarantee that any of the fertilized eggs with implant and thrive.
One of the best reasons to have children at a young age is to protect your health and your child's health. Women who have children in their 20s often times have easier pregnancies and labor than those women who wait until their 30s and especially their 40s. These younger women also tend to rebound from their pregnancies much better than older women. Also, according to LBBC, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, studies indicate that those women who have their first child before the age of 25 are less likely to develop breast cancer thorough their lifetime. Also by having children at a younger age you decrease the risk of growth retardation and chromosomal abnormalities among other things. Another benefit of having your children at a young age is that it is easier to diagnose and treat infertility at a young age.


http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/getting-pregnant/age-factor/pregnancy-risks-after-age-35/
http://buzz7.com/health-science/how-women%E2%80%99s-fertility-declines-after-30.html
https://health.google.com/health/ref/Infertility
http://infertility.about.com/od/infertilitytreatments/ss/ivf_treatment.htm
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/in_vitro_fertilization/article_em.htm
http://www.lbbc.org/