Pregnancy after age 35
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Getting pregnant after age 35 isn’t as easy as it is at 25, this is because as women get older, egg quality starts to decline. While it can be challenging, it is possible for many people to have kids later in life. The most important thing is that you feel ready to have a family whenever you choose to start trying.
If you are older than 35 and have not gotten pregnant after 6 months of having regular sex without using birth control, talk with your ob-gyn about an infertility evaluation. If you are older than 40, an evaluation is recommended before you try to get pregnant, especially if you have a problem that could affect fertility, such as endometriosis. Treatment success also is less likely as you age; the sooner you start, the more likely it is to help.
Don’t assume that your age is the only reason you’re not conceiving quickly. When you’re over 35, your lifestyle can also work against you as you try to get pregnant. So try making some lifestyle changes, such as:
• Avoiding sugar and overall choosing a healthy diet.
• Ensuring you are at a healthy weight (neither underweight nor overweight).
• Reducing your caffeine consumption.
• Quitting smoking.
• Getting early and regular prenatal care improves the chances of a healthy pregnancy.
Risks of pregnancy after 35
It can come with certain risks. These include gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, an increased risk of preterm birth and an increased risk of C-section, birth defects, low birthweight, miscarriage and getting pregnant with multiples.
Women can decrease their risk of experiencing these problems by reaching optimal health before conceiving. For example, reaching a healthy weight and glucose level can help prevent gestational diabetes, while having a healthy weight and blood pressure before pregnancy can help women avoid preeclampsia.
Before attempting pregnancy after 35, you have to consult your doctor to make sure your body is healthy enough for pregnancy.
Prenatal testing options
if you’re older than 35 you may want to have some prenatal tests to see if your baby is at risk. Screening tests, like cell-free fetal DNA screening or maternal blood screening, check your blood to see if your baby is at risk for certain birth defects. If your screening test results show that, you may want to have some diagnostic tests. These tests can tell you for sure if your baby has or doesn’t have a birth defect. These tests include chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis.
Prenatal screening tests assess the risk that a pregnancy will be affected by a specific birth defect or genetic disorder. Screening can be done before and during pregnancy. While Prenatal diagnostic tests can detect if a pregnancy is affected by a specific birth defect or genetic disorder.
Both screening and diagnostic testing are offered to all pregnant women. You don’t have to be a certain age or have a family history of a disorder to have these tests.
Treatments
There are many options available for women who are having trouble getting pregnant. The treatment depends on the cause, so first you’d want to look into why there’s a problem.
During an evaluation, you and your partner would have physical exams and number of fertility tests, which might include sperm tests, checks for sexually transmitted infections, and possibly an ultrasound to try to find the cause of infertility. If a cause is found, treatment may be possible. In many cases, infertility can be successfully treated even if no cause is found. But the chances of success with these treatments decline with age.
Depending on the results, your doctor might suggest treatments such as:
• Hormone therapy
• IVF and variations such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
• Intrauterine Insemination
Getting early and regular prenatal care may increase your chances of having a healthy baby. At each visit, your health and your fetus’s health should be monitored. If you have a preexisting medical condition or if a medical condition develops during pregnancy, you may need to see your ob-gyn more often. Regular prenatal care can help your ob-gyn find problems sooner and take steps to help manage them.
