A Nation’s stage of development and the average age of first-time parents tend to go hand-in-hand.
The more developed a country is, the older the average age at which their citizens become parents.
Health Risks
It is no longer uncommon to hear of women giving birth to their first babies in their mid to late 30s. But fertility decreases significantly after age 35 for women, and age 40 for men. And although medical advances in Assisted Reproductive Technologies provide couples with the option of delaying parenthood, it is not a miracle cure that can reverse the biological effects of aging.
Chart 1: Chance of IVF success for women according to age
For instance, as women age, their chances of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) dramatically decline as shown above in Chart 1. Furthermore, IVF is not allowed for women above 45 years old due to poor success rates. Aside from declining success rates, couples who conceive later also face increased risks and complications such as:
Increased chances of risks and complications associated with older parents
Miscarriage
Having children with Down syndrome
Stillbirth
Developing gestational diabetes and hypertension
Having children with mental health problems (e.g. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder)
Having children with autism spectrum disorder
Then why do we delay parenthood?
There are a lot less health risks for both mother and baby if we conceive at a younger age. Yet, many of us choose to delay parenthood possibly for one or more of these reasons:
To pay off our tertiary student loans.
To enjoy life first. Go on holidays, buy fancy things, or eat good food, with the money that we finally have.
To build a career as opposed to simply finding a job, for which the former will require much more time.
To enjoy the ‘honeymoon period’ after marriage, where it’s just you and your spouse.
To have a bigger financial nest egg before you have children.
What are the risks of delaying parenthood?
There are always 2 sides to a coin. Despite the various benefits of being an older parent, it also brings along its own set of challenges:
You may end up spending a lot of money (e.g. IVF) just to conceive, whereas it could have cost you nothing had you begun at a younger age.
There will be a wider generation gap between you and your children, a 28 years old new parent and a 34 years old new parent, though only 6 years apart, already belong to 2 different generations.
There is a higher possibility of being financially sandwiched between your parents and your children for a longer period of time.
You are less likely to be able to retire early. By the time your children have completed tertiary education at 25 years old, you would already be 60 years old.
You run a higher risk of either you or your partner (or both), falling victim to illness when your children are just juveniles (younger than 18 years old), since you might already be in your 50s when your children are only teenagers.
Many of the risks can be mitigated.
It is evident that the majority of us will continue with the trend of becoming parents at an older age. Fortunately, there are also many ways that we can mitigate the risks that come along with it:
Be it our ability to financially support our parents when they retire,
Or doing adequate planning for our own retirement that will follow closely right after our children’s tertiary graduation,
Or ensuring our children do not have to suffer should any casualty (sickness or accident) befall us.
It’s always much easier for us to procrastinate when things have not gone wrong yet, or when we think we still have time. Hence it is important to have someone to remind us that once we ‘level up’ and become parents, our children will either benefit from the decisions we make, or suffer because of the decisions that we did not make. So if you need someone to push you out of your procrastination once and for all, why not message Chloe now?
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