Age is a very important aspect when it comes to getting pregnant. Conceiving a child too soon or too late both can be dangerous as the body is not ready enough to handle the stress of child birth. Whether you look your age or not is immaterial, as your body and the systems will age accordingly. The biological clock starts ticking the moment you are born. One has to know what the best age to get pregnant is.
Scenario Before
In the earlier days, women were married in the tender age of 14 or 15; sometimes even younger. This custom is still prevalent in few parts of the world. Girls were forced to marry men quite elder to them. Girls mature as early as 11 years of age. Motherhood comes with a lot of responsibilities both physically as well as mentally. Though they can reproduce, the body of a girl is not mature enough to carry the child in her womb. Also girls, that young are not mentally equipped to bear the responsibilities of motherhood. In those days, people never bothered to know what the best age to get pregnant is. Therefore, by the time a girl was 18 or 20; she had many children and was herself weak from all the subsequent childbirths. There are also innumerable instances wherein girls and young women have died due to childbirth because their body was not mature to carry the child and take the stress of child birth. Due to poor diet and lack of proper care, women wore an emancipated look on their face as well as their body.
Scenario Now
In complete contrast to the above mentioned times, today a woman is the epitome of freedom, self independence and confidence. She takes her own decisions with regards to her finances, marriage and even motherhood. Owing to the fact that most women are opting to work, they marry pretty late and have children even later. They want to settle down well in their work and establish themselves before they marry or have children. Little do they realize that their biological clock has started ticking on? Women are often clueless about what is the best age to get pregnant. They feel that they can get pregnant whenever they choose to. Postponing having children should not result in a situation where one has to regret their decision. There are many examples where women remain childless because they choose to give more importance to their career rather than their children.
The Reality
From what we consider is right may or may not be the truth. The question bothering most of us is what the best age to get pregnant is. The fact is that 19-25 is the optimum age to get pregnant. Post this age, the quality of the eggs as well as the fertility begins to decline. After 35 years of age, the speed of decline in the fertility speeds up and by the time a woman is 40, her chances to conceive reduces to half. Most women around the age of 40 tend to have problems with fertility. Often the rate of abortion is higher in women above 40 than in women half the age. There has been a lot of progress and therefore, one can deliver healthy babies at any age. But even today, babies of elder women are more susceptible to diseases like Spina Bifida or Down’s syndrome. Therefore, elder women undergo a lot of tests to determine the health of the fetus. Many women consider 30 to be the perfect age to have children because they are financially well settled in their career. They not only have the desired career but have also touched the very height that they wanted to.
There is a lot of difference in what is right and what we consider to be right. Deciding when to marry or what the best age to get pregnant is a woman’s prerogative. This age is different for each woman according to her convenience. Even older women can conceive and have healthy babies. But the point is not to take risk and have babies when the time is absolutely ripe to do so.