In one of my favorite movies, Father of the Bride Part II, Diane Keaton and Kimberly Williams play a mother and daughter who conceive around the same time and give birth on the same day. Keaton’s character, Nina, suspects menopause, so it’s assumed that she must be in her fifties. In the US, giving birth beyond age 50 is fairly rare, but it happens more than it used to due to fertility treatments, which allow women of “advanced maternal age” to use the eggs of younger women. Pregnancy in the sixth decade is extremely risky. Surprisingly, risk increases significantly between the late forties and early fifties. Pregnant women who are fifty or older are typically hospitalized three times as often and give birth to babies with low birth weight twice as often, according to a study that was done back in 2006 in Israel. The average gestation age of babies born to older mothers is less than 37 weeks, compared to just over 38.
There are other risks for older mothers, besides those associated with pregnancy and delivery. I think if a women is planning a pregnancy in her fifties, she needs to look beyond the pregnancy. For example, will they need to change their retirement plans? Couples may need to delay retirement or increase their savings every month to account for the added expenses of having a child during retirement. They will also need to consider how they will provide medical insurance for the child if they do retire. Even though women are living longer these days, (the average life span of a women in the United States right now is around 80), she and her partner need to make plans for the child in the event of their death. A college fund or trust fund may be even more important for older parents to arrange, since they may not be around to help out when their child is in college or starting off their own life.
What do you think about the prospect of having a child after 50: would you consider it?
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