What do you think of women who have children after 40?

Question

What do you think of women who have children after 40?

Answer 1

my mother did - and I still love her ~ doesn't matter what I think - it's about what SHE thinks.

Answer 2

I do not think about them at all. It is their life and their decision, why should it matter to me or you?

Answer 3

That's life and it is complex, there are lots of reasons why women have children later, and for many it has nothing to do with being absorbed in their careers, as so many put it. It is easy to stick labels on people.



In society today, there is so much pressure concerning work and domestic lifestyle, and all the other choices out there, that people get fearful about settling down, and there are lots of people in denial of that family life that they wanted - giving/sharing/growing together, etc. When they do realise what they really want, they are obviously older.



The more choices there are in society, the later women will be having kids, and well done to those for when it all comes together - I look at the good examples of such cases.



Sweatpea, you sound like a retiring type of 36 year old. There are loads of lovely looking, healthy women around this age, who are just at the right stage in their lives to have children. ~

Answer 4

I don't really give them much thought at all.

Answer 5

Well, I am a woman who had children over forty and I'm very glad I did.  Want to make something of it?  Because if you're looking for a fight I've got PMT and I'm feeling really stroppy so I'm just in the mood for one.

As for all that c**p about more birth defects etc, there are plenty of young women who have children with birth defects.  I know a woman who has nine children, and two of them were born when she was over forty, but the one who has Down's Syndrome was born when she was 25.

Answer 6

Crazy--I'm 36 and have a 16 year old.  I couldn't imagine having a baby now.  Even though I have more patience than I did when I was 21, my schedule is full resulting in being way too tired to deal with an infant full time.  I love babies, but at this age, I love to send them home with their parents and retreat to my quiet peaceful household.

Answer 7

It's generally a more responsibly made decision that women having children when they're 18.

Answer 8

I admire them ...  they get a lot of criticism because they'll be senior citizens (possibly with questionable health) by the time their kids go off to college, but the way I look at it, the most rewarding thing you can do in your life is raise a child, and if a woman wants to have more children after the age of 40, I say all the more power to her ...  there are too many couples that can't wait for their kids to grow up so they can spend their retirement years together in peace ... kids may be a handful, but I think in a way it strengthens your relationship with your spouse ...  I'd love to be sending my last kid off to college in my late 50's, early 60's ...  my godfather did that with his kid

Answer 9

More difficult for them. But if that's what she chooses, she has every right and I don't think women should gossip about how "She's too old to have kids." Science has progressed in terms of fertility treatments. 60 is young these days and if a 40 year old woman had a child at around 40, she would have a 20 year old child by 60... That's not too bad.

But if she wants to avoid complications, she should have them in her early to mid 20's.

Answer 10

Good for them. Most turn out perfectly fine. The risks are higher but not so much as people imply.

Answer 11

They are increasing the risks of birth defects, disease and developmental delays.  Nothing more nothing less. It is impossible to think anything else about them without knowing the woman personally.

Answer 12

I would rather be born to a woman over 40 than a woman under 20.  Women over 40 have more life experience and are typically in a better financial state than women under 20.  However, I think that the perfect age for starting a family (if you want one) is any age after 30.

Answer 13

I think it's fabulous that we have the science we do today to make any one's dream of parenthood possible.  It shouldn't matter what age the woman is, I hope it doesn't because the way things are going I'll be 40 before I have my daughter, lol.

Answer 14

That they are brave, resilient, and perpetually young at heart!

Answer 15

Whatever floats their boat. More power to them, I'm not one to judge.

Answer 16

My mother and one of my sisters did. I think they are great. And very unselfish for having children at that age. I couldn't have done it. I was scared to have more than the three I did, for economic reasons. I have known of women who wanted children very badly and couldn't get pregnant until they reached their late 30s to early 40s. I congradutlate them. At that age they have a lot more life experience, and should do a better job, because of it.

Answer 17

It's not something I would do personally but I don't judge women who choose to do it.

Answer 18

I say go for it, & to those who say "oh it's more difficult, baby has more complications, etc" you all can go jump in the lake, there is always a RISK involved in bringing a child into this world. My mother's mother/grandmother has 10 children & she is in her 70s & fabulous.

Answer 19

Unwise; adoption's a better solution. But if they insist, they should be very good abut monitoring their pregnancies... & getting tested for down's.