Rise of the older mum brings first increase in infant deaths since 2003
THE number of babies who die in their first year has increased for the first time since 2003 because of soaring numbers of older mothers, figures revealed yesterday.
Birth rates among women over 40 now run at more than three times the levels of the early 1980s – but starting a family later in life comes with increased risks for babies.
The breakdown of childhood mortality in England and Wales from the Office for National Statistics identified a leap of more than a third in the rate at which mothers over 40 who gave birth to lowweight babies lost their children.
The latest figures show that in 2014, the overall number of babies not surviving until his or her first birthday was 3.6 in every 1,000, which rose to 3.7 in 2015.
The rate had been falling every year since 2003, when it was at 5.3 babies in every 1,000 births.
In 1921, when records began, it was at 82.8 deaths among every 1,000 births.
The overall infant mortality rate of babies born to mothers over 40 in 2015 was 4.5 in every 1,000 – a rise from 4.2 in 2014.
Education, careers, the soaring cost of housing and the increasing instability of partnerships with potential fathers have meant women are more likely to give birth at later ages The ONS said last year: ‘Women have been increasingly delaying childbearing to later in life. This may be due to a number of factors, such as increased female participation in higher education and the labour force, the increasing importance of a career, the rising costs of childbearing, labour market uncertainty and housing factors.’
The increase in child mortality for mothers over 40 may indicate that those giving birth – who have been assumed in recent years to be mainly women with careers, mortgages and husbands – now include more women with lower incomes and less stable home lives.
Concerns over the impact of motherhood at older ages have been rising alongside numbers of older mothers, with health concerns prominent, but women in their fifth decade are now more likely to have a baby than teenagers. The figures show that in 2015, 15.2 out of every 1,000 women over 40 gave birth, compared to 14.5 of every 1,000 women under 20.
Patricia Morgan, a researcher and author on the development of the family, called for women to consider having children before launching a career.
‘If we are all going to be working into our 70s, why not have children first?’ she said.
‘Women now are worried about when they will have children and also about the risks of hav- ing children late. It makes increasing sense for women to have the family first and then build the career. That way you do not have to stop your career to have children.’
The ONS also noted that births outside marriage were associated with infant mortality.
The most vulnerable babies are those born to teenage mothers, who are by far the most likely to be unmarried, without partners, and from deprived backgrounds. Among babies born to mothers under 20, 6.3 in every 1,000 died before the age of one in 2015.