Becoming a parent after 40
Older first-time moms are navigating pregnancy and child rearing in a world that seems to cater to younger counterparts
After multiple miscarriages and a long bout with infertility, Iris Waichler gave herself one more chance, at age 45, to become pregnant.
She had a baby.
But little did she know how different it would be to become a first-time mother who was nearly 20 years older than the average first-time mom — 26, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest statistics; it was 25 when Waichler gave birth in 2000.
“I had talked with moms in their 20s, and it was like talking in another language,” says the Chicago-based part-time author and mom to a college freshman.
Most of the younger moms she met hadn’t experienced infertility, nor had they faced the potentially dangerous and nerve-wracking complications that can be linked with a geriatric pregnancy, she said.
According to the March of Dimes, pregnant women older than 35 are more likely to have gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and preeclampsia, and their children face a greater risk of complications such as Down syndrome. A 2017 study found that children born to older moms also have an increased risk of heart disease, congenital malformations and mental disorders.
It really puts life into perspective, Waichler said.
As the average age of a firsttime parent increases — in some cities, such as Washington, D.C.,