Pregnancy after age 35, considered as “advanced maternal age” (AMA) to carry a baby, which examined to be high risk with complications. More risks involved with pregnant women and childbirth as the maternal age rise.
It is true that parents who postpone their childbearing to over age 35, face some difficulties. These difficulties include miscarriage, premature delivery, abnormalities in children, retardation of the fetus’s growth, and gestational diabetes. It doesn’t mean that everyone faces these difficulties but for every woman who gets pregnant after age 35 undergoes a few extra prenatal tests.
Women delay their parenthood for older age due to some reasons. They include:
- To reach higher studies or educational levels
- To establish a successful career
- Fear of expenditure
- Lack of proper income
- The social influence that makes them feel, not ready to have children
- Low improved fertility options, IVF
Women are delivering healthy babies even over their 30’s. Being an older mom or getting pregnant after age 35 have some advantages like being financially secure or hands-on in the job of parenting as a grown-up. The mother should take special care to give the baby a healthy start. Studies by Centres for disease control and prevention indicated that birth rate among women over age 30 exceeded those among women aged 25 to 29. In the earlier days of pregnancy, prenatal screening tests held to check if the baby is at risk of birth defects.
Fertility Reduction
Women take birth with plenty of eggs in them, as they age the quality and number of eggs range reduces. This gradually reduces the conceiving capacity of pregnancy. Even in men fertility reduction takes place with reducing sperm count, semen volume, and motility. Hence fertility reduction brings difficulties for women to get pregnant.
Pregnancy Complications at age 35
As the woman grows older, she has a more complicated pregnancy than the younger ones. The complications are more likely visible in women over 30’s. The biological clock of motherhood is a part of life and there’s nothing special at 35 but some health conditions and complications discussed below.
Fertility Problem
i.e., trouble conceiving. Women take her birth with several eggs, before 14 days of her period, she releases each egg at the time of ovulation. As she grows old, the number of eggs becomes few and the rest, not easily fertilized by the partner’s sperm. This makes pregnancy after age 35 harder. Some fertility treatments, provided for women to get pregnant so, should inform the doctors before planning a pregnancy.
Anticipated diabetes
i.e.; suffering from diabetes earlier pregnancy. Some women have more sugar content levels in the blood before their pregnancy. Too high levels can damage organs of the body including blood vessels, nerves, etc.
Gestational diabetes
some women experience more likely to develop it only during pregnancy. It is essential to have a proper diet that controls the blood sugar and at the same time essential to have physical activities. When gestational diabetes, not treated, it causes insignificant baby growth, larger than usual, and increases the risk during delivery. When pregnant women after age 35 face this, they are more likely to deliver a premature baby due to high blood pressure- when the force of blood against the walls of blood vessels is too high people experience high blood pressure.
Preeclampsia
This condition exists in pregnant women after the 20th week of pregnancy. Some women face right after they conceive, as the blood pressure rises there exist signs in the body as some organs like liver and kidney miss the track of proper functioning. High protein in the urine, blur in vision, severe headache are signs of preeclampsia.
Premature birth
Premature birth is referred to when the baby born too soon earlier than the due date i.e.; before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature birth called, low birth weight. Low birth weight, when a baby weighs less than 2.2-2.5 kg. Women over the ’30s are more likely to give birth to premature babies.
Conceiving twins
Older pregnant women in their pregnancy after age 35 are more likely to conceive twins, triplets, or more compared to the younger ones. This may, due to fertility treatments that produce more eggs and multiples while conceiving. Carrying multiples can cause issues during pregnancy like low birth weight, preeclampsia, problems with baby growth, gestational diabetes, etc. Pregnant women who take fertility treatment can consult with the doctor to avoid multiples and to conceive with just one baby.
Miscarriage
The risk of it increases with an increase in the mother’s age. Poor quality of egg results in miscarriage, when the baby dies in the womb before 20 weeks of pregnancy, mostly happens in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.
C- section/ Caesarean birth
When the mother gives birth with a cut on her belly, done to take out the baby from the womb. It is a less pain-free process where the mother doesn’t stress herself to let the baby out. Like other surgeries, c-section underwent women must, taken care of to avoid infections. This is more common in the aged women who conceive at 35.
Placenta issue
This happens when the placenta covers a part of women’s cervix or cover completely leading to heavy bleeding during delivery. Placenta problem may exist in the ’30s but in 40’s this problem of occurrence triples.
Risk of abnormalities
Pregnant women who carry the baby at their older age has a higher risk of chromosome problems that is down syndrome, genetic disorder. Women with down syndrome will have a baby but result in abnormality.
Stillbirth
Pregnancy after age 35 sometimes causes stillbirth, death of the baby during delivery, or before the due date inside the mother’s womb or while taking out. Both miscarriage and stillbirth lead to the loss of baby, just vary in time with their occurrence.
In spite, these risks being real can control with good prenatal care.
Healthy Pregnancy after age 35
There are some ways to boost the odds of having a healthy pregnancy after age 35.
- Vitamin intake
- Regular check-up
- Control pre-existing conditions
- Knowing birth options in advance if possible
- Maintain and get weight in check
- Boost nutrition
- Regular exercise
- Stress less
- Having quality sleep
- By vaccine
- Healthy surroundings
Building a healthy surrounding with other pregnant women who may have half your age. But when we get in touch with pregnancy issues sharing things in common, the age difference will never matter. Pregnant women over the ’30s must update themselves on all of their immunization. Make a room just to spend quality time for yourself and ensure good quality sleep by staying away from television, mobiles, and laptops that kill the sleep. Stress is concerned to miss periods while tracking ovulation making pregnancy difficult. Working out on a regular basis and maintain the required weight according to BMI that aids with healthy pregnancy after age 35.
Before Pregnancy
Get a full-body check-up to ensure your body is healthy before you get pregnant and ready to cope up with pregnancy symptoms during the ’30s. Must share all the information related to family health history, vaccination, and medicines you take as a daily routine, this may help the body from further reactions. One’s family history is a pre estimation of your health condition which protects pregnant women from unknown issues. It provides a way for the doctor to spot out the health conditions or pregnancy symptoms that may harm the women while carrying. It is important to spot out these health conditions to avoid higher risk and vaccination helps the pregnant from internal and external causing diseases.
Pregnancy after age 35 must include treatment of any health condition a woman has before pregnancy like diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, etc. Must switch to a safer composition of pills during pregnancy parallelly maintaining diabetic health with pregnancy.
Folic acid aids for healthy growth and development, so a high amount of folic acid intake must be a part of one’s diet. The required amount of folic acid prevents birth defects of the baby in the baby’s brain and spinal cord.
Pregnant women should maintain a healthy weight which shouldn’t be over than usual before pregnancy. They should avoid smoking, alcohol drinks, drugs, etc if consuming and bring it to the doctor’s notice during the consultation time. Pregnant women should be far from the chemical products that produce strong odors like cleaning liquids, paints that increase the chances of birth defects in the baby.
During Pregnancy
A pregnant woman irrespective of age should be present at all of her check-ups even she is doing fine. This provides regular prenatal care to the mother and the baby. Vaccines like flu shots and other safe ones are, taken as a compulsory to maintain good health during the months of carrying.
The amount of weight pregnant women weight during pregnancy depends on the weight she weighs earlier before pregnancy. A balanced nutritious diet with regular exercise activities helps to maintain the right weight.
Should not take anything without under the notice of midwife or an experienced one.
Conclusion
Pregnant women after age 35 should take enough care. They must stay physically fit to face the days and its time to focus on adding up nutrients and enough folic acid in the diet. Must meet with regular appointments as the doctor monitors the health and risks during pregnancy. 40 % of pregnant women are likely to face C- section due to their medical complications.
Staying informed with the midwife, will help the pregnant women understand the precautions, needed to follow in perspectives of risk. Must take sufficient rest, and above all, women should be as healthy as possible before conceiving.
Sirisha B